A good part of learning is by trial and error.
Sometimes we do something with the best of intentions, but after taking a step back we realize that it was the wrong thing. In other cases, learning can occur by seeing a good example and following suit.
In the case of the Pembina Hills Public School’s board of trustees, we hope they learn from both.
In last week’s paper we published a letter from Kathleen Hickey, a retired administrator who worked in Pembina Hills Public Schools (PHPS) regional office, saying she was concerned about the lack of information regarding whatever is happening with Supt. Colleen Symyrozum-Watt.
We agree, even though for the most part, the editorial staff has remained silent, except for the stories our colleague, Kevin Berger, at the Town &Country and school board beat reporter has managed to glean.
Thanks to his efforts we know that a special ad-hoc committee consisting of board chair Jennifer Tuininga and trustee Annette Bokenfohr are carrying out a review relating to Matter 2017-001, the nature of which hasn’t been disclosed, except that it is related to the superintendent. We also know, during the review Symyrozum-Watt is being paid and that assistant Supt. of employee services and facilities and transportation David Garbutt is temporarily filling the role.
In late January, PHPS was similarly tight-lipped after police charged a BCHS teacher with three counts of sexual exploitation of a young person, alleging Andrew Jissink made inappropriate interactions with three BCHS students through the social media application Snapchat. Now, while we understand the need for discretion and privacy in situations such as this, we all have read accounts on how innocent people have had their lives destroyed by someone making false accusations.
That is why we were reluctant to speak out, through our opinion page, about how PHPS has handled these two matters.
However, recently an example of how we believe PHPS should have handled the above situations was demonstrated by Westwind School Division last week when the RCMP charged one of their high school teachers in Raymond with sexual exploitation.
Unlike PHPS, once the RCMP officially charged the teacher, Westwind issued a press release stating once they had been made aware of the allegations they enacted protocol to ensure the safety of students and to conduct an investigation into the matter. They also stated that they suspended the teacher pending results of their investigation and that no further contact with students was possible and that the division is cooperating fully with authorities.
In a 170 word release, Westwind did its best to protect everyone involved and inform the public. Kudos to them and hopefully PHPS can learn from their example.
