The former principal of a White Rock Christian school has been suspended after he disciplined a 13-year-old girl for reporting a sexual assault by an adult male.

The British Columbia College of Teachers suspended Steven Gerald Paras in August for four months from his new job in Surrey after he pleaded guilty to professional misconduct following a number of complaints made in 2002, while he was the principal at White Rock Christian Academy, a private school for kindergarten to Grade 12 students.

The most serious was his failure to tell the police or the Ministry of Children and Family Development about the sexual assault of a 13-year-old female student by an adult male.

Instead he "detained and isolated the student in a confined space for an inappropriate period of time during the initial investigation," the college concluded in its report. He then suspended the student.

"His misconduct constituted emotional, physical, and intellectual abuse, which would cause a loss of self-esteem in the students and a loss of trust in the school system by the public," the college concluded.

The college also concluded that in the 2002 school year, Paras issued an improper assignment concerning circumcision, violated the privacy of students and made improper comments during a school assembly.

Welcome back to Surrey school: chair

Paras left the school the following year when he was hired as the vice-principal at Regent Christian Academy in Surrey, for preschool to Grade 12 students.

Marvin Hunt, a Surrey city councillor and the school's chair, said there is no reason not to welcome back Paras when he completes his suspension in January.

"Are you suggesting that we should in fact destroy the teacher's career for what was given as a penalty of four months? Should we change that penalty?" Hunt said in an interview on Tuesday.

Hunt believes the suspension is happening now because the case took about five years to wind its way through the college's discipline process.

Paras pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for:

• Making disrespectful and demeaning comments to a student during a role-playing exercise in a religious studies class.
• Making inappropriate comments during a school assembly speech.
• Violating the privacy of students by disclosing personal information to other students and parents.
• Issuing an improper assignment to students in his religious studies class concerning circumcision.
• Taking six months to grade an assignment submitted by one of his students.
• Imposing an excessive suspension on two of his students for their involvement in alcohol distribution and consumption that adversely impacted their education.