TORONTO - The Toronto District School Board is investigating after one of its teachers, away on sick leave, has actually been working at a school in Montreal.
In a statement to CTV News, the school board confirmed Rosaline Dorcin is under investigation after she was found to be campaigning in the federal election and working at a Montreal school while being on a paid medical leave.
The board went on to say that it has taken immediate action by suspending Dorcin without pay until the investigation is complete.
“Given the burden of proof that the board faces in any employee-related investigation, there is a detailed process we must follow,” a spokesperson for the board said. “We anticipate this process to be complete very shortly.”
The English Montreal School Board confirmed that Dorcin is teaching a Grade 5/6 bilingual class at its St. Monica Elementary School in the city's west end.
The board said it was surprised to learn that a teacher working for them was on sick leave in Toronto.
Dorcin was scheduled to teach a Grade 3/4 class at Toronto’s Earl Haig Public School starting in September, but a supply teacher was put in her place and she was put on short-term disability.
Teachers in Ontario are entitled to 11 paid sick days and 120 short-term leave and disability plan days at 90 per cent of their salary.
“We arrived morning of Sept. 3 to find out that we had a supply teacher for the first day of school,” Joan Dempsey, whose daughter is in the affected class, told CTV News. “It’s been a very frustrating process.”
She said a group of parents discovered Dorcin’s alleged double life through various social media accounts. She said the parents brought forward the information to the board.
“It’s very disappointing and troubling that it took this much effort from us as parents in order for the board to act,” she said. “It’s very disappointing that [the board] is, or was, holding a full-time position for this individual.”
