Art and Rick Boon are travelling to the Netherlands together after all.
The saga of the father and son, which prompted a large outcry in Stratford and its surrounding area, came to an end Friday when Rick Boon’s employer said it wouldn’t stand in the way of him taking the trip.
Rick Boon, a teacher with the Avon Maitland District School Board, had accompanied his father – a 90-year-old veteran of the Second World War – on past trips to Europe.
The most recent such trip occurred in 2014, during which the school board told Rick Boon it would be the last time he’d be granted leave for such a reason.
Art Boon was recently invited to a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.
Rick Boon’s request for an unpaid leave was denied, with the school board citing the message they’d given him in 2014.
Friday, Avon Maitland education director Ted Doherty said he wouldn’t force Rick Boon to be in the classroom next week, and wouldn’t discipline him if he chose to go to the Netherlands – while also claiming he wasn’t reversing his earlier edict.
“He’s not changing his position. He’s not granting the leave of absence,” school board spokesperson Steve Howe told CTV News.
Earlier in the week, the school board had been presented with a petition bearing more than 2,000 signatures and calling on the board to allow Rick Boon to make the trip.
The public outcry reached the board office, Howe said – but wasn’t the reason for Friday’s developments.
“Certainly we listened. Certainly we heard everything that everybody was saying,” Howe said.
What was behind allowing Rick Boon to make the trip, according to board officials, was that Rick Bono submitted an application for a leave of absence under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act late in the day Thursday.
“Given the lateness of the hour … and the fact that they’re supposed to go tonight, the director of education … felt that there wasn’t enough time to do the standard process,” Howe said.
