'There's been lots of other trustees around the table who have participated electronically through this whole process yet… I'm the one who became the target'
An Ontario school board has asked a court judge to remove a trustee from her position, citing her failure to attend board meetings in person while on a temporary work secondment outside the province, according to a report.
The Simcoe County District School Board has asked a Barrie judge to remove trustee Lisa-Marie Wilson, who was working as a probation and parole officer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, CTV News reported.
The board argues that Wilson violated section 219 of the Education Act by not attending any meetings in person between November 2024 and March 2025. Instead, Wilson participated in meetings electronically.
Lesley Campbell, the board’s lawyer, argued Wilson failed to attend in person at least one meeting for every four months each year, the minimum threshold under the regulation.
In fact, she did not attend a single meeting in person between November 2024 and March 2025, and the board failed to properly follow and enforce the protocols in place, Campbell told Justice Joseph Di Luca, according to CTV News.
'Fighting this is bigger than me'
Meanwhile, Wilson’s defence maintains that she informed the board of her secondment and continued to attend all meetings virtually.
Her lawyer, Jeff Beleskey, argued in court that Wilson always intended to return to Barrie and that other trustees have also participated electronically without facing similar action.
Beleskey also alluded to animosity among some board members towards Wilson, noting that former board chair Jodi Lloyd lost her seat as chair with Wilson casting the only vote that was not blind.
“There’s been lots of other trustees around the table who have participated electronically through this whole process yet… them knowing that I was on this work secondment, I’m the one who became the target,” Wilson said, according to the CTV News report.
She added: “Fighting this is more than, is bigger than, just me. So that’s really, that’s the only reason that has kept me going.”
Earlier this year, amid controversy over a costly retreat, the director of education at an Ontario school board resigned.
In 2024, the Ontario government announced it is modernizing the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) requirements for the first time in 25 years.
File photo from the Simcoe County District School Board Facebook page.
