B.C. teacher loses job after lying about previous discipline for putting student in headlock

A B.C. teacher who repeatedly lied about his disciplinary history on employment applications has lost his job and had his licence suspended for two months.

James Earl Bjarnason resigned from his job at a Langley school in 2012 after he was disciplined twice once for putting a student in a headlock and encouraging other students to mock the student, and then again for inappropriately reprimanding a student with multiple disabilities according to the B.C. commissioner for teacher regulation.

But when he applied for jobs in Delta, Surrey and Maple Ridge in 2017, Bjarnason answered "no" to questions about whether he'd ever been investigated, suspended or otherwise disciplined at work.

Bjarnason admits to all of this dishonesty in a Jan. 8 consent resolution agreement with the commissioner, acknowledging that he committed professional misconduct and agreeing to a two-month suspension of his teaching certificate.

Though he was hired to work in Delta in 2017, Bjarnason soon became the subject of an investigation by the school district and was fired in November 2018, according to the agreement.

Bjarnason has also admitted he repeatedly lied during the school district probe, falsely stating he'd never been investigated by the Teacher Regulation Branch.

He was even dishonest about his lies, the agreement says. When the TRB asked Bjarnason about his answers on his application for work in Surrey, he replied that he'd answered honestly, even though he knew that wasn't true.

The saga has its roots in Bjarnason's seven years of teaching in Langley, the agreement shows.

The school district suspended him without pay for two months in 2011 after he put a student in a headlock, rubbed the student's head with his knuckles, encouraged other students to embarrass the student and then pushed the student out of the classroom.

He was investigated again later the same year for his treatment of a disabled student, and the school district found he "had failed to treat students with respect and dignity," according to the agreement. The district recommended that he be suspended without pay for six months, but Bjarnason resigned before that could happen.

The two-month suspension of his licence will come into effect on April 1.