TORONTO -- An Ontario teacher who called a student teacher "not that bright" and compared her to a cow was the subject of a harassment complaint and later received a two-month suspension.

Timothy Bradley's suspension was ordered at a June 24 disciplinary hearing of the Ontario College of Teachers after he pleaded guilty to five counts of misconduct, including disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional conduct.

The suspension stemmed from the teacher's treatment of a student teacher who was placed with him at his school in London, Ont. in 2015.

According to an agreed statement of facts that was presented at the hearing and recently made public, the first words Bradley ever spoke to his student teacher were "You're Polish; I hate Polish people," immediately after which he turned and walked away.

Later that day, Bradley twice had Polish-speaking students introduce the student teacher in Polish, without translating. He also asked to feel the student teacher's hand, the statement says – adding after he touched it that it was "not sweaty or cold, so you're good."

The statement details a continuing pattern of similar behaviours over the course of the student teacher's first week, including saying she was "not that bright" and "like a cow that chews slowly." The following day, Bradley asked the student teacher if he could call her by his wife's name because he felt they both overthought things. The day after that, he called her and another student teacher "losers" because they were late to a professional development presentation, then scrolled through another teacher's phone and blamed it on the student teacher.

Bradley does not dispute any of the facts set out in the statement.

"(Bradley) made a number of inappropriate comments about (the student teacher)'s cultural background, he embarrassed her in front of students, and he repeatedly made inappropriate contact with (the student teacher), which (was) found to be both harassing and sexual in nature," the teaching regulatory body wrote in its decision.

After her third week at the school, the student teacher filed a harassment complaint, which resulted in Bradley being suspended for one week, ordered to take a course about professional boundaries and banned from being involved with student teachers for as long as he remained at the London Catholic District School Board.

When the case made it to the Ontario College of Teachers four years later, lawyers representing Bradley and the college agreed that a fair penalty would be a reprimand, another course on sensitivity and boundaries, and a two-month suspension.

The college's hearing panel, though, threw a wrinkle into that plan. A two-month suspension issued in late June would essentially see Bradley through the summer, when he was already planning on being out of the classroom. Over the objections of lawyers from both sides, who argued that Bradley had not caused any further problems and showed signs of remorse, the panel ordered that the suspension start in September.

The suspension took effect Sept. 3, but was put on hold eight days later when Bradley filed an appeal of the penalty. Until that appeal is heard, he is considered to be a teacher in good standing.