Employee wasn't on duty but identified herself as school board employee
Ontario Labour Relations Board has upheld the firing of a school board employee who was involved in an obscenity-laced altercation with a student who was bullying her daughter.
Sylvia Hatzantonis was hired by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in February 2003 as a site clerical with the board’s English and French language training for adult immigrants.
On Sept. 25, 2012, Hatzantonis picked up her 13-year-old daughter from her school. When she arrived, she found her daughter crying after an altercation with a 14-year-old male student. Hatzantonis learned that the student had been bullying her daughter.
Hatzantonis confronted the student, demanded he apologize to her daughter and made several inappropriate comments. Soon after, the TDSB was given a video of the incident that had been recorded by another student who had watched it unfold.
The video showed Hatzantonis shouting at the student, swearing repeatedly, calling him vulgar names, saying he was lucky she was on school board property, threatening to tell his parents he smoked drugs and had sex with another male student behind the school, telling the student she worked for the TDSB and could find out anything she wanted about him, and shouting after the student and calling his mother a vulgar name.
The TDSB placed Hatzantonis on home assignment while it investigated. Police also learned of the incident and charged Hatzantonis with uttering death threats, intimidation, assault, and causing a disturbance.
Hatzantonis completed two anger management courses and paid a fine, after which the charges were withdrawn and she agreed to a peace bond.
The TDSB’s investigation found Hatzantonis guilty of conduct contrary to its operational procedure dealing with abuse and neglect of students, which stated it was “unacceptable for an employee to insult, degrade or direct demeaning comments to a child, as this may constitute emotional abuse.” The investigation also found Hatzantonis went out of her way to make it clear she was a TDSB employee.
The TDSB interviewed a number of witnesses, including three students who said Hatzantonis asked them to write statements that cast her in a positive light so she wouldn’t lose her job. She apparently told these students she needed the letters because she was “in trouble with work.” She offered to treat the students to whatever they wanted at McDonald’s if they wrote the letters.
Hatzantonis told the TDSB the student indicated he had a knife, but the video didn’t show any such comment — though the beginning of the incident wasn't recorded. She also didn’t deny she sought witness statements, but said she simply told them to tell the truth. However, she admitted she treated them at McDonald’s in exchange for their letters.
At the time of her interview, Hatzantonis wasn’t aware there was a video of the altercation. She initially denied swearing at the student other than one initial comment, and admitted she shouldn’t have told the student she would tell his parents he was having sex with another student behind the school. She denied threatening or touching the student.
Hatzantonis said that “as a mother” she thought she did what she had to do. After seeing the video, she conceded she had tugged at the student’s jacket and could have handled the situation better. She apologized for not mentioning she had used other obscenities and called the student names. She said things had gone too far and she wished she could take back that day.
The TDSB informed Hatzantonis she was being terminated and she responded, “I stood up for my daughter and I got fired for that?”
The board found that Hatzantonis’ conduct was “extremely troubling” and, though she was off-duty at the time, she identified herself as a TDSB employee and was on TDSB property. In addition, the TDSB had to act as its reputation was at risk from people who saw the altercation live and online.
“It is likely any reasonable fair-minded parents or non-parent who viewed or became aware of the incident would be concerned with the TDSB’s continued employment of someone who so casually, and spectacularly, undercuts its responsibility to provide role models, and instill appropriate values in students, and instead engages in verbal abuse of a student,” said the board.
The board also found Hatzantonis exacerbated her misconduct by downplaying it and placing students in a difficult position by asking them to be “less than honest about a serious altercation involving another TDSB student,” which sent “a most unfortunate message to the students regarding the need to be honest at all times,” said the board.
