A B.C. man who was working as a Vancouver Island high school teacher has been banned from teaching for 15 years after sending sexually explicit messages and photographs to three teenagers.
According to a consent resolution agreement posted by B.C.’s Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, Neil Holmes was a secondary teacher in the Nanaimo and Ladysmith School District (SD68).
The teenagers are named Student A, Student B and Student C in the public summary.
Shortly after Student A graduated from the school in June 2014, Holmes contacted Student A through Facebook and began using Facebook Messenger to exchange messages, which also included "photographs of a sexual nature.”
Student A knew Holmes as a teacher on call.
The summary notes that Holmes sent a photograph of his classroom, indicating "where he would like to have sex with Student A.”
Before Student B graduated from the school in June 2015, she located Holmes’s Tinder profile and messaged him, according to the agreement.
"Holmes, knowing Student B was a student at the School, began exchanging text messages with Student B,” said the commissioner. "These text messages included communication from Holmes of a sexual nature.”
Holmes sent two sexually explicit photos of himself to Student B before she graduated.
Student C also graduated from the school in June 2015. Holmes was her teacher on call when she was in Grade 9 and she was also acquainted with Holmes through sports at the school.
According to the summary, Holmes exchanged text messages with Student C when they were 18 years old. The messages included "communication of a sexual nature by Holmes."
In July 2016, a Facebook post was created by Student B warning others that not all teachers at the school were good people and Holmes's name was attached to the post, says the commissioner.
"Holmes responded to Student B by requesting that the post be removed, or he would contact the police,” states the summary.
The school district placed Holmes on paid leave, from Feb. 16, 2021 until June 30, 2021. Unpaid leave then kicked in on July 1, 2021, and on Jan. 5, 2022, Holmes resigned from the district.
According to the summary, Holmes admitted the above facts about the incidents are true.
The consent resolution agreement states the 15-year ban includes teaching kindergarten to Grade 12. The agreement was made on July 19, 2023 and published on Aug. 1, 2023.
The commissioner concluded "Holmes failed to maintain teacher-student boundaries by engaging in inappropriate communication of a sexual nature with current and former students.”
