Hamilton school board flip-flops on releasing secret sanctions report on Stoney Creek trustee Carole Paikin Miller
Hamilton's public school board has had a change of heart and will continue fighting the release of a secret report that prompted trustees to sanction Stoney Creek trustee Carole Paikin Miller for a third time this term.
Trustees voted to send an appeal of their decision to withhold the Sept. 2021 report to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario's adjudication process following a private session June 13.
The move came two weeks after trustees passed a motion stating "the Code of Conduct report completed in September 2021 be released publicly pending legal review," in response to the Dec. 15 appeal filed by Hamilton Community News.
The reversal ends a seven-month effort to mediate the dispute that saw the board agree to disclose the $23,897 cost of the investigation, which saw Paikin Miller slapped with three sanctions following a two-hour closed meeting Sept. 13, 2021.
While we're interested in embracing transparency, and of course always want to be as transparent as possible, we will not be releasing the report," board chair Dawn Danko said immediately after the June 13 vote, passed without discussion.
We'll proceed with the appeals process and allow the (Information and Privacy Commissioner) to provide direction, and I think that will help us moving forward."
Only Ward 3 trustee Maria Felix Miller - the sole trustee specifically identified by the sanctions as deserving an apology from Paikin Miller - voted against proceeding to adjudication.
Contacted via email afterwards, Maria Felix Miller said she opposed not releasing a redacted, or censored, version of the report.
While I respect the will of the board, I personally feel that any breech of the code of conduct that is found to be valid should be made public for the sake of transparency and accountability to our communities," she said.
The sanctions included a formal letter of censure; a request Paikin Miller formally apologize to Maria Felix Miller, other trustees, staff and students for her conduct and the cost of the investigation; and a prohibition from sitting on any trustee committees for the rest of her elected term, which ends Nov. 30.
At the time, Danko said the board would make the letter of censure and report public after reviewing the latter due to the nature of some of the topics."
But she backtracked in November, citing a legal opinion that the Code of Conduct only required the board to publicly disclose findings of a violation, which trustees did at the Sept. 13 meeting.
Hamilton Community News filed a freedom of information request to the board Nov. 15, seeking release of the report, letter of censure and cost of the investigation.
The board responded Dec. 6, noting it had made the letter of censure public by posting it on the board's website, but denying the request for the report.
The letter of censure, written by Danko, is shy on specifics but criticizes Paikin Miller for failing to act respectfully and professionally when presented with differing views from your colleagues."
It also calls the Ward 5 trustee's behaviour unbecoming" and inconsistent with the principles of equity and a board priority to create a climate of positive culture and well-being.
The Sept. 13 sanctions against Paikin Miller followed two previous sets of sanctions in March 2021 that included a call by trustees for her to resign for conduct an outside investigator's report called racist.
The report found Paikin Miller made overtly anti-Muslim and racist remarks" to other trustees and showed a problematic attitude toward equity issues" when she was a non-voting member of the board's human rights and equity community advisory committee.
The Ward 5 trustee has never made a public statement on any of the sanctions or responded to Hamilton Community News' requests for comment, nor has she issued any of three formal apologies requested by trustees.