Former executive director of Whitehorse Montessori societies gets house arrest, curfew for stealing $53K

The former executive director of two Whitehorse Montessori societies who stole nearly $54,000 from them has received a year-long conditional sentence that will see her spend the first half on house arrest and the other under curfew. 

Emily Hood, 38, formally pleaded guilty to one count of theft over $5,000 in Yukon Territorial Court on Thursday. 

The case dates to 2019, when Hood was the executive director at both the Whitehorse Montessori Society and the Yukon Parents for Montessori Society. The societies govern, respectively, the Montessori preschool and elementary school in Whitehorse and have a joint board. 

According to the admissions of fact, Hood, between May and December 2019, claimed reimbursements for invoices she never paid and for furniture and other school supplies she never purchased. She also deposited six cheques from the societies for illegitimate "reimbursements" that all had at least one forged signature, and kept cash tuition payments from two parents for herself. 

Hood stole $53,770.35 in total. 

In victim impact statements read to the court, Montessori staff and board members said the theft had a "devastating" impact on both schools and put them into a "financial crisis" that threatened to shut them down completely. 

The situation was so dire that, in December 2019, a board member used personal funds to pay teachers because there was no money left.

Former Montessori treasurer Michelle Leach, who was one of two people who brought the situation to police, said in her statement that Hood's actions left the Montessori societies with a six-figure debt to the Canada Revenue Agency, and on the hook for months' worth of rent and invoices from local businesses that were never paid.

As a result, the elementary school had to let go of a teacher, staff didn't get raises, and materials and programming for children were reduced for two years in an effort to get finances back on track, Leach said, and the situation would have remained dire had it not been for some families donating money.

Montessori founding teacher Dominic Bradford, in a statement read in court by a Crown witness coordinator, said the situation caused undue and unneeded stress for everyone. Hood's actions also left everyone "doubly shocked" as her children attended Montessori, he said, and as a parent and employee, she knew how much time and energy went into everything. 

Bradford recounted sleepless nights and existing in a "fog of stress" as the institution tried to cope with the "destruction" of its budgets, and said he still struggles to trust people both at work and in life in general, something echoed by other staff. 

Crown attorney Andréane Côté and defence lawyer Vincent Larochelle presented territorial court judge Karen Ruddy with a joint sentencing submission, requesting that Hood be given a 12-month-long conditional sentence. 

Ruddy agreed it was appropriate, noting the aggravating factors including the breach of trust under which the theft occurred, the "devastating" financial impact and the "significant betrayal" and emotional distress felt by Hood's former colleagues. 

"The impacts are very real and lasting," Ruddy said.