Drama teacher Jeff Jones to fight dismissal for offensive jokes

“He’s the best teacher I’ve ever had, hands down,” said Kyra Soukup, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student who was in Jones’ class this year. “The fact that he could get fired over something like this is ridiculous.”

A 2011 Star investigation showed that some teachers found to have committed sexual misconduct weren’t fired but transferred to other schools in a practice referred to as “passing the trash.”

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation confirmed that it would be filing a grievance with the board over Jones’ firing.

“We’re going to argue that it’s excessive,” said Doug Jolliffe, president of OSSTF District 12, which is representing Jones. If the grievance is turned down, the union can take the school board to labour arbitration, he said.

At the same time as Jones fights for his reinstatement at the board, a separate process has begun at the Ontario College of Teachers, which could result in Jones losing his teaching certificate.

Jones was sent home with pay in January, after a parent complained about seven pages of sexist and violent jokes she found in her child’s backpack.

The decision to fire Jones was announced at Oakwood Thursday by principal Ellen Austrom.

Students have launched a petition on Change.org, called Keep Mr Jones at Oakwood, which had 172 signatures as of Thursday evening.

Several students told the Star that the offending assignment had been around for years and that the administration was aware of it but did nothing until they received the parent’s complaint.

Last week, Austrom confirmed that this allegation was part of the investigation, but this week the board would not release any details of the investigation other than its result: Jones’ firing.

“When it comes to personnel matters, we don’t provide specific details,” said Ryan Bird, spokesperson for the TDSB.