Donald Arthur Curtis

WINGS Note: Donald Arthur Curtis is from Ontario, Canada and is no relation to Donald Marc Curtis of Colorado.

On 26 January 2005 Curtis pleaded guilty to having child pornography in his possession between the approximate dates of 24 March 2002 and 24 March 2003. He also pleaded guilty to a breach of one term of his recognisance of not having contact with minors except under certain circumstances, as he accepted employment in a music store where he was in contact with young people.

On 31 January 2005 he was sentenced to incarceration for 141 days, which was suspended, followed by probation for 3 years including

• having treatment at the Bellwood Health Services Center;
• during the first 12 months of probation not having contact with any person under 14 unless an adult was present.

Curtis’ registration as a teacher was revoked on May 31, 2005, after he was found guilty of professional misconduct, due to having child pornography in his possession between the approximate dates of 24 March 2002 and 24 March 2003. The decision of the Discipline Committee of the Ontario College of teachers was published in ‘Professionally Speaking.’

https://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/september_2005/bluepages_10.asp

Member: Donald Arthur Curtis
Registration Number: 286873
Decision: Certificates Revoked

A panel of the Discipline Committee held a public hearing May 31, 2005 into allegations of professional misconduct against Donald Arthur Curtis. Curtis was certified to teach in 1961 and was employed as an occasional teacher by the Halton District School Board. The member attended the hearing and was represented by counsel.

Curtis faced seven allegations of professional misconduct related to his criminal conviction on charges of possessing child pornography.

The panel received an agreed statement of facts and guilty plea in which Curtis admitted that in January 2005 he had pleaded guilty in criminal court to a charge that during a one-year period ending in March 2003 he was in possession of graphic computer images of child pornography.

Curtis had also pleaded guilty to breaching one of the terms of his recognizance previously imposed by the court in connection with the child pornography charges. Before his trial, while free on his own recognizance, Curtis had accepted a job in a music store in which he sometimes gave lessons to young people without another adult present.

The courts sentenced Curtis to a jail term of 141 days, which was suspended, and a three-year period of probation.

Counsel for the College suggested that the panel revoke Curtis’ Certificates of Qualification and Registration. Counsel noted that the images of child pornography that were found in Curtis’ possession numbered in the thousands and reminded the panel that Curtis had breached the terms of his recognizance by being alone with a child under the age of 14 to give music lessons.

Counsel for the member asked the panel to suspend Curtis’ Certificates of Qualification and Registration for two years on the grounds that the member was seeking treatment for a sexual addiction, that there was no evidence that he had engaged in inappropriate behaviour with any student, and that Curtis was remorseful. The member’s counsel also asked that publication of the hearing in Professionally Speaking not include Curtis’s name.

The panel found Curtis guilty of professional misconduct and ordered that his Certificates of Qualification and Registration be revoked and that the findings and order of the panel be published with the member’s full name.

In its written decision, the panel accepted the evidence in the agreed statement of facts that Curtis had been convicted of possessing child pornography and that he had breached his recognizance prohibiting contact with minors unless an adult was present. The panel was not persuaded that embarrassment to Curtis constituted a compelling reason not to publish his name in Professionally Speaking and decided the seriousness of his offences justified publication.

The decision of the panel appears on the College’s public register.