TORONTO (CANADA)
Toronto Star [Toronto, Canada]
September 9, 2022
By Kristin Rushowy
Ryan Imgrund alleged to have sent shirtless photos, communicated inappropriately with female students.
Ryan Imgrund, a former York Catholic teacher, is accused of inappropriate behaviour with five female students — including sending shirtless photos of himself to one of them — when he worked at a Newmarket high school, the Ontario College of Teachers alleges.
Imgrund, who resigned from the college last June, worked as a department head teaching and coaching.
A detailed notice of hearing posted on the college’s website alleges that Imgrund “abused a student or students psychologically or emotionally … sexually … and/or engaged in sexual abuse of a student or students.”
The notice of hearing alleges that while out of town for a provincial competition, “the member interacted in an inappropriate manner with members of the girls’ team,” including personal group messages sent late in the evening and in the early morning hours.
The notice of hearing also accuses him of inviting the girls to go down to the pool with him, banging on his hotel room ceiling — the floor of their room — when they didn’t message him back, and calling them in the early hours.
During the 2021 school year, he is also accused of sending one student “numerous text, email and/or social media messages of a personal nature,” including shirtless photos of himself. In one message, the notice of hearing alleges he wrote, “If you don’t say I’m good looking, I’ll cry,” and that he also requested and received photos from one student, including one in her bathing suit.
Imgrund is also accused of practising one-on-one with three of the student athletes, using a “technique requiring the students to push their buttocks up against him,” the notice of hearing says.
None of the allegations in the notice have been proven, and a disciplinary hearing has yet to be scheduled.
Imgrund could not be reached for comment either by phone or direct messages on Twitter by Star reporters.
Neither the girls, nor the school, are identified in the notice.
Imgrund, who was a teacher for almost two decades, is active on social media as a self-described biostatistician. He has garnered a large following during the pandemic with his sometimes controversial commentary.
He has also been a frequently cited source for pandemic-related news, including in the Star, where his data was used for stories on COVID risk assessment, among others.
The College of Teachers also accuses him of having “yelled at and/or scolded” one student when she didn’t respond to his messages, practising alone with her and trying to get her schedule changed so she would be in his class, the document states.
He also asked that same student to borrow her shorts for Halloween as well as taking her on “long drives alone in his personal vehicle” to and from his home so she could babysit, the notice of hearing alleges. The document also alleges he sent the other students personal messages, tried to FaceTime and followed one on Instagram.
Imgrund also sent messages asking one girl questions about her boyfriend, offered to take her to work and pick her up, and sent her Twitter messages, the notice of hearing alleges.
He is also alleged to have driven students in his car “at high rates of speed,” told them to call him by his first name and told students in his class that “this is a cool zone. You can swear,” the notice of hearing alleges.
With files from Isabel Teotonio
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy