Public school board trustee plans to push back against proposed misconduct sanctions
Trustee says they haven't been formally notified of the sanctions yet
A public school board trustee plans to appeal multiple sanctions that her fellow board members have proposed to place against her after finding that she repeatedly breached their code of conduct.
In a special public meeting — the second half of which the community wasn't told was happening — Greater-Essex County District School Board trustees agreed on two sanctions against trustee Linda Qin. The full meeting was posted online Wednesday, after it had been recessed and moved to another room without the public's knowledge.
The proposed sanctions involve preventing Qin from attending or participating in Greater-Essex County Parental Involvement Committee and all other board committees that involve the public until November 2026, as well as being barred from board meetings between Sept. 17 and Nov. 5.
They also agreed that Qin can't attend private session meetings or receive any documents from those private meetings.
In the first half of the meeting, which was held in front of the public, board chair Gale Simko-Hatfield called a recess less than an hour in as she said the crowd was being disruptive. She asked security to clear out public attendees and trustees left the room.
While several police officers came in to tame the crowd, trustees then reconvened the meeting in a separate room, without telling the public that it was taking place.
Qin says she also wasn't told the meeting was continuing, so she wasn't present while the sanctions were decided.
She says she hasn't yet received formal notice of the proposed sanctions, but plans to appeal them, calling them "harsh."
"I do believe that I didn't breach trustee code of conduct," said Qin, who was elected in 2018 and represents schools in Windsor wards 1, 2 and 9.
She also says she believes that the proceedings that took place Tuesday weren't appropriate, especially since the meeting continued without public notification.
In an interview Thursday, Hatfield told CBC News that these sorts of sanctions are allowable under the trustee code of conduct.
"For any trustee, it's a matter of following the rules and procedures for the conduct of board meetings, they are professional business meetings, they aren't what I would call open-mic opportunities," said Hatfield.
She added that Qin has had multiple opportunities for professional development and training.
WATCH: Police were called in to calm the crowd at this week's public board meeting
Breaches result from formal complaints
Four formal complaints, regarding some of the comments and actions of Qin last year, prompted this special meeting. An external investigator had looked into the complaints and validated a breach of conduct for one of them. But, trustees get to make the final call.
Trustees found that Qin breached the code of conduct five times amid the four formal complaints, some of which had multiple components to them. In particular, they agreed that Qin accused a member of the board's policing in schools committee of bias against the police without providing evidence of this bias.
They also found that she was in contact with the media without the approval of the board and that she has previously spoken to the media in ways that reflect poorly on the board.
"It's whenever she has an opportunity to interact with public volunteers, public members, that she tends to make comments that are upsetting to members of those committees," said trustee Ron Le Clair, who filed at least two complaints against Qin.
"There's simply no remorse being expressed, she in fact, she's emboldened by what's happening. We need to hold her to an account and I think we have to protect the public as well."
Qin has previously sparked controversial debate during school board meetings.
Trustee Nancy Armstrong, who joined the meeting over the phone, defended Qin.
"Trustee Qin called me after meetings and we would talk about how she could make an improvement, so maybe she didn't say remorse to you but she does have a heart," Armstrong said in response to Le Clair's comments.
Qin told CBC News that while she knows she can work on her behaviour, she thinks all of the board members need to "improve" and "reflect" on the way they act.
Board maintains that meeting was public
Even though the meeting reconvened after the recess in another room and no one was informed of this move or that the meeting was starting up again, the board says the meeting was public.
Simko-Hatfield told CBC News Wednesday that because the door to the new room they were in was left open, it meets their standards for a public meeting.
During the video recording published online, trustee Connie Buckler is heard saying "should we shut that door?" and other trustees say "no, it's public."
Director of education Vicki Houston is then heard saying, "they can't get through."
Based on the video recording, it doesn't appear that any members of the public are inside of that room to witness the second half of the meeting, despite there being dozens of community members who showed up to the first half of the board meeting.
When asked Thursday about why the public wasn't notified that the meeting was reconvening in a different room, Hatfield said, "we did the best we could under some very difficult circumstances."
"We had to address the need for safety, some trustees didn't feel safe, I didn't feel safe, I had been threatened during the day."
She said they have an "obligation" to ensure staff are safe and added that this meeting had already been postponed and they wanted it "dealt with."
There were also two trustees who joined the meeting via phone and said at points that they couldn't properly hear the proceedings.
Sanctions still need to be confirmed
At the end of the meeting, Hatfield said that the board has 14 days to notify Qin of their decision. Qin then has 14 days to respond.
After this, another special meeting could be scheduled to either confirm or revoke the board's sanction decision against Qin.
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