A Thames Valley District School Board trustee once involved with a firm at the centre of a major London political controversy has resigned from the board.
Jake Skinner, who was the co-founder of Blackridge Strategy, submitted his resignation in a letter to the board.
“After careful thought, I have decided to resign my seat,” Skinner's letter said. “It has been a pleasure to serve the TVDSB community and I wish our administrative team, as well as the Board of Trustees, every success in building each student’s tomorrow, every day.”
Skinner represented Wards 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 in London.
“We sincerely thank Jake for his years of service and commitment to public education,” said Chair Lori-Ann Pizzolato. “I know that all Trustees will miss his keen insights and his dedication to student achievement and well-being.”
During a special meeting of the board Wednesday night, the board voted to select Skinner's replacement from the list of 17 people who applied to replace Joyce Bennett, who resigned in October.
Skinner's former firm, Blackridge Strategy, was infamously involved in two anonymous websites that attacked councillors Maureen Cassidy and Virginia Ridley during the 2018 municipal election.
The firm had been hired by their opponents Randy Warden and Paul Van Meerbergen. Warden and Van Meerbergen's campaign manager, Barry Phillips, are facing criminal charges.
The websites attacked Cassidy and Ridley’s voting records on council and took aim at their personal lives. Ridley, in particular, was accused of child abuse for taking her son to a budget debate in 2016. Attacks against Cassidy called her integrity into question over her affair with then-mayor Matt Brown.
More recently, Skinner has been criticized for voting to delay vaccine mandates for TVDSB students.
Trustees were given two other options to replace Skinner, however, the majority were opposed to appointing a runner-up from the previous election, or to voting for a by-election.
