A Toronto teacher who’s been on medical leave since the start of the academic year, but who actively campaigned for the federal election during that time, is also working in a Montreal school.

Roseline Dorcin was scheduled to teach a Grade 3/4 French immersion class at Toronto’s Earl Haig Public School starting in September but took a paid medical leave and a supply teacher was put in her place.

On Wednesday, staff at St. Monica Elementary School in Montreal’s west end confirmed Dorcin is teaching there.

Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird says the board has been “investigating these serious concerns, which, if true, would be considered sick leave abuse.”

“Earlier this week, our investigation revealed that this employee has been working at a school in Montreal,” he told the Star Wednesday. “As soon as we learned of that, we took immediate action and suspended her pay pending the outcome of our investigation.”

Contacted on Wednesday afternoon, Dorcin told the Star that someone would be commenting on her behalf, but nobody responded by Wednesday evening.

“I will not make additional comments at this time,” she told the Star. “I’ve been advised not to comment to reporters but you’ll hear my side of the story.”

According to their collective agreements, teachers on sick leave are entitled to 11 days at 100 per cent of their salary; and 120 short-term leave and disability plan days at 90 per cent of their salary.

The Star contacted the English Montreal School Board, which was surprised to learn that a teacher working for them was on medical leave from a Toronto school.

“This is news to us,” said spokesperson Michael Cohen, adding he had no details on the matter. “All we can say is that we’re going to look into it ... We can’t jump to any conclusions.”

The Star called St. Monica on Wednesday, where a staff member confirmed that Dorcin is teaching a Grade 5/6 bilingual class. The Star also requested to speak with the school’s principal, but did not hear back.

At the TDSB Dorcin goes by the name Christine Dorcin. Her full name is Roseline Marie-Christine Aline Dorcin, according to the Ontario College of Teachers. The St. Monica website says her name is Roseline Marie Christine Dorcin and that she’s a teacher-member of the school’s governing board.

The revelation that Dorcin is teaching in Montreal follows an earlier Star story about the frustrations of parents of Earl Haig students who were supposed to be in Dorcin’s class but who were still, in mid-October, being taught by a supply. A group of parents wondering about Dorcin’s whereabouts discovered social media accounts under Dorcin’s name suggesting she was living in Montreal and looking for a career change, and they shared their concerns with the principal, superintendent, trustees and the board’s director.

The online postings say she was on a sabbatical during the 2018-19 academic year and she appears to have been in a vehicle crash in the spring, which she says left her with “multiple non-life threatening fractures” — photos in June show her with a cast on her lower right arm. Pictures posted in the summer show Dorcin at all-candidates’ events in the riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, where she ran unsuccessfully on Sept. 6 for the NDP nomination. Subsequent posts suggest she worked for the party in the lead-up to the federal election.

Following publication of the Star story, the TDSB replaced Dorcin at Earl Haig, giving the full-time position to the long-term occasional teacher who had been there since late September.

Parents, whose children attend the east-end school, are pleased their kids now have a full-time teacher, but disappointed with how the matter was handled.

“We repeatedly raised our concerns to the TDSB to get this investigated and resolved as quickly as possible,” said a mother who asked not to be identified to protect the identity of her child. “As a parent, it’s hard to understand how something like this takes so long. It has never felt like our kids’ education was a priority.”

She said parents began sounding the alarm with TDSB staff in mid-to-late September after discovering the social media accounts.

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Bird, the TDSB spokesperson, said “given the burden of proof that the board faces in any employee-related investigation, there is a detailed process we must follow. We anticipate this process to be complete very shortly.”

When asked how she felt about learning that Dorcin is teaching in Montreal, the mother said she was “stunned.”

“This has blown up more than we thought it would. And it begs the question: What does it take to get them to act quickly?”