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Accused by a student of sadistic crimes and facing the prospect of never stepping in a classroom again, a veteran B.C. high school teacher with a spotless record decided to fight.

What emerged during an arbitration hearing earlier this year was a case of extraordinary deception by the student. Her descriptions of sexual and violent encounters? Lifted from scenes from a popular TV cop show. The diary that purported to describe years of sickening abuse? Fake.

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By the time the student’s testimony was over, it became clear “to everyone,” the arbitrator wrote in a July decision, that the student could not be believed and that the fired teacher must be “made whole as soon as possible.”

The case, details of which have not been previously reported, offers a window into the handling of teacher-misconduct allegations and the challenges teachers face in restoring shattered reputations.

While there is no hard data on how often false accusations occur, education watchers said the case illustrates a need for school districts to ensure such allegations are investigated thoroughly and fairly. (While school districts do not have the power to revoke or suspend teaching certificates — that falls to provincial teachers’ colleges or ministries of education — they can suspend or dismiss teachers).