A meeting to review code of conduct complaints against a school board trustee was cut short Tuesday because of disruptions from the audience.
The special board meeting of the Greater Essex County District School Board was to address four complaints against Trustee Linda Qin.
Throughout the hour-long meeting, three of the four complaints were addressed. The board found Qin breached the code of conduct in one of the three instances.
The board found Qin was in breach of the trustee code of conduct when she told a volunteer of the Greater Essex County Parent Involvement Council they were unsuitable to volunteer on the Board’s Police in Schools Committee, because of her bias against police.
"Trustee Qin’s unsupported accusation of bias damaged the reputation and integrity of the Board, and the Board’s relationship with the parent community. Trustee Nelson described in her interview that the implication of Trustee Qin’s objection to [the volunteer] was that her race would bias her position on the presence of police in schools," read the investigator's report.
The final complaint was not addressed because of disruptions from the audience. Chair Gale Simko-Hatfield asked the audience to be quiet in the gallery multiple times before pausing the meeting.
The meeting was never resumed and security had to be called to clear the room.
Any sanctions against Qin were not discussed.
