A former Grand Erie District School Board trustee has filed a public complaint against the board over its handling of the situation with ousted trustee Carol Ann Sloat.
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John Harris, who represented Norfolk on the school board from 2014 to 2018 and is a parent of Grand Erie students, said he pointed to the section of the code of conduct that “encourages members of the public to report any knowledge or suspicion of wrong doing ” when filing his complaint with the board on Nov. 17.
The complaint was spurred by a divisional court ruling two days earlier that quashed four decisions the board made against Sloat that banned her from board and committee meetings for a year, calling them “unreasonable,” “excessive and punitive.”
Referencing the ruling, Harris suggested that the chair, vice-chair and two other trustees who brought the complaints against Sloat violated the trustee code of conduct in seven instances relating to integrity, respect, responsibility, relationships, wrongdoing and reprisals.
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“I spent a lot of time advocating for members of the community,” including helping families access educational assessments and student supports they need, Harris told The Spectator in a call on Tuesday.
To see “all this money being spent on something the courts are saying is trivial, is unintelligible,” he said about court costs.
“That money could be going to supporting the community, supporting the needs of students and addressing the actual learning environments in classrooms. That’s what (the trustees) were elected to do,” he said.
He pointed to the public outrage surrounding the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board’s trip to Italy to buy art for new schools on the taxpayer tab.
“If the Catholic board situation deserves a ministry investigation, the public board situation deserves that even more … a court said they’re not focusing on their core mandate. That’s worse.”
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It’s unclear if the board plans to respond to this public complaint.
It did not come up at last week’s board meeting, and chair Susan Gibson’s annual report on investigations of reports of wrongdoing dated Nov. 25 stated “there is nothing to report at this time.”
The Spectator reached out to the board for comment on the complaint and if they plan to address it and received a reply that said: “The process you referred to under the Trustee’s Code of Conduct is a highly confidential process.”
When The Spectator asked the Ministry of Education if or how they plan to respond to the public complaint, officials said it is “a legal matter between the school board and the trustee,” and as such, the ministry “is not directly involved.”
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Nov. 25 marked the first board meeting following Sloat’s court victory, but her participation was limited, as her attempts to ask questions during the meeting were shut down.
When Sloat called a personal point of order, Gibson referenced a “personnel matter addressed in camera” as to why Sloat was “not being recognized.”
The board wouldn’t say how long these latest sanctions will last, or what caused them.
“These are highly confidential issues involving personnel matters and are fully known to trustee Sloat. The board will not share further details out of respect for privacy and legal obligations,” Ryan Strang, senior manager of communications and community relations for the board, told The Spectator in an email.
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“The courts have determined that there was no wrongdoing. So why are we continuing to go down this road?” Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady said in a call with The Spectator on Nov. 26.
She called the continued silencing of Sloat “concerning.”
“If there’s something we’re missing, then someone should tell us. But otherwise, this looks really, really bad to the taxpayer who has elected (Sloat) to sit around the board table and speak on their behalf or ask questions on their behalf. It doesn’t sit well with people. And folks are paying attention,” she said.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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