To the editor:
After school board trustees lost the power to raise education taxes, I began to wonder why the province just didn’t get rid of them altogether.
Now, after reading the recent decision of a disciplinary committee investigating the Lakehead Board’s newly-retired director of education, I’m convinced there’s not much use for them at all any more.
Ian MacRae was charged with professional misconduct. At a hearing he pleaded ‘no contest’ and did not challenge the truth of the allegations and facts asserted by the College’s lawyer.
What was MacRae up to?
Here’s what the panel said in its decision:
“The Member (MacRae) spoke to and about staff and trustees of the Board in a disrespectful and demeaning manner over the course of years. The Member’s comments included insults to trustees appearance, character, and intelligence, as well as threats to trustees’ jobs and safety. The Panel finds the Member’s comments and behaviour appalling.”
The panel didn’t end there. It went on to discuss teachers as role models for the community and students, expected to exemplify moral virtues and demonstrate respect and professionalism. Again, from the panel:
“The Member failed to do so. His insults and demeaning comments to and about staff and trustees were rude, offensive and immoral. The Member’s threatening comments to and about staff members, including those involved in his performance appraisal and harassment investigation were morally wrong and unprofessional.”
There is a host of gory details about MacRae’s behaviour, including offensive comments about Indigenous people, falling asleep at work, including at a hearing into a student matter, and repeatedly throwing Board property out of his office.
MacRae is gone now from his position, retired, and the four-month long suspension of his teaching certificate is moot.
But what’s left unresolved is what to make of trustees’ behaviour in all of this.
Trustees are supposed to be the adults in the room. That’s why we elect them. They’re supposed to provide a safe and secure workplace and to protect taxpayers from bad behaviour that could lead to lawsuits.
Why wasn’t MacRae disciplined by trustees? Or fired? According to the panel, MacRae’s bad behaviour wasn’t isolated, it went on for years. Why did it take complaints to an outside body for someone to get justice . . . years after the fact. How did MacRae even make it past the vetting process when he was hired?
This group of trustees have failed miserably in protecting the interests of taxpayers. Their silence in the aftermath of MacRae’s discipline is telling.
At the next election, voters should think seriously about whether they’re ready to support candidates who’ve put taxpayers in such jeopardy.
Shane Judge,
Thunder Bay
