A Whitehorse high school principal picked the pockets of an Ontario school board while serving as head of a small-town school, according to the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT).

Brendan Kelly, at the helm of Porter Creek Secondary School since 2009, used the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board’s credit card “to make personal purchases,” according to an issue of the OCT’s quarterly magazine from September 2003.

Kelly was the acting principal at Sioux Mountain School in Sioux Mountain, a 5,000-person community in northwestern Ontario, when he swiped the card for a real estate deal.

He also put the plastic cash toward “unauthorized professional development courses,” Professionally Speaking magazine states.

Kelly pleaded guilty in 2004 to theft under $5,000 and received a conditional discharge in the Ontario Court of Justice.

“Court heard that Brendan Kelly used public school board money to pay for a personal real estate transaction,” according to news radio website CKDR-FM, based in Dryden, Ont.

The judge ordered him to write a letter of apology and report to a probation officer for nine months.

The college of teachers launched an investigation and dispute resolution procedure following a complaint against Kelly by the school board registrar.

Kelly and the college came to an agreement where his six-month suspension would be withheld as long as he abided by certain conditions, like agreeing “not to utilize the funds or credit card of any future employer for personal purchases.”

Kelly “acknowledged that he had engaged in professional misconduct,” the college magazine states.

The Star could not trace his case through online court searches.

Conditional discharges disappear from an offender’s criminal record after three years, provided the conditions of the discharge are met.

The administrator has been on leave for the 2014-15 school year.

Porter Creek School Council chair Kerri Scholz, who was unaware of the pilfering principal’s past, said the council already “had issues with his leadership style.

“The school council has been working hard to remove him and we’re in the process of hiring a new principal,” she told the Star Thursday.

Yukon teacher certification applications include questions about criminal charges and ask specifically if the candidate has received a “conditional discharge on a criminal offence.”

Applications also inquire about past internal proceedings and disciplinary actions.

The Department of Education declined comment on whether it was aware of the principal’s history of theft and disciplinary procedures.

“I have looked into your inquiry regarding Mr. Brendan Kelly and, as you can appreciate, it would be inappropriate to comment on personnel matters as they are private and confidential,” spokesman Ronuk Modha said in an email today.

“I would like to indicate that the Department of Education does have a formal principal recruitment process that is undertaken when a new principal is hired. This process involves the superintendent and the school council and includes reference checks for shortlisted candidates, interviews of shortlisted candidates and the successful candidate is required to undergo a criminal record check,” he said.

The Star’s discovery of the principal’s past comes in the wake of mounting concerns around screening processes and student safety in the Yukon education system.

Last week, the Star reported a former teacher at a Whitehorse elementary school has a documented history of professional misconduct with adolescent boys.

The man was fired from a Catholic school board in Hamilton, Ont., more than 10 years ago after he offered alcohol to minors he knew through his role as a little league coach and served it to a boy during a parent-approved sleepover, according to an OCT decision.

The individual, who sources say lied on an application form that asked about past investigations and proceedings, was employed as a part-time learning assistance teacher for about three months, starting last December.

He recently parted ways with the Education department after Yukon Teachers’ Association president Katherine Mackwood personally informed minister Doug Graham of his prior misconduct.

“This can stem right from the teaching certification board not being able to meet under the Department of Education’s idea that because (applicants) are certified from Outside, they’re good enough here,” Mackwood said.

“I thought it was ridiculous that they hadn’t met in such a long time and that there were some issues because of it,” Graham told the Star this week.

Until the first week of March, the teacher certification board had not met in five years.

The arm’s-length body, supposed to serve as a safeguard against false credentials and flawed professional pasts, can retroactively examine new teachers’ backgrounds and “make recommendations to the minister,” the Education Act states.

Until 2010, that verification process typically occurred twice a year so that out-of-territory or foreign teachers could be validated or rejected.

“The registrar will provide the board with regular reports and recommendations on matters related to certification,” Education Act regulations state.

Kelly, who was hired in 2009, may have been among the first crop of education system recruits to avoid certification board scrutiny, as the meetings occurred up to six months after new employees were hired.

The board last met in early 2010.

“That’s my reason for dogging at them about the teacher certification board,” said board member Sandra Henderson. “We cannot trust ... human resources.”

In the absence of certification board meetings, Education’s human resources branch alone has been vetting applicants, with a second line of defence in the form of hiring boards – typically a principal and vice-principal who interview candidates and check references.

“If we cannot rely on the department to do the investigation, we have to do the investigation,” said Henderson, who has more than 50 years’ experience in education.

“Why have a teacher certification board if you’re not going to have a process to review and verify the candidates?”

“It’s that arm’s-length aspect, the neutral aspect,” said NDP Education critic Jim Tredger. “Human resources’ job is to hire people. It’s a check and a balance on that.”

He spoke to the former teacher’s past misconduct and subsequent departure from the Yukon education system.

“When something goes wrong like this, it’s hard on everybody. We need to have the checks and balances in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen.”

Much of the certification board’s five-year meeting gap was overseen by former deputy minister Val Royle and assistant deputy minister Albert Trask – who chaired the board.

Following Graham’s appointment to head of the Education portfolio last January, Royle and Trask departed the department, walking out the door for the last time in March and April respectively.

Trask shed his honorific title of “Dr.” on departmental correspondence after the Star revealed last fall that his PhD came from an unaccredited bible college in Indiana.

The official who headed the body responsible for keeping educators honest, upholding pedagogical standards for the territory and ensuring the authenticity of university degrees obtained a dubious one himself, the teachers’ association said last year.

Brendan Kelly, like Trask, launched his career in the Newfoundland and Labrador education system, starting off as a teacher at a Catholic school, according to a 2009 article in the Yukon News.

Kelly, who could not be reached for comment on his past actions, also taught at a fly-in First Nation community in northern Manitoba, worked as a First Nation education co-ordinator in Ontario and eventually rose to the rank of superintendent in a district in the southwest of that province.

An article in Tuesday’s edition said Sandra Henderson sits on the teacher qualification board, and quoted her saying it has never had a meeting on her watch.

Though Henderson does sit on that board, the sentence was meant to refer to the teacher certification board – the focus of the story – which Henderson also sits on and which did not meet between 2010 and March 2015 (unlike the qualification board, which convenes regularly).

The article also stated that a meeting of the certification board did not occur under the watch of former deputy minister Val Royle and former assistant deputy minister Albert Trask.

This was incorrect, as it met once in early March (shortly before their departures), a fact the story pointed out earlier.