Teacher loses licence after sex with students
An Ottawa high school teacher has had her teaching licence revoked after admitting she had "inappropriate relations" with three male students.
Joanne Léger-Legault pleaded no contest to the allegations of professional misconduct presented to the Ontario College of Teachers discipline committee, which heard the case last year.
She admitted to having an "intimate sexual relationship" with two of her students and kissing a third student on the lips.
The Ontario College of Teachers officially stripped the licence of the former teacher of A.Y. Jackson Secondary School and Merivale High School in late September. The news was not widely known until now.
The incidents investigated involved four teenage boys and happened during school years from 2001-02 to 2005-06.
"By engaging in inappropriate relationships with, and sexual abuse of students whom she taught, the member committed acts of professional misconduct as alleged," the report read.
"The member failed to maintain the standards of the profession, committed acts that would be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional and engaged in conduct unbecoming a member.”
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board employed Léger-Legault from 2001 until June 2011, when she finished her teaching career at Merivale.
She was first investigated in 2008 following similar allegations, but it was new information from Ottawa police that led to the revoked licence.
Léger-Legault, who did not attend college hearings in May and September 2011, was an award-winning teacher honoured in 2010 for promoting French-language literary arts.
