A British Columbia high school teacher has been suspended after a provincial regulator found he engaged in professional misconduct involving inappropriate treatment of students.
The B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation says Frank Ian Weniger, who taught at a Vancouver school in the Vancouver School District, will have his teaching certificate suspended for three days from March 11 to March 13, 2026.
According to a consent resolution agreement, Weniger admitted his conduct violated professional standards requiring educators to treat students with dignity and respect and maintain a safe and inclusive learning environment.
The findings stem from incidents reported in two separate complaints involving classroom behaviour in the 2021–22 and 2023–24 school years.
In one case, investigators found Weniger frequently appeared frustrated or angry with students in a Social Studies 10 class, often raising his voice and making sarcastic or demeaning remarks.
Examples cited in the agreement include mocking a student’s pronunciation of “Global News” as “Glow Ball,” sarcastically questioning students about their math knowledge and publicly chastising students who were talking during class.
The agreement also describes online interactions with a student through Microsoft Teams in which Weniger exchanged messages late into the evening and identified the student’s home address, an interaction the student later reported made them uncomfortable.
In a second investigation involving an English language learner class, students reported Weniger often became visibly angry or frustrated during lessons and sometimes repeated students’ mistakes aloud until classmates laughed.
One student said they felt intimidated and stopped asking to use the washroom during class after being required to answer a question before being allowed to leave.
Another student who suffered from anxiety experienced panic attacks in the classroom and later had a mental health crisis, with their experience in the class cited as a contributing factor.
The agreement also described an incident in February 2024 when Weniger attempted to anonymously send a Valentine’s gift — including a rose, candy and a singing telegram — to a Grade 11 student in his class. Student council organizers declined to process the request after finding it inappropriate.
The Vancouver School District previously suspended Weniger for five days without pay in 2022. A later 10-day suspension in 2024 was never served because he resigned his position effective June 30, 2024.
The commissioner said the three-day certificate suspension reflects Weniger’s failure to model appropriate behaviour and to create a positive classroom environment.
Weniger had previously completed a course titled Creating a Positive Learning Environment through the Justice Institute of British Columbia in July 2024.
