A New Tecumseth school board trustee ran afoul of the board’s code of conduct, according to a recent integrity commissioner’s report and vote of her peers.
At a special regular meeting of the Simcoe County District School Board on Aug. 28, trustees received a report from the board’s integrity commissioner, Michael Maynard, of ADR Chambers, voting to agree with his findings that New Tecumseth trustee Sarah Beitz breached the trustee code of conduct, and they voted in favour of censuring her with a formal reprimand.
“She didn’t act with malice,” said Collingwood/Wasaga Beach trustee Mike Foley during trustee discussion on the matter. “None of what she did was vexatious.”
The complaint was filed by Barrie trustee Lisa-Marie Wilson, and included four incidents that occurred in September 2023. In the complaint, there were five key players interviewed regarding the incidents: Beitz, Wilson, Orillia/Severn/Ramara trustee and board chair Jodi Lloyd, director of education John Dance and an anonymized individual referred to throughout the report as “Witness One,” but identified as a school board staff member.
In the first incident, Beitz delegated to New Tecumseth council on Sept. 11, 2023, regarding the location of a new Banting Memorial High School.
In January 2022, the board received approval from the Ministry of Education to build a new high school in New Tecumseth, and since then the board has been working with the town to secure a location for the future build, specifically focusing on the Banting Homestead property. At the Sept. 11 meeting, council was discussing whether to approve building the new school on the Banting Homestead site.
School board staff had attended New Tecumseth council two weeks prior on Aug. 28, 2023, to provide information on the process at that time.
During her presentation to council, Beitz spoke about the urgency to rebuild Banting, and said she wanted “… to make one thing very clear that was not clear in the previous deputation: The Simcoe County District School Board will not rebuild Banting on the current location.”
“The sooner we can make a decision, the better. All we are doing is waiting for your decision,” she said.
Following her delegation, New Tecumseth Mayor Richard Norcross referred to the presentation as “quite the bomb that’s just been dropped on this council” and remarked that the town should have heard the information from the school board sooner.
Beitz responded that she wanted to come before council and be blunt with them to avoid wasting time.
“With all due respect to the school board, they think that they told you this and I felt that they didn’t, and that is why I wanted to come and say it publicly,” said Beitz during her delegation.
She said Dance and Witness One had been informed of the presentation and had provided her with revisions on drafts of the presentation before it was made to New Tecumseth council. However, Beitz acknowledged she did not run her presentation by Lloyd as the chair of the board.
At the end of the meeting, New Tecumseth council decided not to partner with the board on the Banting Homestead site, instead deciding to continue exploring other options for the new build.
In Witness One’s view as presented in the report, Beitz “went in guns-a-blazing and tried to force the issue,” which “got councillors’ backs up.”
“It is nevertheless quite evident that several of (Beitz’s) comments to council were not appropriate for a variety of reasons, not least of all because they embarrassed the board, and it is quite obvious that staff would not have recommended or approved of those particular statements made in such a manner as they were,” wrote Maynard.
“As an integrity commissioner for public school boards, I have concerns about some of Beitz’s comments to council — particularly those that gave a strong impression of throwing the board and its senior staff under the proverbial bus. By declaring that she was there to give information that the board left out previously, Beitz gave the impression she was whistleblowing — even though this was neither true, nor do I believe it was her intent.”
In Wilson’s complaint, she asserted Beitz did reputational harm to the board through her presentation, while also undermining staff by presenting them as “dishonest, lacking accountability (and) transparency, (and not being) trustworthy.”
In the second incident, at a meeting on Sept. 13, 2023, Beitz attempted to speak with Witness One regarding the Sept. 11 New Tecumseth council delegation, offering the witness a hug, which the witness declined.
“While her actions (comments, text, offer of a hug) were not situationally or contextually appropriate, I do not find them to be egregious. They were, however, unprofessional,” wrote Maynard.
In incident No. 3, on Sept. 14, Dance emailed Beitz to advise she was not to communicate directly with board staff and to send all communications through the director’s office. On Sept. 18, Beitz sent a communication directly to staff.
In the last incident covered in the report, Beitz visited New Tecumseth schools alone for a meeting with principals. According to board policy, school visits must be scheduled through the board’s superintendent and the superintendent must be present for any visits.
In the report, Beitz said that because she was forbidden from calling or emailing staff, she decided to stop in at schools to update them on the Banting school site situation and to encourage public advocacy to resolve the matter.
“Her visits may have been informal, but they were school visits nonetheless, and their purpose was to engage with board staff on a matter of board (i.e., not personal or family-related) business,” wrote Maynard.
With regard to all four incidents, Maynard notes in his report’s findings that the facts of the case are not in dispute by any of the people interviewed in his investigation.
“Where trustee Beitz disputes the allegations against her is in her interpretation of whether her actions are acceptable and accordingly not policy violations — which she asserts to be the case,” wrote Maynard.
Overall, the complaint references five parts of the board of trustees’ code of conduct, which include:
- that trustees must fulfil their duties in a way that will inspire public confidence in the integrity of the board;
- that trustees will uphold the dignity of the office;
- that the trustees ensure their comments are issue-based and not personal, demeaning or disparaging;
- that trustees will respect and understand the roles of trustees, the director and the chair of the board; and
- that the chair of the board is the spokesperson in public on all matters relating to the board unless otherwise determined.
The investigation by Maynard started in January 2024, with the board receiving the report last week. According to the report, the board first sought to resolve the issue informally through its code of conduct committee, although those proceedings were unsuccessful in resolving the matter.
“I was not expecting the length of this report, but we haven’t had experience with an outside investigator before. For the complexities ... it’s valid. This was a complicated matter,” said Innisfil trustee Donna Armstrong.
“It’s unfortunate that the events were a year ago.”
As part of an addendum to the report, Maynard revealed Beitz’s diagnosed learning disabilities — ADHD and dyslexia — as part of the matter under consideration, although he ultimately dismissed the point as tangential to the claim at hand.
However, during trustee discussion on the matter on Aug. 28, numerous trustees made comments about the revelation.
“The report references her disabilities, and I think we need to take that into account,” said Foley. “Whatever she did was in the interest of the board and in the best interest of students.”
In addition to the formal reprimand, trustees voted to have Beitz complete governance training through the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association within three months, and she must follow the direction of the director of education with regard to communication with school board staff moving forward.
“I’m not sure if there’s accommodations in that training to do with her special needs. Whether she does it or not, there’s no accountability,” said Armstrong.
“The actions of this trustee have damaged this board’s reputation and possibly held up the ability of students to get access to a new facility in a timely manner.”
Beitz was not permitted to speak, vote, or respond to the report during the Aug. 28 meeting. When contacted by CollingwoodToday for comment following the meeting, she declined.
However, in the integrity commissioner’s report, Beitz told Maynard she felt this code of conduct complaint was being used to “silence” her.
“She stated that her community is underserved as a result of the board’s actions against her,” wrote Maynard.
The integrity commissioner’s full 43-page report can be found here.
