B.C. teacher who called student ‘fat kid’ during P.E. class reprimanded

The floor of a school gymnasium is seen in this stock image. (Credit: Shutterstock)

A substitute teacher from B.C.’s Lower Mainland has been reprimanded for professional misconduct, which included referring to a student as “fat kid” in a physical education class.

Gary William Jenkins made the remark while substituting in a Grade 6-7 class in the Burnaby school district in 2023, according to a consent agreement he signed with the province’s commissioner for teacher regulation.

When one student was moving slowly during an activity, Jenkins called out: “Come on fat kid, keep running.”

In a separate incident, the teacher picked up another student’s bag of chips, read the ingredients aloud in front of other children, and said those kinds of foods can make people fat, according to the agreement.

Those incidents amounted to attempts to “motivate students by shaming them,” the commissioner found.

Jenkins also admitted he “made contact” with the buttocks of a third student who was helping him clean up after class. He patted the student on the back later that day “in a show of appreciation for assisting him with some computer issues,” the document reads.

The agreement notes the district had raised concerns with Jenkins twice previously, first in 2019 when students complained about the teacher “inappropriately touching them.”

He was then issued a letter of expectations in 2021 reminding him to maintain professional boundaries after he allegedly touched students “in an attempt to direct them to where they should move” during a handball game.

Following the 2023 incidents, the district issued Jenkins a letter of discipline and directed him to complete a pair of courses called “Having Conversations” and “Professional Boundaries Issues,” both of which he finished the following spring.

B.C.’s commissioner for teacher regulation then reviewed the circumstances and issued a further reprimand against Jenkins, along with an order to complete another course called “Creating a Positive Learning Environment.”