School board dysfunctional, says trustee

A consultant hired to help build leadership and consensus amongst trustees of the Eastern School District overstepped the bounds, says school trustee Edna Reid, and has not helped.

The clear division developed on the board during the debate over school closures last year, with the women voting against and the men voting for. Reid said the board remains dysfunctional. Over the winter it was unable to reach consensus on rezoning that was supposed to come into effect in September.

The board hired a consultant, Frank Gallant of Peak Experiences, to help build leadership and consensus. In February, with the board immersed in the rezoning issue, Gallant wrote a confidential email to Edna Reid, which was recently leaked to the media.

"You need to find a way to stop being oppositional and negative," wrote Gallant.

"Most other board members are finding you too aggressive."

He went on to refer to school board chair Bob Clow, and said Clow needs to uphold his integrity and consistently keep his commitments to the board.

"You are right about his behaviour and need to change.  However you can't change him," he wrote.

"It was inappropriate that it was an unfair criticism," Reid said of Gallant's email.

Reid said she is just fulfilling her obligations has an elected official. Analysis and debate has not taken place, she said, and she suggests people outside the board are trying to control its decisions.

"I, as a trustee, was being asked to take the directions of others and not to ask those questions, and not to demand the information and not debate the issues," she said.

"We have to keep in mind that as elected trustees we do have a role and we do have obligations to carry out, and these obligations we have to carry out both legally and ethically."

Reid said two other trustees received similar email from Gallant, but she won't disclose who they are.

Gallant did not return phone calls from CBC News.