‘I am the lava, the hot stuff:’ science teacher fired for getting too touchy

We want our teachers to be creative, to find new ways to make lessons meaningful and to keep their students' attention.

But David Thomas Hobbs went too far.

How far is too far? How about asking a Grade 7 girl to lie on a desk while the science teacher rubs her legs to demonstrate the action of lava?

Or making three male students lie on one another while he squatted on them to show how pressure affects a layer of rock?

Hobbs agreed to quit teaching and have his teaching certificate cancelled, according to the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch decision released this week.

Hobbs' career crash began with an incident in February 2009 when he was demonstrating a geology lesson, the agency said.

"He positioned a female student [Student A] on her back, on top of some desks, with her legs bent," its decision said.

"Intending to be humorous, he said words to the effect 'you are the rock and I am the lava, the hot stuff.' He then used Student A to demonstrate how magma lava changes from an igneous to a metamorphic rock by rubbing her legs from her calves up to her buttocks."

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Hobbs told officials he had no recollection of rubbing the girl, only holding her by the ankle during the demonstration. But the show-and-tell brought the girl to tears, according to other students.

But Hobbs wasn't finished.

"Mr. Hobbs then had three male students lie on top of one another, after which he squatted lightly on them in order to demonstrate the impact of pressure on the bottom layer of rock," the agency's decision said.

"Two of the three male students had objected, but Mr. Hobbs said 'let’s go,' so they reluctantly participated. Mr. Hobbs then had Student A crawl past them on her hands and knees to be the heat or the magma in the demonstration. While Student A initially said 'no,' Mr. Hobbs told her 'just one more, you be the hot stuff this time.' "

Hobbs received a "letter of direction" from his school district the following month. But it wasn't until last January that he agreed to cancellation of his teaching certificate, effective July 1.

"He also agreed that he will never again apply for a certificate and will not seek employment, paid or unpaid, in a position for which a certificate is required," according to the decision.

This wasn't the only time Hobbs got too up-close-and-personal with students, the Vancouver Province reported.

He was reprimanded and had his teaching certificate suspended for three days in 2011 after admitting to inappropriate physical contact with four elementary school students, the Province said.

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In one instance, he gave a student a "wet willy," which involves licking your finger and sticking it in someone else's ear with a twisting motion. In another, he gave a student a"donkey bite," squeezing a person's knee on the pressure points. He also had a penchant for squeezing students' shoulders.

The Hobbs decision was one of three released this week by the Professional Conduct Branch.

In another, teacher Ronald Norman Bell admitted he'd sexually harassed a female colleague twice by putting his hands on her buttocks in October 2010. His teaching certificate had already been cancelled since November 2011 for non-payment of fees.

And Albert Doerksen was reprimanded for making derogatory comments to students in his class. Among other things, he compared the small space left in a learning-disabled student's binder with the student's brain capacity, compared his students unfavourably to chihuahuas and aired private parental complaints about him to his class.

Hey, at least he didn't pretend he was lava.