'Safety concerns' prompt Windsor-Essex school board to close public gallery

Members of the public won't be able to attend Greater Essex County District School Board meetings in person, at least temporarily, after behaviour at recent meetings led people to feel "unsafe."

The board announced this week attendance would be limited to online only. Trustees say its because the level of vitriol and hostility from the public is creating an unsafe environment. 

Trustee Sarah Cipkar said she's supportive of the move, and that she originally raised the issue in January. 

"If anyone's been watching our board meetings over the last, since our term started really in December, we've had a series of very disruptive meetings and it has now escalated to the point of safety concerns," Cipkar said. 

The issue, she said, is one for trustees, staff and students alike. Cipkar said staff have noted that being seated with their backs to the gallery, where the public sits, contributes to their safety concerns. 

The board currently has rules of decorum, but not a plan for enforcing them, she added. 

"The tone of the meetings has really changed and what we felt has threatened our physical safety" said Cipkar. 

At a meeting last month, trustees had to temporarily recess the meeting to get it back on track. 

"It was very out of control. There was more than one, more than two people in the crowd that were yelling and just saying things that were inappropriate and should not be said," said Trustee Cathy Cooke, adding there have been "threats" at recent meetings. 

"I''ll say it again and I've said it a few times, this is meeting held in public, this is not a public meeting."

But an expert dealing with government accountability and democratic reform has concerns about the level of access this provides to public meetings. 

Some people will not have access to a computer to be able to watch the meetings and that's why allowing in public attendance is simply an equality matter," said Duff Conacher, founder of Democracy Watch. 

From here, the board will be developing a policy that will touch on what kind of behaviour won't be tolerated, if someone is asked to leave, who will remove them, and any physical change that can be made to the meeting space. 

Both trustees stressed the measure was a temporary one until a safety plan could be developed 

The board's last meeting of the school year will be held on Tuesday and can be streamed online through the board's YouTube channel.