B.C. man who sent sexual messages to students banned from teaching for 15 years

WARNING: This story contains details of inappropriate sexual messaging of current and former students :

A B.C. man has been banned from teaching for at least 15 years for exchanging sexually explicit messages with current and former students.

The consent resolution agreement posted by the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch says Neil Stewart Holmes worked as a secondary school teacher in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District when the inappropriate relationships unfolded.

The branch noted that Holmes began messaging a former student on Facebook shortly after they graduated in June of 2014. The student knew Holmes in his capacity as a teacher-on-call, and they exchanged messages and photographs of a sexual nature.

"At one point, Holmes sent Student A a photograph of his classroom, indicating that this was a place where he would like to have sex with Student A," the disciplinary outcome reads.

Dating app messages

The following year, another student — who still attended the school where Holmes taught, according to the consent resolution agreement — found him on a dating app and began messaging him.

Holmes knew that the person messaging him was a student, the agreement says, but he still sent them sexually explicit messages, including two photos of himself.

In 2016, that student — who had by then graduated, the agreement says — posted a warning on Facebook saying that not all teachers at the school were good people and mentioned Holmes by name.

The consent resolution agreement says Holmes contacted the student and told them to take the post down or he would call the police.

3rd student contacted

Holmes also sent explicit messages in 2016 to another recent graduate, the disciplinary decision says. This student also had known Holmes as a teacher-on-call when they were in Grade 9.

The school district placed Holmes on paid leave in February 2021 until the end of June of that year. 

He resigned his position in January 2022 after several months of unpaid leave, according to the agreement. 

CBC News has contacted the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District for comment.

While his teaching certificate was cancelled in November 2022 for non-payment of fees, Holmes will not be allowed to renew his qualifications for at least 15 years.

The commissioner of the Teachers Regulation Branch determined that the length of the ban was appropriate, considering that Holmes failed to maintain teacher-student boundaries by engaging in inappropriate and sexual communications with current and former students.