A British Columbia teacher has been prohibited from teaching for a minimum of eight years after admitting to professional misconduct for engaging in a sexualized relationship with a former student, which originated on the dating application Grindr.
The Inappropriate Connection
The case involves Adam Richard Macdonald, who was teaching at a school within a specific district. The situation began in January 2016 during a multi-school field trip where Macdonald and the student, who was 17 years old at the time, first interacted. Macdonald was unaware the student attended a school in his same district.
After a period of no contact, the two connected on Grindr in June 2016. The student was still 17 but had falsely claimed to be 18 to access the adult-oriented platform. Their communication resumed more consistently during the 2016-17 school year, while the student was in Grade 12, with the pair corresponding weekly on the app.
Escalation to a Physical Relationship
After realizing they had previously met on the field trip, Macdonald and the student continued their conversations, eventually moving their communication to Instagram and then to text messaging after Macdonald provided his personal phone number.
The relationship turned physical in the summer of 2017, after the student had graduated and turned 18 years old. According to a consent resolution agreement published by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, the pair met at Macdonald's home where they "engaged in sexualized physical contact."
Over the following year, their physical relationship continued, involving encounters that included kissing, cuddling, and on at least one occasion, oral sex. At one point, Macdonald reportedly told the student that the school district could not intervene in their relationship because they were employed at different schools.
History of Professional Warnings and Consequences
This misconduct occurred despite Macdonald having received a formal letter from the school district in June 2016, which was the same month he first connected with the student on Grindr. The letter directed him to "establish and maintain appropriate professional boundaries with students" and explicitly instructed him not to discuss his sexual experiences with students. He was also ordered to complete a course on professional boundaries.
Macdonald signed an undertaking agreeing not to teach in February 2024 and subsequently resigned from the school district in June of that year.
In the signed agreement with the regulatory body, Macdonald admitted to both professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a teacher. He accepted an eight-year suspension of his teaching certificate, which prohibits him from working in any kindergarten through Grade 12 educational setting, whether public or independent.
The Commissioner for Teacher Regulation determined that the lengthy suspension was warranted due to several aggravating factors. These included Macdonald engaging with a person he knew was a current district student on an adult website for several weeks, engaging in sexualized physical contact with someone he knew had very recently graduated, and committing a serious breach of the power and trust inherent in his position as a teacher.
To protect the privacy of the student involved, the specific school and school district where Macdonald was employed have not been publicly disclosed.
