A Toronto teacher pleaded guilty to professional misconduct at a disciplinary hearing at the Ontario College of Teachers this week for giving a former student DVDs containing sexual content, engaging in inappropriate Facebook communication with that student and failing to report being sexually propositioned by another former student.

Ian Handscomb has been at the Claude Watson School for the Arts since 1996 and is still employed at the school as artistic director, according to a statement his counsel made at the hearing. He was formally disciplined by the college, including a verbal reprimand by the panel and a 20-day suspension.

An agreed statement of facts lays out that Handscomb believed a male student had approached him about “coming out” because he was an openly gay teacher, and further, that Facebook conversations with that student that had sexual content were in reference to sexual orientation and safety in sexual relationships.

The college doesn’t have any guidelines for teachers on how they should manage a student’s disclosure of his or her sexual orientation, but its advisory on sexual misconduct includes warning teachers to avoid sharing personal information, becoming involved in students’ affairs and seeing students in isolated situations.

The statement of facts says Handscomb failed to report being sexually propositioned by a male former student in 2010. That student had attended the school during his Grade 4 and 5 years, leaving in or around 2005, according to the document.

Handscomb did, however, share information about that incident with another former student — the same one he says came out to him, according to an exhibit accompanying the statement of facts.

The statement of facts states Handscomb’s Facebook conversations with that student began in February 2008, when the boy was attending Grade 8 at the school, and lasted until 2010. The statement of facts also says that in the spring of 2008, the student advised Handscomb that he was thinking about “coming out” at school.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Handscomb believed the student “made this disclosure to him because he is an openly gay teacher and wanted advice.” The statement also says Handscomb drove the student to and from school alone that year, with the knowledge of the student’s parents.

After the student moved on to high school, Handscomb gave the 14-year-old R-rated DVDs that contained male nudity and multiple sex scenes, according to the statement of facts. One was about a young, promiscuous man who gets into a relationship with a Mormon missionary, while another follows an aspiring composer and stripper who meet on a New York subway and struggle to find a place to be alone together. The statement of facts refers to them as “films about sexuality, sexual orientation and ‘coming out.’”

In a July 2010 Facebook message, included in an exhibit accompanying the statement of facts, the teacher commented on the student’s physical appearance: “I saw Legally Blonde last night. I know you mentioned you were seeing it. It was cute. Some nice dancers to look at … boy, dancers have lots of muscles! Is that you are getting yours … your profile picture … haha.”

The same exhibit includes another message Handscomb sent in August 2010 inviting the former student to coffee. That September, the exhibit shows the teacher wrote: “Hey, how come I don’t get to see you on stage in your underwear??????”

Disciplinary action taken by the college was based on a joint submission of penalty by counsel representing the college and Handscomb. The action against him includes a verbal reprimand by the panel, a requirement to complete a course on professional boundaries, and a 20-day suspension, which Handscomb already served in 2011.

The suspension in 2011 was a result of a TDSB investigation into the same allegations. A June 2011 letter from the board states that Handscomb’s behaviour was “unacceptable and constitutes professional misconduct.”

When a teacher is found guilty of professional misconduct, parents of students of that teacher are typically not informed by the board unless a criminal charge is laid, according to a TDSB spokesperson.

During the hearing, Handscomb’s counsel, Heather Ann McConnell, said that as the artistic director of the school, Handscomb often acts as principal in his absence and that the “school board has continued to trust him,” and further that the board “has not found a need to remove him from his position.”

As an openly gay teacher, McConnell said, Handscomb is a “role model for students questioning their sexuality.” But McConnell went on to say that Handscomb “struggled” with dealing with the student’s issues.

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The college’s deputy registrar told the Star after the decision that sexual orientation as “irrelevant” to the case.

“If a kid came and said, ‘In my heterosexual relationship I have questions about x,’ and the teacher responded in the same way, we would have the equivalent case,” Joe Jamieson said in an interview. Jamieson was previously the director of investigations and hearings at the college for five years.

The college developed an advisory on social media three years ago, underlining the threats that informality can pose online, said Jamieson.

“There needs to be a real heightened awareness about the vulnerabilities for both parties,” he said. “Of course, the teacher holds 100 per cent responsibility for it as the professional.”