Sentencing for former Grand Erie teacher halted in court

Things got complicated Thursday during what could have been the sentencing of a former high school music teacher.

Although William (Bill) Schatz, 47, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation in January, his sentencing hearing was halted when his two lawyers turned over two thick manuscripts of case law, arguments and 84 character references.

“You have 500 pages you want me to read before sentencing?” said a surprised Justice Colette Good.

Schatz’s lawyer, Saman Wickramasinghe, took issue with several parts of a victim impact statement and one line in a report written by a probation officer. The victim wants the statement read to the court as Schatz is sentenced.

After reading over the victim impact statement, Good expressed her frustration.

“I’m being presented with a document that contains facts not proven in court,” she said, deeming them “very prejudicial.”

Good sealed the documents and ensured they would not be part of the public record while assistant Crown attorney Sean Bradley, who recently took on the case, promised to guide it through to the end.

Wickramasinghe suggested that if the matters couldn’t be resolved, they might have to be litigated with witnesses and could even lead to a request to strike Schatz’s guilty plea.

The defense also filed a notice seeking to have Schatz exempted from the usual order that he be placed on the sexual offenders registry.

It was agreed to hold off on sentencing until the end of May.

Schatz was arrested in September 2021. He was suspended from his job as a music teacher at Pauline Johnson Collegiate in Brantford because of bail restrictions that stated he couldn’t be around anyone under 18 unless supervised and no female 17 or younger.

He eventually pleaded guilty to a relationship that began with a student 20 years earlier that had already been dealt with by the Ontario College of Teachers.

According to an agreed statement of facts that was tendered as evidence in the case, Schatz, then 25, became good friends with a 17-year-old student and, with the consent of her parents, often slept over at the teen’s home, sharing a bed.

The statement said although there was sexual activity between them, they did not have “penetrative sex” until the girl turned 18.

Their relationship continued for more than another year.

Complaints were made about Schatz’s relationship with that teen and other students, and he was suspended by the Grand Erie District School Board for about a month in 2002.

Although he was reinstated in January 2003, the complaints were passed along to the college of teachers, which also investigated Schatz. The college agreed to take no further steps if he would complete a course about appropriate boundaries with students.

In 2021, the adult woman and Schatz encountered each other again and the woman told an employer about her old relationship with Schatz.

That person reported the conversation to the school board, which contacted the police, and an investigator spoke to the woman, who didn’t want to pursue criminal charges.

But, five months later, the woman agreed to speak with police and charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation were ugly. Schatz was also suspended by the school board.

Schatz was the head of the arts department at Pauline Johnson school, artistic director for a local choral group and involved in music ministry at several area churches.

A spokesperson for the school board said in January, with the case in court, it was expected that the college of teachers would initiate a process that may result in Schatz’s teaching certificate being revoked.

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