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At an Edmonton hearing earlier that month, witnesses testified about the filthy conditions in the school, substandard care for the animals, and how Buckley dismissed their concerns about student and staff allergies triggered by the animals.

Buckley did not attend the hearing, and could not be reached for comment on Wednesday or Thursday.

Buckley’s former supervisors also testified he coded eight students as having severe disabilities without assessing the students or informing their parents. By doing this, he secured $80,000 more for his school that should have gone to help other students with diagnosed disabilities, the committee said.

A forensic psychologist also testified Buckley told him he had brought another adult into the school’s music room to have a sexual encounter. The school district had contracted the doctor to do a psychiatric evaluation on Buckley when the principal made the admission, unprompted, he said.

Due to privacy concerns, the association has substantially delayed publicly releasing many written decisions by its disciplinary committees.

In its decision, the conduct committee said it found all nine hearing witnesses to be credible.

“By fraudulently accessing funds meant to provide programming for special education students, Buckley failed to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession,” the committee wrote.

They found he also failed to consider the health impacts of housing animals in unsafe and dirty enclosures. Allergic staff members said they were taking antihistamines daily because no corner of the school was free from dander. One child was hospitalized more than once with a reaction.