P.E.I. school officials didn’t mishandle complaints about substitute teacher, 3rd-party review finds

WARNING: This story contains disturbing descriptions of child sex abuse. Resources and supports for anyone who has experienced sexual violence can be found at the bottom of this story.

A review of sexual misconduct at P.E.I. schools sheds new light on what school officials knew about a substitute teacher who inappropriately touched students in the classroom — and when they knew it.

The third-party investigation by former chief justice David Jenkins was ordered after Matthew Craswell pleaded guilty to sexually touching a student at a primary school. He later pleaded guilty to a second incident at a different school. 

Both incidents came to light during an RCMP investigation into unrelated charges of child sex abuse material — formerly known as child pornography. It was later revealed that both incidents were reported to school officials, but weren’t reported to police or child welfare officials because they weren’t believed to be sexual in nature.

In his comprehensive review, Jenkins characterizes Craswell as a “predator wolf in sheep’s clothing who targets vulnerability” and paints a picture of well-meaning school officials acting appropriately given the information available to them and the policies and procedures that were in place at the time.

“In my opinion, no one broke the law,” the report reads.

“School administration explained to us that — based on what they knew at the time — they did not suspect Craswell’s conduct was sexual. I would not find their judgment was unreasonable.” 

When it comes to both classroom incidents, the report underlines time and again that school staff and administrators, as well as officials with P.E.I.’s Public Schools Branch, had no reason to believe what Craswell did was sexual in nature. His conduct is characterized throughout the report by those Jenkins interviewed as inappropriate and unprofessional but not nefarious.

In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Jenkins said that was the single biggest takeaway from his investigation.

“The scope of inappropriate conduct or risk-associated conduct is broader than sexual, and it involves early-stage inappropriate conduct, boundary transgressions in the nature of grooming,” Jenkins said.

“We found that that’s a gap because it’s the early-stage conduct which builds up and can lead to sexual misconduct. So the recommendation in response to the gap is that the education authorities broaden their scope of amelioration to address that early-stage conduct so the more serious conduct is prevented.”

The report finds that, overall, school officials were diligent, responsive, handled complaints appropriately and would have contacted police or Child Protection Services if they’d suspected Craswell’s actions were sexual.

“After the criminal charges, everyone was rattled,” Jenkins wrote of his interview with one official. “The thought that, in spite of their policies and efforts, bad people get through the cracks caused her to become emotional.”

Another said, “If I had thought it was sexual, my action would’ve been entirely different.”

It was only after the investigation into child sex abuse material revealed that Craswell had bragged about those classroom incidents online that his behaviour was reconsidered through a different lens.

That evidence, Jenkins said, changed everything.

“I think it’s quite plain that we wouldn’t be sitting here today,” he said.

“The school administrators acted based on the information that they had at the time. They’re not prescient, they couldn’t have known, they couldn’t see inside his brain either. They had to go by what they had.”

The Public Schools Branch had told CBC News when Craswell’s crimes were first made public that both classroom incidents involved students being touched on the stomach and leg. 

But when an agreed statement of facts connected to the 2023 incident at West Kent Elementary School was released last week, it was revealed Craswell touched “the area of [a child’s] breasts and vagina.” When those documents were released, CBC News asked the PSB to clarify what officials knew about that complaint and when, but didn’t receive a response.

According to interviews Jenkins conducted with school staff and administrators, as well as police, what was reported to officials at the time was much less egregious than what later came out in court and in police interviews.

“All agree — police and administrators — that the student’s statement given to the police much later on — that described grabbing of vagina — would obviously have caused any administrator to call the police right away,” the report reads.

Jenkins review of P.E.I. school safety finds gaps, but says sexual misconduct not rampant

The report does highlight a lack of staffing and resources at the PSB — in particular in the human resources department — and cautions that a similar incident could happen again if changes aren’t made.

“It is not realistic to expect the few overworked personnel in HR management to keep everything in their memory bank,” Jenkins writes.

“Unless there is an effective institutional response — read funding and staffing — it is predictable that even with introduction of other measures the risk of incidents akin to Craswell breaching the system defenses will remain.”

The report makes several other recommendations, including enhancing the process for new hires; clarifying the definitions of terms like sexual misconduct, inappropriate conduct, and abuse; clarifying what is and isn’t acceptable staff behaviour; and monitoring and tracking incidents, even those that aren’t reportable.

The province had already introduced several changes before the report was made public, including increasing security checks for school staff and implementing a centralized tracking system, which is expected to be up and running in April.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence here’s where to get help: