Long-time Barrie catholic high school teacher suspended for verbal, emotional abuse towards students
Warning: This story includes details that may be disturbing to readers.
A high school teacher in Barrie has been suspended for seven months following years of inappropriate behaviour towards students, which began in 2019.
The Ontario College of Teachers' discipline committee rendered Michael Corradetti, a teacher employed by the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, guilty of professional misconduct based on the statement of uncontested facts and a plea of no contest during a recent hearing.
Corradetti admitted to several comments deemed inappropriate made to students during the 2019-20 school year.
"What do you want to be? A terrorist?" he asked a male student.
He told his class he "would not acknowledge the pronoun 'ze' or any pronoun other than he/she."
Corradetti also told students there were only two genders and wouldn't acknowledge other genders or gender identifiers. He said people who identify as gender-neutral were stupid.
In front of his class, he asked a female student if she was up late watching Asian porn on her phone.
During the 2020-21 school year, Corradetti made two podcasts publicly available online, with content the discipline committee deemed inappropriate.
Included in the podcast, Corradetti referred to several students by self-given nicknames such as "Gerbil" because of the student's size and "El Chapo" because he looked like he should be in the Mexican cartel. However, he was sure the student wasn't Mexican.
He also admitted on the podcast to asking his class if they use Snapchat for the "dirty stuff or the R-rated stuff?"
That same school year, Corradetti showed his students a video he recorded of himself saying he would be the first person to say all lives matter after referring to Black Lives Matter.
He also recorded himself saying comments about white privilege were racist but could not take offence to the comments because he was white.
Corradetti told his students he did not understand why the "n" word was "tossed around left, right and centre" by hip hop and rap artists without consequence, but he would be in the "hot seat" if he said it.
Along with acknowledging the uncontested facts, which is professional misconduct as defined in the Ontario College of Teachers Act, Corradetti pleaded no contest to allegations of verbal, psychological or emotional abuse and engaging in sexual misconduct.
Within 90 days of the order, June 28, Corradetti must enrol in and complete coursework regarding classroom communication and cultural sensitivity at his own expense.
CTV News reached out to Corradetti for comment, but he denied the request based on the advice of his union representative, who said commenting could result in further reprimand.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
What we've learned so far in the Trump hush money trial and what to watch for as it wraps up
Testimony in the hush money trial of Donald Trump is set to conclude in the coming days, putting the landmark case on track for jury deliberations that will determine whether it ends in a mistrial, an acquittal — or the first-ever felony conviction of a former American president.
Sentencing trial set to begin for Florida man who executed 5 women at a bank in 2019
Zephen Xaver walked into a central Florida bank in 2019, fatally shot five women and then called police to tell them what he did. Now 12 jurors will decide whether the 27-year-old former prison guard trainee is sentenced to death or life without parole.
'How do you get hypothermia in a prison?' Records show hospitalizations among Virginia inmates
The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: "unbearable" conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia.
Helicopter carrying Iran's president suffers a 'hard landing,' state TV says without further details
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating.
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
The secret Italian lakes that most tourists don't know about
Italy has dozens of secret smaller lakes that boast superb scenery, unknown to mass tourism, where locals get together on day trips and enjoy picnics.
Flammable kids' sleepwear, salmonella-contaminated chips: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for various items this week, including kids' bassinets, chips, and stoves. Here's what to watch out for.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.