Trustee suspended again for revealing board secrets

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This article was published 04/01/2024 (657 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A longtime trustee in the River East Transcona School Division is once again facing accusations of sharing board secrets, and his colleagues have doubled their initial disciplinary order as a result.

Ward 2 representative Rod Giesbrecht has been barred from the Roch Street boardroom since the start of the 2023-24 school year.

Giesbrecht, who has served on the RETSD board for more than 20 years, is expected to resume his governance duties on Feb. 27, after completing two consecutive timeouts.

Transcona-area trustees have twice voted to issue him a three-month suspension without pay — the most severe penalty possible under the Public Schools Act — since the end of August.

Meeting minutes show the elected official was unanimously disciplined for speaking out of turn about confidential matters on both occasions.

“I can’t comment on anything,” said Giesbrecht, a city pastor and chaplain, when reached by phone Wednesday. “All I can say is when this ends at the end of February, I need to work with these people.”

Giesbrecht previously admitted to discussing an in-camera item involving an unspecified land purchase with a city councillor last year. He defended himself, citing a tight deadline to secure an important address, during an interview following his first suspension. In the fall, he said he took swift action “for the benefit” of future generations of RETSD students and did not regret it.

River East Transcona is in the early stages of planning a new elementary school and child-care centre for Devonshire Park.

The former PC provincial government announced it had purchased a 7.7-acre lot at 328 Peguis St. for the project — currently home to Sumka Brothers Greenhouses, which is expected to be moving after its 2024 season — in July.

The 700-student capacity building was initially anticipated to open by September 2027, along with eight other new schools the Tories identified to be part of a mammoth public-private partnership construction contract.

The new NDP government plans to support the construction projects, but Premier Wab Kinew has indicated the Tories’ P3 plan is under review and the timeline may be affected as a result. Education Minister Nello Altomare said the province continues to “carefully review all capital projects that were announced without a plan for funding by the former government, including P3 schools,” in a statement Wednesday.

RETSD board chairwoman Colleen Carswell did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

“The position of school trustee is one of responsibility and trust, and individuals holding that position must conduct themselves accordingly,” communications manager Adrian Alleyne said in an emailed statement issued on Carswell’s behalf.

Trustees are expected to adhere to “the highest ethical standards” because their decisions directly affect both RETSD’s overall direction and the quality of education provided to students, per the board’s code of ethics.

All of Manitoba’s 37 public school boards are self-governing institutions. Elected officials are responsible for abiding by provincial legislation and holding each other to account.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca