Lawsuit dropped against Quebec teacher accused of selling students’ artwork online

After a Montreal-area school board faced a nearly $1.6 million lawsuit alleging that student artwork was being sold online by a teacher without their knowledge, the situation has been resolved. The Lester B. Pearson School Board announced that they are no longer being targeted by the lawsuit, as it was determined that the teacher in question, Mario Perron, made an honest mistake.

The lawsuit, filed by ten Montreal-area parents in March 2024, claimed that their children’s classroom artwork was being sold as prints or on various products without their consent. The prices for these items were as high as $113 US, causing outrage among the parents.

However, after conducting an investigation, the school board found that Perron had uploaded the images of the students’ artwork to his personal Pixels/Fine Arts America page as part of an educational activity on photo editing techniques. The teacher failed to realize that a marketing template on the website had been activated, mistakenly adding price tags to the students’ work.

The board clarified that Perron did not intend to profit personally from his students’ work, as alleged in the lawsuit. They confirmed that none of the drawings or products were actually sold, and Perron did not receive any money from the incident. As soon as he was made aware of the situation, Perron took immediate steps to correct it and remove any student drawings or products that may have been offered for sale.

In response to the incident, the school board imposed a disciplinary sanction against Perron, although the details of the sanction were not disclosed. They emphasized that the teacher remains dedicated to the success and learning of his students.

The parents who initiated the lawsuit have since dropped their legal action against Westwood Junior High School. Both parties have agreed not to comment further on the matter due to a confidentiality agreement.

Overall, the school board and teacher have apologized for the situation experienced by the students and their parents, reiterating that it was an error made in good faith. Moving forward, steps will be taken to prevent such misunderstandings in the future and ensure that student artwork is used appropriately for educational purposes.