Suspended trustee reveals mental-health struggle

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2020 (1596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A school trustee shared her struggle with mental health as she condemned her suspension from the Winnipeg School Division board.

In a virtual meeting Monday, the board voted to suspend Cindy Murdoch, Ward 5 trustee, until the end of the school year. Chairman Chris Broughton cited a breach of the trustee code of conduct; he declined to provide further comment due to “privacy interests.”

“At the end of the day, there’s a standard to which trustees are held — with any public figure, there’s a standard to which they’re held, and trustee Murdoch, in the opinion of the board, hasn’t met that standard,” Broughton told the Free Press Friday.

The rare suspension was made two weeks after Murdoch briefly went missing. Police reported she had been found safe on April 21.

Murdoch released a statement Friday afternoon in which she explained her challenges with mental health and said the onset of COVID-19 has resulted in a reduction of the supports she has relied on since autumn. She said she informed the division she would be seeking help on April 21 and has since been participating in residential treatment.

“Far too often people with disabilities and mental-health challenges are disregarded as not being ‘up to standard’ and are rejected to protect the image of an organization,” she said in a prepared statement, adding that she believes her efforts to overcome her personal challenges should be a “a source of inspiration, not condemnation.”

Her temporary release comes in the middle of the school division’s annual Healthy Minds Week, an initiative to recognize and promote mental-health literacy.

Murdoch said she plans to champion mental-health supports in the division when she returns after June 30. There is a need for the School Board and Public Schools Act to be modernized to address the growing needs of community members’ mental health, she added.

When contacted again later in the day, Broughton said the board made its decision based on the “complete picture” and that some of the information considered would be inappropriate to disclose.

A suspension, which can last up to three months, is one of the most severe actions a board can take to reprimand an elected member. Less-severe options include censuring a trustee and barring a member from a meeting or committee.

In 2015, former Winnipeg School Division trustee Mike Babinsky received an unprecedented suspension after an investigator found he was involved in an ongoing harassment campaign of a senior staffer.

Throughout the latest suspension, constituents can contact any other board members with their questions, himself included, Broughton said. For the time being, Murdoch will be barred from attending meetings, receiving correspondence and engaging with community members as a trustee.

Murdoch’s suspension adds to two other vacant board positions. A byelection to elect representatives for Wards 3 and 4 was postponed, owing to COVID-19 disruptions.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie