PEIP.E.I. will require both the province’s school boards to revamp policies around educational staff employment, including regular criminal record and vulnerable sector checks. The move comes after a former substitute teacher pleaded guilty earlier this year to sexually touching a student. Ministerial directive comes after former substitute pleaded guilty to sexually touching studentMarilee Devries · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 3:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoP.E.I. orders new policies for school staff, including those related to criminal record checksP.E.I. will require both the province’s school boards to revamp policies around educational staff employment, including regular criminal record and vulnerable sector checks. The move comes after a former substitute teacher pleaded guilty earlier this year to sexually touching a student. CBC’s Laura Meader has more.The P.E.I. government will require both the province’s school boards to revamp policies around educational staff employment, including regular criminal record and vulnerable sector checks. Education Minister Robin Croucher introduced a ministerial directive Wednesday requiring both the Public Schools Branch and the French-language school board, la Commission Scolaire de Langue Française, to “immediately update or develop new human resource policies and procedures related to education staff employment,” which will apply to both existing and new staff. The directive comes after former substitute teacher Matthew Alan Craswell pleaded guilty in April to sexually touching an elementary school student in a classroom. Craswell has also been charged with one count of sexual interference, which is the sexual touching of a person under the age of 16, in connection with another incident at a second Island school.The directive issued by Croucher states that the school boards’ policies must include:A satisfactory criminal record check prior to employment and updated criminal record checks on a rotational basis.A satisfactory vulnerable sector check prior to employment and updated criminal record check on a rotational basis.Employment checks.Annual offence declarations.Immediate disclosures.“Students’ role at school is to learn and grow, and our responsibility is to ensure that the learning environment is one that is safe and supportive,” Croucher is quoted as saying in a news release. “This new ministerial directive is a necessary step in ensuring that policies and procedures clearly define requirements and expectations for those responsible for making employment decisions and for those working in our public school system.”Opposition parties say directive is not enoughP.E.I. Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell said he welcomes the directive, but that the timeline for the school boards to comply is too long. The government says full implementation of policies and procedures is required by Sept. 1, 2026.’I think there’s still a lot of questions that need to be asked here,’ says P.E.I.’s Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell of the ministerial directive announced by the province Wednesday. (Laura Meader/CBC)”That timeline seems to be a long time away, over a year where our children’s safety is at risk in our school system,” he said.Mitchell also raised concerns about criminal record checks not being required on an annual basis.”When you look at criminal record checks or vulnerable sector checks being three years in length, a lot can happen in three years. Actually, a lot can happen in one year, as we’ve seen in the past 12 months here on P.E.I.,” he said.Green MLA Karla Bernard said the directive is not enough on its own and should be part of something more fulsome, like a sexual misconduct policy.’On its own, I don’t say it’s going to do a whole lot, it needs to be part of a bigger policy,’ Green MLA Karla Bernard says of the education minister’s special order to improve safety and protection of Island students. (Laura Meader/CBC)“It was identified as a priority that the kids would be returning to school this September with that sexual misconduct [policy] in place, which would have said where to go, what to do, who to talk to if something were to happen,” she said.”Standing on its own, it’s not really a big step forward, it’s kind of a really small thing government can do.”Bernard said she is also concerned about relying on someone self-declaring an offence.”It puts an awful lot of trust in the fact that people are going to disclose that.”PSB ‘welcomes’ ministerial directiveTracy Beaulieu, director of the Public Schools Branch, told CBC News in a statement that the PSB “welcomes” the new ministerial directive. She said criminal background checks and vulnerable sector checks have been mandatory for all new staff entering the PSB since 2011, but under the new directive the PSB will “work with law enforcement over the next few months to establish a rotational process ensuring that checks for all existing staff are maintained as current and up-to-date.”Public Schools Branch director Tracy Beaulieu, shown in a file photo, said the PSB ‘welcomes’ the new ministerial directive. (Steve Bruce/CBC)Beaulieu also outlined steps the PSB began taking this school year to address the limitations of background checks, including “international declarations and/or international criminal records checks where possible” during the hiring process. It came out in court that Craswell had also been the subject of an extradition request from South Korea in relation to allegations that he had committed a voyeurism offence while living there in September 2018, but that information wouldn’t have come up in a vulnerable sector or criminal record check. Beaulieu said that as of the 2025-26 school year, the PSB “requires all casual and substitute staff to be booked through a tracking system to monitor their status and any concerning trends between schools. Similarly, if a substitute teacher has been blocked by a school, a clear reason must be disclosed.”The directive calls for education authorities to develop the policies in partnership and consultation with education system stakeholders, including students, the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate and employee unions. A positive stepIn a statement to CBC News, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s director of education and support services, Noni Classen, called the directive a positive step.“While there is still important work ahead, we’re encouraged by the actions and commitments taken by the minister and his department,” the statement reads.P.E.I. Teachers’ Federation (PEITF) president Andy Doran said the organization provided feedback to the Department of Education on the ministerial directive.“The PEITF…will continue to collaborate in efforts that strengthen trust and accountability across the system. We will continue to collaborate with the Island’s education authorities to ensure the implementation is streamlined to limit classroom disruptions from this new directive,” Doran said in a statement. The Public Schools Branch announced in May that it had implemented a central reporting system to track all complaints regarding staff after the PSB revealed it connected the two classroom incidents involving Craswell only after he was arrested on unrelated child pornography charges.WATCH | David Jenkins speaks to P.E.I. MLAs as 3rd-party review into school safety begins:David Jenkins speaks to P.E.I. MLAs as 3rd-party review into school safety beginsIt’s been a month since David Jenkins was appointed to head up a third-party review into the handling of sexual misconduct allegations in Island schools. His work began this week, and one of his first stops was to speak to MLAs. CBC’s Nicola MacLeod was there.The directive comes as former P.E.I.’s chief justice David Jenkins carries out a third-party review of student safety, the handling of safety incidents within the province’s education authorities, and how Craswell was able to continue teaching.Jenkins was appointed by the Progressive Conservative government to head up the inquiry. He started that work in June and his final report is expected to be made public. Both the PEITF and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection noted that they have participated in consultations with Jenkins as part of the review.“We… look forward to the recommendations that will emerge from this independent review,” Classen said in her statement.Doran said the PEITF hopes the independent review “will bring recommendations for substantive and meaningful change for increasing the safety of everyone in the school system.” ABOUT THE AUTHORMarilee Devries is a journalist with CBC P.E.I. She has a journalism degree from Toronto Metropolitan University. She can be reached at marilee.devries@cbc.caWith files from Laura Meader
P.E.I. orders new policies for school staff, including those related to criminal record checks
