An early childhood educator in Thornhill, Ontario, has had her license suspended for eleven months after a disciplinary panel found she physically and emotionally abused a two-year-old in her care and then created a false report to conceal her actions. The Discipline Committee of the College of Early Childhood Educators, in a case cited as College of Early Childhood Educators v Mahnaz Mona Ghavidel, 2025 ONCECE 6 (CanLII), found Mahnaz Mona Ghavidel guilty of professional misconduct for pinching the toddler, causing a bruise, and then lying to both the child’s mother and her employer about the origin of the injury.
The incident occurred on March 29, 2023, during lunchtime at the Thornhill campus of Central Montessori School, where Ghavidel was employed as a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE). According to an Agreed Statement of Facts presented at the hearing, Ghavidel became frustrated with a two-year-old child after the toddler pushed objects on a table, causing a water bottle to fall. In response, Ghavidel reached across the table and pinched the child’s cheek with enough force to snap the child’s head back and cause them to cry out loudly. The pinch left a bruise that was still visible the following day.
Following the initial act, Ghavidel’s aggressive behaviour continued. She forcefully removed the crying toddler from their chair and roughly attempted to make them stand up three separate times. When the upset child would not stand, Ghavidel picked them up, held them against her hip, and forcibly carried them to a washroom. The incident was witnessed by several other toddlers who were in close proximity. About a minute later, she returned with the child, who was still crying, placed them on a cot, and covered their entire body, including their head, with a blanket. She then kept the child on the cot, despite it not being nap time for the class.
In an attempt to cover up her actions, Ghavidel later prepared a false accident report. In the document, she claimed the child sustained the bruise by hitting their head against the lunch table. She also falsely stated that she had administered first aid. When the child’s mother arrived for pickup, Ghavidel deliberately misled her about the cause of the bruise and presented her with the fabricated report, asking her to sign it. After securing the mother’s signature, Ghavidel submitted the false document to the Centre’s management. The child’s mother later expressed shock upon learning the truth about the incident and the falsified report.
The truth of the matter was discovered after another staff member at the Centre noticed the bruise on the child’s cheek after their nap. Finding the explanation in the accident report suspicious, the staff member asked a supervisor to review the classroom’s security video footage. The video recording captured Ghavidel’s interactions with the child, exposing the pinching and subsequent rough handling. The Centre had a clear policy prohibiting corporal punishment, specifically listing pinching as an unacceptable action. Following the discovery, York Regional Children’s Aid Society was notified and launched its own investigation, which ultimately verified the allegations that Ghavidel had used physical force against the child. Ghavidel’s employment was suspended during the investigation, and she later resigned from her position.
At her disciplinary hearing on January 31, 2025, which was held by videoconference, Ghavidel admitted to the facts and pleaded guilty to all allegations of professional misconduct. These included physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, failing to maintain the standards of the profession, acting in a manner that would be regarded as disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional, issuing a document with a false or misleading statement, and falsifying a professional record. A publication ban was ordered by the panel to prohibit the publication of any information that could identify the child or any other minors involved in the hearing.
In determining the penalty, the panel considered a joint submission from Ghavidel and the College’s counsel. The College identified nine aggravating factors, including the child’s young age and vulnerability, the forceful and aggressive nature of the abuse, the visible injury, the negative emotional impact on the child, the presence of other children, the direct contravention of the Centre’s policies, and Ghavidel’s calculated dishonesty in her attempt to conceal her conduct. The panel also acknowledged two mitigating factors: Ghavidel’s guilty plea, which saved the College the resources of a contested hearing, and her lack of any prior discipline history in her five years as a member.
The Discipline Committee accepted the joint submission on penalty. In its decision released on February 21, 2025, the panel ordered that Ghavidel receive a verbal reprimand and that her certificate of registration be suspended for a minimum of eleven months. The suspension will remain in effect until she completes several mandatory conditions at her own expense. She must successfully complete a course on positive intervention strategies and participate in a mentorship program with a College-approved mentor for a minimum of seven sessions. Two of these sessions must be completed before she can resume practice as an RECE. The panel also ordered her to pay $1,000 in costs to the College within three years. In its reasons, the panel stated that the penalty was necessary for public protection and to send a message of deterrence to the member and the profession, while also providing a path for rehabilitation. The panel reiterated its concern about the increasing number of discipline cases involving the physical and emotional abuse of young children, stressing that such actions will not be tolerated.
