Substitute touching kids at P.E.I. schools not believed to be sexual at the time, says PSB

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.

Two incidents of a substitute teacher inappropriately touching students at different P.E.I. elementary schools "were believed to be non-sexual in nature" at the time, the province's Public Schools Branch said in an email late Thursday evening.

"These incidents were reported by different elementary schools about eight months apart (June 2023 and April 2024) and occurred during classroom games. The students involved reported Craswell touching them on their arms and stomach. Following the investigations, and based on the information available at that time, these incidents were believed to be non-sexual in nature," reads the letter from PSB director Tracy Beaulieu.

"With the new information revealed during the court proceedings, it is now clear that the incidents were sexual in nature, contrary to what was initially believed."

The email addressed to all parents and guardians comes after it was revealed in court this week that substitute teacher Matthew Alan Craswell continued working after sexually touching a student at Glen Stewart Primary School in Stratford, P.E.I. The court documents revealed Craswell bragged about his sexually abusive behaviour online and wrote about sexually touching three other girls while teaching them.

The PSB told CBC News that no one was available for an interview Friday, and it was instead focusing on parents and staff.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Craswell boasted about touching a child's nipples, saying, "I could just tell that if she was mine or I got to see her often, like a babysitting situation or something, that things would go very far and she'd be into it. As long as I went slow."

Craswell admitted to touching the child "and that the purpose of that touching was sexual," according to the documents.

Craswell, 40, was first charged last summer with possession and distribution of child pornography after the U.S.-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children flagged his internet activity.

New information came to light during the RCMP investigation, details of which were shared in court Tuesday as Craswell pleaded guilty to four charges related to child sex abuse images and the incident in which he sexually touched a young girl in a classroom in front of other students.

The court documents indicate school officials were made aware of that incident but it was not reported to police and Craswell continued to work in schools with older children after the Public Schools Branch was informed.

Few details about the June 2023 incident have been made public. The PSB confirmed in its letter it was a different school than Glen Stewart Primary. Multiple sources have told CBC News it took place at a Charlottetown school. The court documents indicate that investigation didn't continue because the girls' parents didn't want their children to be interviewed by police.

In its email to parents on Thursday, the PSB confirmed that Craswell worked off and on, primarily in high schools, until the end of the 2023-24 school year. He was suspended from teaching at all schools in the province when he was arrested on August 9 on child pornography charges. Those charges are not related to the incidents that took place at P.E.I. schools.

All schools where Craswell worked were contacted after his arrest, according to the email, and the PSB isn't aware of any other incidents.