Skip to content

Public school board stands firm on decision to censure trustee

'I will continue to do that to the best of my ability, and will continue to demand, without compromise, open, transparent and accountable governance from the board'
2022 0706 Mike Ramsay BG 1
Waterloo Region District School Board trustee, Mike Ramsay.

The Waterloo Region District School Board voted again last night, to confirm that trustee Mike Ramsay had breached the board’s code of conduct.

On June 6, a decision made by trustees found that  Ramsay had violated the code of conduct. sanctions were imposed in light of that breech.

Sanctions include: censorship of trustee Ramsay, barring him from attending all of last night’s board meeting, barring him from sitting in on Committee of the Whole meetings up to and including Sept. 30, 2022, and restriction of Ramsay to attend in-camera meetings or receive materials for in-camera meetings up to and including Sept. 30, 2022.

Ramsay received formal written notification of the June 6 finding and sanctions in a letter on June 8. On June 24, Ramsay exercised his right under the code of conduct to ask for reconsideration of the decision.

Ramsay was allowed to attend, but not participate in, Monday night’s virtual meeting up until trustees voted.

“Should the decision made on June 6 regarding the breech of the code of conduct, or the decision related to sanctions for that breech, be revoked or buried in any way, trustee Ramsay would be able to participate for the rest of this meeting. However, if the finding and the sanctions are confirmed, then he would not,” school board chair Scott Piatkowski said.

Before the public meeting on Monday, trustees met in a closed session to deliberate. Options available to trustees were to move to confirm, bury or revoke the decisions made on June 6.  

A motion was moved by trustee Cindy Watson during that session and seconded by Kathi Smith to revoke the decision that trustee Ramsay had breached the code. It was then brought forward in the public session for a vote.

Watson asked to speak to the motion, but Piatkowski refused.

“You cannot speak to the motion. Deliberations occur in-camera where you spoke to your motion. Now we are moving on to a public session by the code of conduct. There is no debate on this motion in a public session,” he said.  

Two-thirds of trustees confirmed the earlier decisions about Ramsay’s conduct. Trustees Smith, Watson, and Whetham voted to revoke the finding against Ramsay and to allow him to rejoin board meetings.

Ramsay spoke out ahead of Monday night’s meeting.

In a release on his Twitter, Ramsay reiterated his criticism of the decision to censure him for an alleged breach of the board’s code of conduct last February.

Ramsay wrote in his attached statement: “Folks, I am not popular with the majority of the trustees, because I don’t follow their political agenda. The abuse and weaponization of the complaint process to silence a Black Trustee whose opinions they don’t like is the result. This is not worthy of Canadian democracy.”

Ramsay says he is not permitted to give specifics about the complaint against him and believes the secrecy around it is “creating harmful speculation impacting members of the public” and himself. He believes “the complaint is motivated by disagreement with [his] positions at Board meetings and statements made by constituents.”

Ramsay, along with fellow trustee Watson, was critical of a board review of library material and recently called for a review of the use of critical race theory in school lesson plans.

Ramsay said he is not the board’s representative and that his job is to represent the public to the board and to help govern the board on behalf of residents. 

“I will continue to do that to the best of my ability, and will continue to demand, without compromise, open, transparent and accountable governance from the board,” he said.

Trustees confirmed that Ramsay did breech the code in the following sections: integrity and dignity of the office, compliance with legislation, civil behaviour, upholding decisions by refusing to accept and respect the decisions of the chair and of the board, and accusing fellow trustees of unlawful conduct.

“We will say goodbye to trustee Mike Ramsay who is not entitled to attend the rest of tonight’s board meeting,” Piatkowski said.

In a tweet on June 26, Ramsay said some officials are being asked to “leave their identities at the door.”

“Meanwhile, they are forcing parents, students, staff and myself to leave OUR identities at the door,” Ramsay wrote.

“For some, the door has been locked.”


Reader Feedback

Barbara Latkowski

About the Author: Barbara Latkowski

Barbara graduated with a Masters degree in Journalism from Western University and has covered politics, arts and entertainment, health, education, sports, courts, social justice, and issues that matter to the community
Read more