A Toronto teacher has been stripped of his licence after the Ontario College of Teachers said he pleaded no contest to allegations that he kissed a student and engaged in inappropriate touching and conversations with other female students.
In a disciplinary decision released earlier this year, a panel said David Field, who was previously employed as a teacher at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, pursued an “inappropriate personal relationship” with a student between 2008 and 2010.
According to the College, Field began occasionally touching the student’s arms, back, and shoulders, inappropriate physical contact that “escalated” and became more frequent as time went on.
The College said the student and teacher exchanged personal cellphone numbers and what began as conversations about “school-related matters” later shifted to personal messages.
The disciplinary decision stated that Field sent the student text messages of a “sexual nature” and asked if she was a virgin.
According to the allegations detailed by the College, when the student confirmed that she was a virgin, Field replied, “We’ll have to take care of that.”
The student, the panel said, was invited to the teacher’s home to do paid yard work, and the two went to various “social outings” together, including movies, art exhibits, and out for dinner.
After the two attended a movie one night, Field walked the student to a subway station, where he kissed her on the lips, the panel said.
Communication stopped between Field and the student after that night, according to the disciplinary documents.
The student “experienced adverse emotional and psychological effects as a result of” Field’s conduct, the disciplinary panel wrote.
According to the College, during the 2010-11 academic year, Field also suggested that one of his female students do a class group assignment on two people “making out” for an entire day.
During a school trip to New York, the same student reported witnessing the teacher tell another female student, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” while making a gesture referring to their underwear, the disciplinary documents stated.
Between 2014 and 2018, further allegations were made regarding another female student. According to the panel, Field showed “favouritism” toward one of his students, “giving her special privileges” to use resources other students were not allowed to use.
On some occasions, the panel wrote, Field approached the student from behind while at a computer and “massaged her shoulders.”
When she asked for help in class, the teacher at times would sit beside her and touch her on the arm or thigh, the panel wrote.
By the 2017-18 academic year, the panel said, Field began making inappropriate comments and asking questions about her personal life.
The panel stated that the teacher stated she was “cute” and “pretty” and indicated that she was “too good” for the boys at the school.
According to the College, Field also suggested they get drinks after she graduated.
Field was previously charged by Toronto police in September 2020 with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation when he was 56. Those charges were stayed by the Crown in March of 2022.
According to the College, the Crown decided that is was “not in the public interested to proceed through the criminal justice system,” but that the Ontario College of Teachers was the “appropriate forum” to address the alleged behaviours.
Prior to obtaining employment at Rosedale Heights in 2004, Field previously worked at Don Mills Collegiate and Georges Vanier Secondary School.
