West Vancouver high school counsellor banned for life after child pornography conviction

A former West Vancouver high school counsellor has been banned for life from teaching in B.C. after serving a year in jail for possessing child pornography.

Joseph Scott William McLeod agreed to the permanent suspension from teaching in a signed agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation that was posted online Tuesday.

In January 2021, police searched McLeod’s home as part of an investigation into suspected offences involving images of child sexual abuse. McLeod was charged in July of that year and pleaded that August.

The West Vancouver school district suspended McLeod soon after the police investigation was opened in 2021, and later fired him. An investigation was ordered under the Teachers Act on the heels of the criminal investigation.

On Dec. 1, 2023, he was sentenced to a year in jail followed by two years’ probation. He was later ordered to comply with the Sex Offender Information Act for 20 years, an order he has appealed.

A consent resolution agreement was ordered by the commissioner on April 24, 2024, in which McLeod agreed never to apply for a job in the kindergarten to Grade 12 education systems in B.C., either public or private.

The commissioner deemed a lifetime ban appropriate because McLeod’s conduct was “at the serious end of the spectrum” and “undermined the credibility of the teaching profession by violating laws that protect minors from sexual exploitation.”

jruttle@postmedia.com