B.C. band teacher banned for life over years of misconduct

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A Vancouver band instructor has lost his right to ever teach again over a history of inappropriate behaviour and failure to maintain professional boundaries with students.

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In a decision posted online Tuesday, a three-person panel cancelled the teaching certificate of David Joseph Lamb after a hearing ordered by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

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Lamb is now 68 years old and in frail health, but the discipline was entered into the record for the “protection of the public interest.”

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Lamb, who began teaching music at David Thompson Secondary School in 2004, was disciplined repeatedly during his career for his dealings with students, including trying to “build an improper personal relationship” with a female student that included excessive compliments, gift-giving, chats about personal matters and “emotionally manipulating her for his personal goals.”

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As Lamb didn’t participate in the hearing, the decision was reached based on his lengthy disciplinary history, its negative effect on students and the teacher’s lack of insight into or remorse for his conduct.

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The disciplinary panel noted the following:

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• In June 2006, he was warned about “the need to treat students respectfully and to demonstrate professional teacher-student relationships.”

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• In October 2009, he got another “letter of expectation” about “the need to maintain professional teacher-student boundaries and treat students in a respectful way.”

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• In May 2011, he got a letter of discipline about “violating the professional boundaries of a teacher towards students.”

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• In February 2012, he was warned not to have students in his office at any time, not to drive students to school or personal events, not to eat meals with students on or off school property, not to talk or text with students by cellphone and not to conduct music practices in the evening without telling administrators.

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Those led to a 2014 consent resolution agreement in which Lamb admitted to a “wide range of professional boundary violations, including involving himself in students’ personal lives.” He received a reprimand and was ordered to complete a course on professional boundaries.

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“These remedial steps did not, however, improve (Lamb’s) conduct. He was next disciplined in October 2018 when the district gave him a disciplinary letter and suspended him without pay for one day.”

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The improper conduct continued even after the regulation branch opened an investigation in 2019, and his behaviour “negatively impacted students in significant ways.”