Hamilton teachers speak out after public school trustee files harassment complaints

Two Hamilton public board teachers say an embattled school board trustee filed workplace harassment complaints against them after they called out racism - and the trustee - on social media.

They say the board's decision to investigate the claims exposes its hypocrisy - encouraging staff to speak out about racism in public but privately investigating employees for doing so.

Speaking to The Spectator, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) teachers Alice Smith and Anthony Marco said they endured months-long investigations after Ward 5 trustee Carole Paikin Miller lodged two separate workplace harassment complaints against them in February after they made social media posts she deemed to be harassment."

Among the posts that Paikin Miller took issue with, according to Marco and Smith, were personal tweets and Facebook posts regarding Paikin Miller's stance on not ending a police liaison program in schools, as well as the findings of a racism report and ensuing calls for her resignation.

Paikin Miller's specific accusations against Marco, according to a formal complaint document filed to the board and obtained by The Spectator, include: Attacking me, an elected trustee, as a racist over opinion' in the Hearsay Document and the twisting of my words. Defaming me based on one side of the story. Wading into the matter of Sanctioning and/or calling for the Resignation of the four trustees named in a Hearsay Document about Racism. Why is he even weighing in on any of this? He Is employed by the Hamilton Board attacking elected trustees of the Board."

Paikin Miller did not respond to a request for comment for this story Friday.

The hearsay document" appears to be the February report from the board's $84,000 code of conduct investigation, conducted by an external law firm, into allegations of racism and efforts to silence the voice of a former student trustee levelled at Paikin Miller and three other trustees.

The report found evidence Paikin Miller and two other trustees made comments they should have known to be racist. Trustees later sanctioned Paikin Miller for breaching the code of conduct and asked her to resign. To date, she has not resigned.

In the harassment complaint, Paikin Miller also accused Marco of using his position as head of the Hamilton Labour Council to try to get rid of me for a personal political agenda." Marco is president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council (HDLC), which released a statement Wednesday about the investigation of Marco.

The statement says the union voted unanimously in May to call for Carole Paikin Miller's resignation and to call on the school board to stop the intimidation of those calling out racism."

Ritch Whyman, an HDLC member speaking for the organization, said Paikin Miller's complaint and the board's investigation can be seen as an attempt to silence" board employees who speak out about racism.

It's just outrageous to be quite frank," Whyman said of Paikin Miller's complaint. We're concerned that board itself would entertain this."

In response to questions from The Spec, HWDSB spokesperson Rob Faulkner said the board's code of conduct policy applies to all school community members.

When an allegation occurs, we follow up on it through the code of conduct policy and any other related provincial legislation and board policies and procedures," Faulkner said, though he did not specify if the board is required to investigate all allegations of violations of the policy. We don't publicly discuss the details of individual staff members."

In the complaint against Marco, specific posts that became part of the investigation included one on Facebook, posted after a tense June 2020 public school board meeting about a police liaison program. He quoted a trustee, who he identified as Paikin Miller, as saying students who fear police need to be forced to talk with police." WTF?" he wrote after the quote.

Also referenced in the investigation was a February post made by the HDLC on the its Facebook page. The post supported calls for the resignation of four trustees named in the racism report, including Paikin Miller.

No employee should be accused of harassment and bullying when they're calling out racism," Marco told The Spectator.

As for Smith, a high school politics teacher, the social media material in question included a tweet in which she was absolutely disgusted" with Paikin Miller and other trustees who didn't support ending the police liaison program in schools.

Your racism is showing," she tweeted. I'll be working to make sure you don't win in 2022."

In Paikin Miller's formal complaint, she wrote that Smith was: Attacking me as a racist over opinion' in the Hearsay Document and the twisting of my words. Defaming me based on one side of the story."

Ultimately, the board hired a third-party lawyer to investigate the claims against Smith and Marco. The teachers were asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement but both refused to do so, they said. The investigations were complete in April. Outcome letters viewed by The Spec show neither teacher engaged in workplace harassment.

Smith says she stands by the tweets. She wrote them to show solidarity with racialized students.

I've heard the stories of the types of racism my students have suffered," she told The Spectator. I know they were frustrated by inaction by the board and I felt they needed to know someone cares and is willing to speak up for them."

Smith says she is aware she may face consequences for speaking out about the workplace harassment investigation. She wanted to support Marco, whom she knows through school, to show that his was not an isolated experience.

Their decision to go public comes as another teacher, Parsa Shahid, who is also the mother of Ahona Mehdi, the student trustee who spoke out about racism and spurred the board's investigation into trustees, is adding her voice to criticism of the board's handling of issues of racism.

Shahid told The Spectator there is a culture of fear" at the board that stops people from speaking out about wrongdoing or pushing for change.

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com