Former Alberta superintendent loses credentials for snooping on diploma exams, falsifying grades
CBC
A former superintendent of Catholic schools in Red Deer, Alta., lost his professional credentials last year for falsifying student grades and snooping on diploma exams — the first recorded case of its kind in the province.
"You purposefully inserted yourself into a situation where you had a clear conflict of interest and abused the authority you had as a teacher and teacher leader," Paul Mason was told in a letter from Alberta Education last April.
Mason's behaviour was "highly unprofessional and represented a significant breach of trust," the letter said.
It explained that the government had cancelled Mason's superintendent leadership certificate, leadership certificate and permanent professional certificate, effective immediately.
The information was revealed in December on the province's teacher registry website.
Alberta Education says it is the first case on record of the government permanently revoking a superintendent's teaching credentials as a result of a committee's disciplinary finding.
Mason was fired by the board of Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools in February 2020 after more than eight years in the role.
The board provided no rationale at the time but the firing happened during an investigation by Alberta Education's registrar. Results of the hearing that followed the investigation are now posted to the province's online teacher registry.
Mason did not respond to phone or email requests for an interview.
A practice review committee held a hearing in Edmonton from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, 2022.
The three-member panel found Mason breached security protocols by unsealing, perusing and then photocopying math and English language arts diploma-exam questions he had no professional reason to see.
Mason told the committee he immediately shredded the copies he made but the panel found he had withheld information about the security breach from Alberta Education.
Diploma exams are standardized tests worth 30 per cent of a student's final grade in academic Grade 12 courses. The government has strict rules about how educators must handle and administer the exams. Copying the material is forbidden.
A provincial guidebook says superintendents are responsible for ensuring division staff report any irregularities or breaches to the province.
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