The Ontario College of Teachers has suspended the certificate of a high school teacher for six months after a discipline committee found she engaged in professional misconduct by fostering an inappropriate personal relationship with a student, which included discussing her marital problems and sending him an article about emotional affairs. Nicola Lee was found guilty of emotional abuse, disgraceful, dishonourable, and unprofessional conduct, and conduct unbecoming a member of the teaching profession.
The decision, cited as Ontario College of Teachers v Lee, 2025 ONOCT 27 (CanLII), released on April 24, 2025, details a relationship that escalated over the 2022 to 2023 school year. Ms. Lee, who was employed as a teacher at a private school in Ontario, taught the male student in her class for two consecutive academic years and supervised him in extracurricular activities. According to an agreed statement of facts presented at the hearing, the two began spending an increasing amount of time together, leading the student’s friends to tease him about his relationship with the teacher. A publication ban protects the identity of the student and any information that could be used to identify him.
The first documented incident that raised concern occurred in late November 2022. A fellow teacher entered the school’s “green room,” a windowless room next to the theatre, to find Ms. Lee and the student alone with both doors closed. The colleague noted that Ms. Lee appeared to have been crying. Following this, the nature of their communication shifted significantly. Ms. Lee began to frequently phone, text, and send direct messages to the student on Instagram. While some of the conversation was about school related matters, it soon veered into personal territory. The student confided in Ms. Lee about personal challenges he was facing, and in turn, Ms. Lee shared deeply personal information with him. She discussed her marital issues and her father’s illness, at one point texting the student about the stress she anticipated from her husband’s return from a trip.
The boundary between teacher and student further eroded in April 2023. Over one weekend, the student, who was staying at a friend’s house without his wallet, contacted Ms. Lee for help to purchase an item, promising to pay her back. Ms. Lee agreed and arranged to meet him at a mall. There, they had lunch together at a restaurant. Afterwards, Ms. Lee drove the student in her personal car to a nearby park to pick up her own child before returning to the mall, where she helped the student make his purchase. The student then took a taxi home. This meeting outside of school for personal and financial reasons represented a significant breach of professional standards.
Later that same month, the relationship reached a critical turning point. Ms. Lee sent the student a direct message on Instagram containing a link to an article she had read about “emotional affairs.” She then told the student that she identified with the article’s contents, stating that she checked nine out of ten boxes on its checklist. This exchange fundamentally altered the student’s perception of their relationship. According to the agreed facts, while he had previously considered Ms. Lee a “friend,” the message made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
The day after sending the article, Ms. Lee texted the student to apologize. However, the student ceased all communication, no longer responding to her texts and actively trying to avoid her at school. This sudden distance became awkward and drew more attention from his peers. Ms. Lee did not accept the student’s withdrawal. She continued her attempts to communicate, stepping into his other classes to see him and trying to greet him in the hallways. When these efforts failed, she sent him a series of unanswered text messages between late April and early May 2023, telling him that she missed talking to him and repeatedly asking for his forgiveness. Her distress became apparent to her colleagues. Around May 8 or 9, 2023, another teacher saw Ms. Lee crying at school. When asked what was wrong, Ms. Lee said she was upset because the student would not speak to her and that she “couldn’t stand it.”
The school launched an investigation into the matter, which culminated in the termination of Ms. Lee’s employment on June 19, 2023. The Ontario College of Teachers then initiated its own discipline proceeding.
At her hearing on April 22, 2025, Ms. Lee, represented by counsel, entered a plea of no contest. This means she did not dispute the facts presented by the College but did not make a formal admission of guilt. The discipline panel accepted the uncontested facts and found her guilty of all three allegations. The panel determined her conduct constituted emotional abuse, noting the student was in a vulnerable position at a boarding school away from his family. It found that Ms. Lee allowed the student to develop trust in her and then “violated that trust” by sharing her personal burdens and making the relationship about her own emotional needs.
The panel also found her actions were disgraceful, dishonourable, and unprofessional, demonstrating a “significant moral failing” and a “concerning lack of professional judgment.” Her conduct was deemed unbecoming a member because she exploited her position of trust and undermined public confidence in the teaching profession. As aggravating factors, the panel cited the student’s particular vulnerability and Ms. Lee’s persistence after he attempted to end contact. In mitigation, it noted her lack of a prior discipline history and her no contest plea, which saved the time and expense of a full hearing.
As a result of the findings, the panel ordered a six month suspension of Ms. Lee’s teaching certificate. She was also formally reprimanded. Before she can return to teaching, Ms. Lee must, at her own expense, successfully complete a course on maintaining professional boundaries and appropriate communication with students. The course syllabus must be pre approved by the College’s Registrar and specifically address the misconduct outlined in her case.
Read more cases about proceedings in regulated professions here.
