FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report

The Lester B. Pearson School Board has cleared an art teacher at Westwood High School’s junior campus in St. Lazare of any wrongdoing in the wake of an internal investigation looking into charges that he sold his students’ artwork on his website.

The board also announced last Wednesday that it was no longer the target of a lawsuit by the students’ parents after issuing a public apology.

The announcement put an end to a year-long drama that began when several students made a chance discovery that their art appeared to be on sale on teacher Mario Perron’s website. The controversy also put the St. Lazare school on the international map, thanks to widespread media coverage that made headlines as far away as Australia and China.

In March 2024, 10 parents filed a $1.5-million lawsuit against Perron and the school board, claiming the students’ artwork was listed for sale on a website by Perron without their permission, thus violating copyright laws.

The suit demanded that Perron be disciplined with a possible dismissal, and requested an official apology from Perron and the school board, as well as the removal of the students’ artwork from the website.

In its statement, the board announced that it had looked into the case and ruled that Perron’s only crime was committing an error in good faith. He was sanctioned with unspecified disciplinary action.

The board admitted Perron had uploaded the students’ artwork to his website as part of an assignment on editing photos and had unknowingly added price tags to the students’ work while failing to notice the marketing template on the website. The board said its investigation concluded that Perron never sold any of the work and did not make any money.