General News

School Board trustee sanctioned for unauthorized presentation to New Tecumseth Council

September 12, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

“That’s quite the bomb that’s just been dropped on this council,” said New Tecumseth Mayor, Richard Norcross after a presentation by Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) Trustee, Sarah Beitz, at a council meeting on Sept. 11, 2023.

Ms. Beitz, who is the School Board Trustee for New Tecumseth, was at last year’s council meeting and gave a deputation indicating that the Simcoe County District School Board would not rebuild Banting Memorial High School on its current site. She proposed that a new school be built on the Banting Homestead location.

However, this information was not in line with previous information given to council and presented by the school board.

Mayor Norcross and the rest of council appeared shocked and blindsided by the statements made by Ms. Beitz.

“We should have heard this from the school board sooner, instead of coming here to our council meeting – we ratify something tonight, and it gets dropped like this – if you don’t decide tonight this isn’t going to happen? That’s not the relationship I want to build.” Mayor Norcross said.

However, it was revealed later that Ms. Beitz was never authorized by the school board to speak on its behalf at a council meeting.

At a special School Board meeting on Aug. 28, it was announced that the Board imposed the following sanctions:

Censure the member (Ms. Beitz) through a formal reprimand addressing the breach of the code

Completion of the Good Governance for School Board Trustee Professional Development training offered through the Ontario Public School Board’s Association within three months

As it pertains to communication with the SCDSB staff, Trustee Beitz follow the direction of the Director of Education

A report from Integrity Commissioner Michael Maynard was presented at the Aug. 28 council meeting.

“The formal complaint regarding the conduct of Trustee Beitz has been brought forward,” it was announced before providing the findings in the report. “Simcoe County District School Board policy 2125 Trustee Code of Conduct outlines a variety of behaviour expectations for Trustees including the integrity and dignity of office and civil behaviour and the process for addressing code of conducting matters.”

The report found that Trustee Beitz violated the code of conduct five times.

Trustees at the SCDSB meeting questioned whether Trustee Beitz would follow through with the required procedures listed in the sanctions. 

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