A middle school teacher in the Saanich School District (SD63) had his teaching certificate suspended and was fired from the school district following instances of professional misconduct.

In a decision posted Tuesday, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation (BCCTR) said it suspended Alex Chen’s teaching certificate for two weeks and ordered him to take a mandatory course after he messaged a former student over a period of two years, and after he used sick time as vacation time.

The BCCTR says Chen sent the student more than 80 emails after the student transferred schools and was primarily the one to initiate conversations – including one message that was sent at 11:55 p.m. one New Year’s Eve.

He also sent the student a gift card, recommended that the student “listen to sexually explicit music” and attended several games that the student was scheduled to play in, “in which Chen was not otherwise involved as a coach or teacher,” according to the BCCTR.

Misuse of sick time to catch a flight

In March 2025, Chen was scheduled to work the week leading up to Spring Break, and after working the Monday and Tuesday of the week (March 11 and 12), he booked the remainder of the week off as sick days.

“Chen was not, in fact, sick, but had scheduled those days off so that he could fly to Japan on March 12, 2025, for a personal vacation over the spring break period,” according to the BCCTR.

His vacation came just one day after the Saanich School District issued Chen a letter of discipline for allegedly filming personal social media content during work time.

In the social media content, Chen identified himself as a teacher at the school and used artwork, thank-you cards and gifts that were made by or given to him by students without their permission to do so.

“In the course of the District investigation, the District reminded Chen that creating social media content during school hours constituted time theft,” said the BCCTR.

Teaching licence suspended, employment terminated

The Saanich School District fired Chen on May 5, 2025, and made a report to the BCCTR days later on May 8.

On April 7 of this year, Chen entered into a consent resolution agreement with the BCCTR admitting to using the fake sick days for a vacation and for messaging the former student over a two-year period.

The agreement includes a two-week suspension of Chen’s teaching certificate, and he is unable to work as a teacher in the province until he completes the course “Reinforcing Respectful Professional Boundaries” through the Justice Institute of B.C.

The BCCTR says it felt a two-week suspension and the mandatory course were appropriate since “Chen’s conduct with Student A continued over a significant period of time and involved repeated violations of professional boundaries,” because he “fraudulently booked time off” using sick leave instead of vacation time just one day after he had already been disciplined for time theft related to the social media videos – and because his conduct showed a “lack of understanding of appropriate professional boundaries.”

The Saanich School District spans the Saanich Peninsula, including parts of Saanich, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney.

It’s home to about 8,000 students across eight elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools.

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