A former Vancouver school trustee says no one at the school district level knew about the rumours of sexual affairs between students and a teacher at Prince of Wales Secondary in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tom Ellison, who was once a popular instructor at Prince of Wales and the head of the school's Quest outdoor program, is on trial in Vancouver provincial court, charged with 16 counts of sexual misconduct involving students.

Tom Ellison, 63, faces 16 charges of sexual misconduct involving 12 teenage girls while he was a teacher at Vancouver's Prince of Wales Secondary School.
(CBC)

The charges of gross indecency, indecent assault and sexual assault stem from alleged incidents with 12 former female students that occurred between 1972 and 1982 while he was teaching at the school.

There has been testimony that many people at the school knew about the relationships at the time.

But Phil Rankin, who was a Vancouver trustee in the early 1980s, told CBC News Wednesday that no one in power knew anything.

"It was not common knowledge, and it wasn't percolating around in any way, shape or form."

Current Vancouver School Board Chair Ken Denike, however, who was also on the board in the 1980s, remembers things differently. He told CBC News that trustees were aware of the rumours, but no formal complaints were ever filed.

Code of silence

A former principal at Prince of Wales Secondary testified at the trial on Tuesday that he was phoned by parents in 1985, who told him their daughters had been sexually touched by a teacher involved in the school's controversial outdoor program.

But John Chalk said they would not give him more information.

"Parents would call me and say their daughter had been sexually touched by a Quest teacher. But they would not give their name or their child's," he said.

Chalk said that without names, his hands were tied as he needed to identify the students to make a formal complaint.

However, he also said that because of the phone calls and his concerns about the Quest program, he transferred Ellison to another school in 1986 and shut the program down in 1987.

Girls protected teachers

The women making the allegations said they kept their sexual encounters with Ellison a secret, afraid that speaking out could damage both the program and Ellison's reputation.

"My daughter did not want that to happen. She did not want these guys to be ratted on," said the mother of one former Quest student, who said her daughter told her what was going on.

The trial began earlier this month after a total of 12 women stepped forward with allegations against Ellison, claiming he manipulated them for his own sexual gratification.

Early in the trial, Ellison's lawyer, Bill Smart, said the charges against his client are too vague and that there have been changes in the law which give the teacher's actions a different legal meaning than they had at the time.