A Toronto District School Board trustee wants to bring in an integrity commissioner to help keep members in line amid accusations of intimidation and mudslinging.
Ward 16 Trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher plans to table the motion at the next TDSB meeting in April.
The proposal comes after two police officers were brought in to the board’s March meeting to help keep any potential conflicts from escalating.
“It has been a very gentle, gradual disintegration of what I would call appropriate behaviour. You know I have been doing this for almost 40 years and I have never seen anything like it,” Cary-Meagher told CP24 on Monday afternoon. “It has gotten to the point that the board, which is doing some phenomenally important things, is only being thought of as a place where trustees can’t get along. It is kind of like having our own Rob Ford.”
The TDSB has a code of conduct in place for trustees; however it currently falls to an ethics committee made up of TDSB trustees to investigate any alleged violations of that code.
Speaking with CP24, Cary-Meagher said it is important that the board have an independent voice, even if it comes at a financial cost.
“We need somebody to go to that is outside of the board, has a legal background and knows the code of conduct,” she said. “Elected people trying to police each other is a hopeless cause.”
Earlier this month, School board trustee Sam Sotiropoulous launched a formal complaint against fellow trustee Howard Goodman in which he accused him of intimidating Director of Education, Donna Quan at a committee meeting.
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