A West Vancouver high school career counsellor has been suspended for two months for inappropriate behaviour with a student, both before and after she graduated from Rockridge secondary.
Under an agreement with the Teachers Regulation Branch, Eddi Sponza must stay out of the classroom until the end of May.
The decision, published on the branch’s website, details how Sponza’s inappropriate conduct started after the female student, who came from a conservative background, started Grade 11 after moving to Canada in 2012.
The decision cited a number of “inappropriate interactions” between Sponza and the student in her grade 11 and 12 years including having conversations about “cultural differences in respect to particular sexual topics” and “personal questions of a sexual nature.”
Sponza also hugged the student long enough to make her feel uncomfortable and offered her private counselling outside of the school although that was contrary to the district’s conflict-of-interest policy.
At the end of the school year, when the student asked several teachers to write in her journal, Sponza kept the journal and asked for the student’s phone number so he could give it back. When the school year was over, he invited her to a park in West Vancouver to return the journal. Comments in the journal included inappropriate material, like the lyrics to Lionel Ritchie’s “Easy” which “expresses a man’s feelings as he ends a relationship” according to the decision. Sponza also added his phone number with the comment “if you ever in need…Or even if you are not.”
Sponza also sent the former student several text messages asking her out for drinks. In one of them, he wrote “Afternoon…how’s it going? Wat u doin? Time for a Christmas drink…When r u free for a drink? Downtown or West Van up to u?”
When the girl responded telling him “I don’t drink Mr. Sponza, I’m still 18 and very much under age” he wrote back telling her “Please, please call me Eddi. . . Drop the formality. Ok I’ll drink alcohol u have tea.”
According to the decision, between January and June 2011, Sponza also displayed inappropriate behaviour to a female colleague who was a new teacher, including “using inappropriate language with sexual overtones.” In June 2012, the school district reprimanded Sponza and forwarded information to the Teacher Regulation Branch for further investigation.
Dave Eberwein, assistant superintendent of the West Vancouver School District, said after the former student came forward, the district took steps to ensure students were protected. A letter went home to parents this week assuring them student safety remained a top concern.
Eberwein said Sponza is entitled to come back to his job at Rockridge, but has not indicated yet whether he intends to do that.
Attempts to reach Sponza by the North Shore News were unsuccessful.
Sponza holds a master’s degree in counselling psychology and is a certified counsellor.
