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Burnaby teacher disciplined for giving Grade 6 student a requested buzz cut

The student requested the buzz cut, but parents should have been asked, Commissioner said
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A Burnaby teacher has been reprimanded for shaving a studen’ts head without consent from the student’s parents.

The incident happened last January when a Grade 6 student asked their substitute teacher, Michael Rhodes, to shave their head in honour of basketball season, according to a recent decision by the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch.

The student brought clippers from home and Rhodes shaved their head, with other classmates present. Rhodes did ask the student if their parents had given permission and the student said yes.

That wasn’t good enough for the parents when their child came home with a buzz cut.

The Burnaby School District took action, making Rhodes only sub in high schools while he took a guidance course through the Justice Institute of B.C.

He was also required to apologize to the student’s parents, participate in a workshop about boundaries and was given a disciplinary letter.

In the consent resolution agreement released, commissioner Howard Kushner did not recommend additional disciplinary action, but required that Rhodes agree his conduct was contrary to professional standards and agree to the formal reprimand.

RELATED: Langley high school teacher gets one-day suspension for ‘physically intimidating’ Grade 7 student

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