WRDSB investigating conduct of trustee

Waterloo Region District School Board trustee Mike Ramsay appears during an interview with CTV News in this file image from 2022. (CTV Kitchener)

A code of conduct investigation of a trustee is underway at the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), the board said in a statement Wednesday.

Though the person under investigation has not been identified by the school board, trustee Mike Ramsey took to social media Monday to issue a statement saying that a code of conduct complaint had been filed against him.

Ramsay was temporarily suspended from the board last year for a separate code of conduct violation he is now challenging in court.

On Monday, Ramsey said in part: “The school trustee game of thrones continues. This complaint is about something I supposedly said in meetings and on a radio show years ago.”

On Wednesday, an online statement from board of trustees chair Joanne Weston said because the investigation involves one or more school board employees it has to be treated as an in-camera (not public) item.

“Respect and adherence to the code of conduct is an integral part of governing the WRDSB, and a responsibility we take very seriously,” the statement reads in part. “We are, as ever, focused on student achievement and well-being in our work as the board of trustees serving the students and families of the WRDSB, while respecting the processes laid out in the code of conduct.”

The board did not answer when asked who the trustee under investigation was or why the investigation was underway. It instead directed CTV News to the statement from Weston.

PAST SUSPENSION

Ramsay was suspended from the board from June to September 2022 in relation to a separate breach of the code of conduct.

According to court documents, the 6-3 decision to suspend him was made by board trustees following an integrity commissioner report.

Ramsay was in court for this in June, where he argued that a suspension handed to him in 2022 was unfair and unreasonable.