Winnipeg School Division removes trustee, declares seat vacant

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This article was published 28/02/2022 (934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s largest school board has removed a trustee, who has a track record of sporadic attendance and has been disciplined by the board in the past, from her position.

Following a private board meeting Monday, the Winnipeg School Division announced via news release its trustees had adopted a motion to declare the Ward 5 seat vacant, effective immediately.

“The motion comes as a result of trustee Cindy Murdoch’s failure to attend regular board meetings,” states the release.

The brief statement cited the Public Schools Act, which outlines the situations — a trustee’s death, resignation, disqualification, move to reside outside the division or failure to attend three consecutive regular meetings without authorization — when a board can announce an opening.

Murdoch could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

On Feb. 7, Murdoch was dismissed from a virtual board meeting approximately 15 minutes after it started “due to improper conduct.” Board meeting minutes show the last public meeting she attended prior to that appearance was four meetings earlier, on Nov. 1.

The now-former trustee has faced multiple allegations of attending meetings while intoxicated since being elected to serve families in WSD in 2018.

Murdoch has never publicly addressed such allegations, but she has spoken openly about her struggle with mental health.

Multiple sources have told the Free Press she has repeatedly denied being under the influence of any substance at work, but concerns about intoxication at a meeting in autumn 2019 led to her temporary suspension the following spring.

Following a brief police-reported disappearance in April 2020 and a board suspension announced the following month, Murdoch released a lengthy statement condemning the action and announcing her participation in residential treatment to overcome her personal challenges.

In her letter, she wrote the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a reduction of the mental health support services she had been accessing since the previous fall.

“I believe the great personal efforts I am making to overcome these many challenges should be a source of inspiration, not condemnation… Far too often people with disabilities and mental health challenges are disregarded as not being ‘up to standard,’” Murdoch said at the time.

She has filed a human rights complaint against the WSD in relation to the incident. It has yet to be resolved.

In-camera board discussions about Murdoch’s behaviour and well-being have taken up a significant amount of time since 2019, according to division sources who spoke to the Free Press last month about their frustrations little action was being taken to address the matter.

Laurie French, president of the Canadian School Boards Association, noted there is a distinct difference between code of conduct breaches and instances where boards are legally obligated to declare a seat vacant.

Each board has its own code of conduct in Manitoba, and they typically rely on a “trustees manage trustees” model so elected officials hold each other accountable to the highest governance standards and behaviour, French said.

Three of nine seats on the WSD board are now vacant. Two former members left their positions in 2019, after they were elected to provincial politics, and their jobs were not filled because of pandemic-related disruptions.

Prior to the pandemic being declared, the provincial government had also directed boards not to hold byelections in the lead-up to introducing a controversial education reform bill that has since been scrapped.

The latest vacancy marks the second time in one month a trustee in the Manitoba capital has been turfed because of attendance-related issues. The Pembina Trails School Division announced a sudden board opening Jan. 31.

The vacant seats in central and south Winnipeg will be filled in the upcoming civic election, scheduled for Oct. 26.

Boards continue to run meetings with a mix of in-person and virtual attendance, owing to COVID-19 concerns.

“Trustees have been challenged to respond and ensure that the adequate supports are in place and they’ve been working very hard to do that under very strained conditions under the last two years,” French said Tuesday, during a phone call from Kingston, Ont.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie