Trustee Mike Ramsay is accusing the Waterloo Region District School Board of attempting to "silence" him.
He called the situation "unbelievable."
In a meeting Monday night, the board voted to bar Ramsay from meetings until September 30, after deciding he breached the code of conduct in a 6-3 vote.
In an email to CityNews 570, Chair Scott Piakowki said, "There will be no information shared about the details of the complaint or the report of the Integrity Commissioner, both of which are confidential.
WRDSB has also not made a recording of last night's meeting publicly available, though the report was shown to trustees in a closed session.
Ramsay said he's seeking legal advice.
"I've already indicated that I waive my rights to any privacy on that because I think the public needs to know. I'd be more than happy for all the information to be out in the public domain and let the community decide," he said.
According to Ramsay, the complaint had to do with his social media activity and it ran 36 pages.
"Simply, it's just tweets and retweets of articles, commentary on social media. They felt that it was a breach of the code of conduct," he said.
"It came from one my colleagues. I don't believe she wants her name released. If I was complaining about someone, I'd be more than happy to make it very clear where the complaint is coming from."
Ramsay was part of a committee that reviewed the code of conduct policy.
"I now believe that the true purpose of the complaint is to weaponize the policy in order to silence a dissenting voice," he said.
Ramsay has been on the opposing end of the majority of his colleagues on some contentious issues.
He expressed support for Carolyn Burjoski, a former teacher who filed a defamation suit against the WRDSB after she was accused of transphobia.
He had maintained Burjoski had been talking about the age appropriateness of children's library books.
He also recently supported a motion to review anti-racist lesson plans.
"I am disappointed that my colleagues, or at least six of my colleagues feel threatened enough that feel that what they're doing can nullify the over 10,000 votes that I received in the last election," he said.
Ramsay, who's served six terms and is a former Chair of the WRDSB, is unsure of whether he'll run again in the fall.
"Parents, students, and frontline educators, especially, should be concerned about what is happening because much of this is being done in secrecy," he said.
"I'm reviewing my options, in terms of getting the entire copy of the complaint out into the community, a copy of my response, and a copy of the integrity commissioner's report. I think it would be really helpful, with regards to the conversations that need to be taking place in our community."
Late Tuesday morning, the board released the following statement:
The Waterloo Region District School Board held a Special Board meeting on June 6, 2022, to deal with a Trustee Code of Conduct Complaint. Earlier in the evening, Trustees met in closed session to deal with a confidential report from its Integrity Commissioner with respect to a complaint filed in late February 2022. The complaint alleged that Trustee Mike Ramsay had breached the Trustee Code of Conduct.
The Education Act authorizes school boards to adopt a code of conduct for trustees that provides a mechanism for boards to hold trustees accountable through enforcing their code of conduct at the local level.
The WRDSB Code of Conduct process was followed and the Board engaged the services of an Integrity Commissioner to conduct an investigation. The Integrity Commissioner conducted a formal review which included interviewing the complainant, Trustee Ramsay, and other Trustees and also reviewed relevant documents.
The confidential report of the Integrity Commissioner is a finding of facts and does not make any recommendations. Per Board Policy G201, the Board of Trustees are responsible to determine whether the Code of Conduct has been breached and, if so, whether any of the sanctions available to Trustees will be imposed. The Board of Trustees meeting which reviewed the report was held in private session arising from the requirements of the Education Act. As the report was a part of the private in-camera session, it cannot be shared publicly as per the Act. The Education Act also requires that all resolutions involving determination of a breach of the Code of Conduct and any sanction imposed by the board is to be held in public session.
During the public session, Trustees voted 6-3 (the required 2/3 majority) in support of the motion indicating that Trustee Ramsay had breached the Code of Conduct. The following sanctions were applied as a consequence of the breach:
- Censure
- A ban on attending Committee-of-the-Whole Meetings until September 30, 2022.
- A ban from attending the Board meeting scheduled for Monday, June 27, 2022.
- A ban from attending in-camera meetings and from receiving in-camera materials until September 30, 2022.
“As public officials, school board trustees are duty bound to be accountable to the public and the WRDSB Code of Conduct is our tool to ensure public accountability,” Scott Piatkowski, Chair, WRDSB Board of Trustees.
