School board ethics-breach discipline prevents trustee from carrying out duties if elected

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This article was published 18/10/2022 (702 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A long-serving trustee who is campaigning in the River East Transcona School Division has been barred from representing the board at convocations and other K-12 events in 2022-23 — a penalty that will prove challenging if he’s re-elected.

Peter Kotyk, who represents Ward 4 and is in the contest to continue doing so, was recently disciplined over a breach of the board of trustees’ COVID-19 protocols at a spring school event.

Following a Sept. 20 vote that was unanimous — aside from Kotyk’s opposition, trustees recommended a disciplinary letter be placed in his personnel file, “regarding behaviours that breached the (board’s code of ethics).”

Kotyk will be excluded from representing the RETSD board in any official capacity at farewell, award ceremonies or assemblies held during the present academic year, meeting minutes indicate.

The public board meeting, one of the last scheduled prior to the upcoming election, was held several hours after the City of Winnipeg’s cut-off for nominees who want to excuse themselves from a race.

Kotyk was first elected as a trustee in 1995. For more than two decades, the senior father, who volunteered at his kids’ school and community club when they were young, has “seen himself as a champion of education and youth,” per an excerpt from his RETSD biography.

The trustee did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ward 4 nominee Rob Gigiel said he was surprised to learn of the matter from a reporter, given he frequently visits the division’s website and parent portal, and has had many conversations with constituents at their doorsteps in recent weeks.

“This is indicative of why I think school boards need new blood and new ideas and someone to put forward a motion perhaps that would say, listen: ‘If a school trustee is under disciplinary censure or disciplinary measures, then absolutely that should be transparent and on the website for all parents — never mind constituents (to see),’” said the stay-at-home father, who is campaigning on the promise of bringing a young public-school parent voice to the board table.

The board’s policy on conduct states trustees must “uphold the public trust by governing the school division effectively and efficiently in the best interest of the students.”

Trustees are, among numerous requirements, expected to devote time to their duties of office, work co-operatively, act with integrity, abstain from discussing confidential business and not use school programs for their personal advantage.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, board chairman Jerry Sodomlak said trustees agreed on specific public-health protocols for year-end events.

“Protocols were discussed, voted on, and then put in place by board motion. Trustee Kotyk breached protocols at a year-end event,” Sodomlak wrote, adding the matter has been resolved internally and no further information will be provided.

Four contestants, including incumbents Kotyk and Susan Olynik, mother Brenda Bage, who works as an educational assistant in another division, and Gigiel are running for the two seats in Ward 4.

Olynik directed a reporter to the board’s official spokesperson.

“One of the primary responsibilities of a trustee is to be available for school events when invited, so it’s serious to me that that won’t be a possibility (for Kotyk),” Bage said, adding she does not believe the board would have come to the decision lightly.

Gigiel said his opponent owes voters transparency about the reason for the disciplinary action, while other active trustees should be held accountable for keeping quiet on the matter for a month.

Prior to the Free Press request for comment Wednesday, RETSD had published information about the matter only in meeting minutes on its website.

Both Winnipeg and Pembina Trails school divisions have issued public releases about disciplinary action taken against local board members throughout the 2018-22 term.

Half of the RETSD board members — including Colleen Carswell (acclaimed for 2022-26), Rod Giesbrecht and Kotyk, all of whom are nominees in the Oct. 26 race — have at least 15 years of trustee experience.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie