A teacher at a BC prison, who falsely recorded attendance for and assigned marks for inmates who had already been released from jail, has been reprimanded by the provincial regulator.
An agreement between the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation and Peter Buddle was posted online this week and details the incidents, which happened between 2022 and 2023.
According to the agreement, Buddle falsely recorded attendance and assigned marks for students enrolled in his continuing education course after they had been released and were no longer attending the course.
Buddle claimed he did this to maintain funding for his teaching position by keeping students falsely activated in his course on the school district’s computer system.
“Buddle's actions were dishonest, carried out for personal gain, and undermined the public's confidence in the profession,” the regulator wrote.
The commissioner said Buddle also taught online distance learning courses to high school students in School District No. 42 (Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows).
However, the commissioner said he failed to respond to emails and voice messages from students and from their parents.
“Buddle assigned marks to students in his online distance learning courses without properly reviewing their work,” the commissioner said.
“For example, he assigned marks of " 100%" even when the work was incomplete or contained errors.”
He resigned from the school district on Dec. 31, 2023. By April 2024, the commissioner began investigating.
The commissioner settled on a public reprimand.
“Buddle failed to fulfill his teaching duties to the detriment of his students,” the commissioner wrote.
