Trustee quits to protest secrecy over abuse

A long-serving school trustee says he was blind to the psychological abuse a former teacher inflicted on a young student that was uncovered in a Free Press investigation, apologizing to the victim for being “kept ignorant” by board leadership and vowing to resign.

River East Transcona School Division trustee Rod Giesbrecht claimed a decision by board chair Colleen Carswell left other elected officials in the dark regarding the safety of students at Sherwood School, where teacher David Wray’s misconduct occurred.

Giesbrecht, a trustee with the division for 20 years, said he could no longer associate with a leadership culture that he accused of prioritizing silence over transparency in the face of serious abuse allegations.

“Today, I will begin the process of resigning as a trustee for RETSD,” Giesbrecht posted Tuesday on a Facebook community page in his ward. “After reading the six-page article in the Free Press and witnessing the insensitive response of the board chair, I can no longer associate with such behaviour.”

The Free Press investigation, published last week, chronicled how Wray systematically isolated the girl starting in Grade 3 and continuing through Grades 4 and 5, using his authority to groom her while others turned a blind eye.

It detailed how he kept the student inside for recess behind locked doors, positioned her desk beside his to separate her from classmates, sent hundreds of inappropriate messages at night, and manipulated her parents to gain access to their home under the guise of tutoring.

The girl’s parents contacted Winnipeg police when they finally learned about the abuse. Police ultimately decided Wray’s conduct didn’t meet the threshold of criminal charges because the girl couldn’t state whether the teacher sexually touched her.

Child and Family Services also conducted an investigation. The parents obtained a three-year protection order against Wray a year after the abuse stopped, following his attempt to contact the girl again.

Carswell and River East Transcona superintendent Sandra Herbst said in a joint statement to the Free Press last month that the division ensured Wray never taught again upon learning of his behaviour.

Although Wray formally left the division in 2018, his teaching certificate was allowed to remain in good standing until January 2023, when then-Progressive Conservative education minister Wayne Ewasko ordered it cancelled.

Giesbrecht said he was unaware of the full breadth of institutional failings until he read the story.

“To the victim in the article, my sincere apology for what you endured as a student at Sherwood School,” he said in his post. “Your story hit me very personally. I was never told about your situation and was kept ignorant by a decision of the board chair.”

Giesbrecht continued: “Now that I know, I hope going forward you will be able to rebound with the love of caring family and friends. You have my most sincere sorry for the hurt you have had while I was your elected representative.”

A River East Transcona School Division board held a private in-camera meeting for an hour Tuesday before public discussion opened at 6:30 p.m. Giesbrecht did not attend the meeting in person.

During a brief pause of the in-camera meeting, Herbst would not discuss the private meeting’s agenda, nor say whether it involved the Free Press investigation or Giesbrecht’s apparent resignation. She declined to comment.

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After the public meeting ended, trustee Sheri Hanson — who, along with Giesbrecht, was elected in Ward 2 — also declined comment. When asked if she had anything to say to the voters who elected her, as Sherwood School is in her catchment area, she declined again, saying none of her constituents had reached out to her about Wray.

Carswell, whom Giesbrecht accused of leaving him and colleagues in the dark about Wray, also declined comment before entering another in-camera meeting.

Giesbrecht’s decision comes exactly one year after the province unveiled its online teacher registry and complaint mechanism.

The tools were designed to make it easier for parents to report misconduct and hold teachers publicly accountable, replacing an old system that kept teacher discipline behind closed doors for decades.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.