Trustees’ conduct questioned

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This article was published 27/06/2023 (1194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The debate over inappropriate library books continues to rage on at the Brandon School Division, with the bulk of Monday’s board meeting revolving around this topic and trustee conduct during the May 23 meeting at Vincent Massey High School.

Local resident Kathy Smitzniuk brought these issues to the forefront during the “Delegations and Presentations” section of the latest meeting, although she wasn’t alone.

The BSD board room was filled to capacity Monday with supporters of trustee Breeanna Sieklicki, who was the only member of the board to vote in favour of setting up a book review committee on May 23.

Believing Sieklicki has been unfairly attacked because of her public support for this initiative, these attendees carried signs with slogans like “we support Breanna” and “an attack on Breanna is an attack on free speech.”

Meanwhile, the opposite end of the room was occupied by members of Brandon Pride and supporters of the LGBTQ+ community, who have been vocal in their opposition to this book review committee and Sieklicki’s support of it.

This book review committee idea was originally brought up during a May 8 board meeting, when former trustee Lorraine Hackenschmidt called for the creation of a committee to review, and possibly ban, books that contained inappropriate content for children.

Many of the books that Hackenschmidt cited dealt with topics such as sexual health or LGBTQ+ issues.

While this book review committee was rejected by the BSD board by a vote of 6-1, the issue was Smitzniuk’s main focus on Monday evening, alongside the way trustees have conducted themselves on May 23 and beyond.

Smitzniuk found the entire meeting at Vincent Massey to be “very disturbing,” with certain comments being made by trustees Linda Ross, Kim Fallis and Jim Murray constituting a potential breach of the board’s code of conduct.

For example, Smitzniuk said Murray was out of line in his treatment of parent Mike Theriault, who was told that he “should be ashamed of himself” for supporting the book review committee.

To Smitzniuk, this, and other comments made by Ross and Fallis, represent a clear violation of section 7.7 of the BSD’s board member code of conduct, which states that trustees must “treat board colleagues, divisional and school staff, students and community members in a respectful and courteous manner, and refrain from using abusive or denigrating language in any dealings with them.”

Smitzniuk also criticized the general atmosphere of the May 23 meeting, where the board allowed members of the crowd to hurl insults and obscenities at Sieklicki without being removed from the building.

“I’ll ask the question again, elected trustees: did you listen respectfully and with an open mind to the full range of opinions consented and written?” she asked.

“It appeared to me that you had already made up your mind before the meeting at Vincent Massey and that the meeting was just a political show.”

Smitzniuk ended her presentation by asking the board to fulfil three requests.

The first was to reconsider forming the book review committee to examine “sexually explicit” material in the division.

The second was to consider reprimanding trustees Ross, Murray and Fallis for their conduct on May 23.

The third was to submit a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request concerning emails and attachments that were sent between trustees leading up to the May 23 meeting.

To finish her presentation, Smitzniuk warned the board that this issue isn’t going away any time soon.

“There’s not just a few parents and grandparents speaking out anymore. This is a Canada-wide and beyond movement and it’s growing every single day, with many different ethnic groups coming together to protect the innocence of our children,” she said.

“No one cares who you love, but leave our kids alone.”

The BSD board did not directly respond to Smitzniuk’s presentation on Monday, with Linda Ross simply stating later on in the meeting that “I think our position was clear.”

However, Brandon Pride chairperson Aly Wowchuk, who attended Monday’s meeting in person, told the Sun that she didn’t buy that Smitzniuk and her supporters are simply concerned about the well-being of children.

Instead, she believes that the book review committee idea is being used as a smoke screen to ban material containing LGBTQ+ content and information about sexual health, which is why her organization will remain vigilant as this issue continues to linger at a local level.

“They claim they’re not just targeting [LGBTQ+] books, but the conversation started because LGBTQ+ books were part of the target simply for being LGBTQ+ books,” Wowchuk said.

“So this isn’t finished. Brandon Pride is going to keep on top of it.”

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson