A teacher in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools (SD68) district has lost his teaching license for sending students images and messages which were sexual in nature.
Three students came forward and made the British Columbia Commission for Teacher Regulation (BCCTR) aware of their teacher, Neil Stewart Holmes, and his inappropriate actions which occurred between 2014 and 2016.
The report did not include the exact SD68 school Holmes taught in during these years.
His license was suspended in 2021 and on July 19, 2023, the BCCTR published a report with their findings and Holmes’ consequences.
For the purposes of this article, the three students who came forward about Holmes’ behaviour will be referred to as Gracie, Clare and Brenda.
Gracie
Holmes taught Gracie who graduated from the school in June of 2014 as her “teacher on call” (TOC). Soon after she graduated, Holmes contacted her through Facebook Messenger.
Through the messaging app, the two exchanged both photographs and messages of a sexual nature.
“At one point, Holmes sent Gracie a photograph of his classroom, indicating that this was a place where he would like to have sex with Gracie,” reads the BCCTR report.
Clare
Clare graduated from Holmes’ school in June of 2015, just one year after Gracie graduated.
While she was still attending school, in April or May of 2015, Clare found Holmes’ profile on Tinder, an app used for dating and finding hookups, and she messaged him.
The report says Holmes knew Clare was still attending the school he taught at and he proceeded to exchange inappropriate messages with her anyway.
The messages they exchanged were sexual in nature in the beginning and once Clare graduated in June 2015, Holmes sent her two explicit pictures of himself.
After receiving these inappropriate images, Clare made a Facebook post warning her peers there are some teachers who are not safe at the school. Holmes was publicly listed in this post.
Holmes messaged Clare telling her to remove the post, or he would go to the police.
Brenda
Brenda also graduated in June 2015 along with Clare.
She didn’t have Holmes as a classroom teacher but knew him as a TOC while she was in ninth grade and also knew him through school sports.
After Brenda graduated and was 18-years-old, between February and April of 2016, the two exchanged a number of text messages which were sexual in nature.
Holmes’ consequences
He was put on paid leave by SD68 when they found out about the allegations in February 2021 and put on unpaid leave as of July 1st, 2021.
Holmes then resigned from the district in January 2022.
On July 19th of this year, Holmes signed a document in which he admitted to all of his actions outlined in the report.
He also agreed he would not teach for 15 years and would never dispute what the three students said he did.
 district has lost his teaching license for sending students images and messages which were sexual in nature. ){kind=link}