'It's embarrassing and ridiculous': Father calls for dissolution of western Manitoba school board

A Métis father of two says the continued controversy surrounding a western Manitoba school board has left his family feeling alienated and he worries it will affect the education his children receive. 

"It's embarrassing and ridiculous. It is absolutely appalling and disappointing as a whole. I think it reflects poorly not only on my community but it reflects poorly on our society," said Chris Lark, who lives in Dauphin. "It's really disheartening."

Lark says he's concerned the Mountain View School Division board, which is in charge of the division's purse strings and policies, is focused on non-education-related issues instead of students' success.

A byelection to fill four trustee seats is scheduled for Oct. 30.

The school board has been under provincial scrutiny since April, when trustee Paul Coffey gave a board meeting presentation saying residential schools began as a good thing and called the term "white privilege" racist. Two months later, the province established an oversight committee to watch over the board. 

However, issues continued.

In mid-September, four trustees voted — despite not having enough trustees at the meeting to make formal decisions — to ban all but Canadian, Manitoba and school flags. This happened after the trustees butted heads with the province's oversight panel.

Mountain View School Division oversees 16 schools in an area that stretches west to the Saskatchewan border and east to Dauphin Lake and Winnipegosis, with Riding Mountain and Assessippi parks along its southern border and Duck Mountain to the north. 

Lark isn't the only community member concerned about the ongoing controversies. 

He says at this point it's clear the current board members are unwilling to change, and he'd like to see the province dissolve the board. 

"This is exhibiting very childish and petty and mean … behaviour," Lark said. "My thoughts now have changed from let's help these people learn to let's get rid of the board."

Unsafe workplace

A person who works in the school division, whose identity CBC News is protecting because they fear losing their job, says students are also upset and fearful about the school board. 

One young Indigenous student worried that Coffey's presentation about residential schools meant the board was in support of reinstating them. 

"It breaks my heart that I can't tell them with confidence that they're protected," the worker said. 

They say the government's inaction has left students feeling even more isolated.

"I think they're feeling even more disenfranchised," they said. "As we move into a new school year, I'm seeing them less inclined to speak up and offer an opinion, because they feel unheard."

Meanwhile, they say staff feel the board is not acting in the best interests of students. 

"We are disappointed in our board. We're frustrated with the perspectives that they continue to choose to take in their ignorance," they said.

They said the schools have become unsafe workplaces. 

"It's untenable to expect people to continue to go to work every day and face this kind of systemic rot."

Province not considering board dissolution

One of the members of the provincially appointed oversight panel has called for dissolution of the board, saying it's become an unhealthy environment.

Frances Chartrand, the Manitoba Métis Federation's vice-president of the northwest region, says the trustees don't understand Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ and other communities.

"We have to work as a team and we have to be there for the children and the families in a positive environment, healthy environment for them to attend school," Chartrand said. "We have to leave our biases at the door, and we can't come there with our own agendas."

Education Minister Nello Altomare told CBC News the province is not considering dissolving the school board.

He acknowledges the oversight panel and school board are "struggling a little bit" but hopes they can move forward after October's byelection to replace four trustees, three of whom left en masse following the firing of the school division's superintendent earlier in the year.

Mountain View School Division superintendent Stephen Jaddock was removed from his position in June. Days later, three long-serving trustees resigned, with Leifa Misko writing in her resignation letter that "presentations, policies and decisions are being made at the table that I cannot support in good conscience."

Altomare said he's disappointed that the four trustees made decisions in violation of the Public Schools Act, which requires all five trustees to be present, but he didn't answer a question about whether the decisions made during the meeting would stand.

"Are they creating safe inclusive spaces for all students? That's the lens that they need to look at with every decision that they make. I think that upon reflection, you'll see that they'll adjust whatever they've come up with before."

CBC News reached out to the school board and did not immediately get a response. 

In a statement posted to the school division website last week, the board of trustees said they were committed to working with the panel, but it was difficult "to trust the process" when an initial recommendation called for the dissolution of the board. 

Lynn Smith, a former Mountain View School Division trustee of 20 years, says while board priorities can change based on community needs, the focus must always be on providing education and the success of students.

She's concerned the current school board has lost sight of this mission because "other agendas, other initiatives … have usurped the continued conversation."

Smith says the board's disregard for the rules needs to be addressed, because it could embolden other trustees to do whatever they want, but hopes the October byelection will help turn the tide.

"The conversation needs to be about education: Respect for our students, respect for our staff, respect for our community and respect for the processes, procedures and policies that exist," Smith said.