OCDSB rejects trustee Blackburn’s appeal, upholds sanctions

By Alex Goudge

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has rejected trustee Donna Blackburn's appeal over sanctions against her relating to an incident between her and a Black teen in March.

The board upheld its decision for a six-month suspension from committee attendance during a special board meeting held Thursday evening. The trustee's appeal says the school board  breached code of conduct during the investigation and breached procedural fairness, among several other accusations.

Barrhaven/Knoxdale-Merivale Trustee Donna Blackburn approached the teen on March 27 while he was playing basketball in a park that had been closed by COVID-19 restrictions. When he declined to leave, Blackburn told the teen, “People who do not care about the rules end up in Innes Road,” referring to the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. Blackburn apologized for her actions in a media statement after the incident. 

The school board previously determined Blackburn broke the code of conduct during a meeting held in June. During Thursday's Zoom meeting, trustee Keith Penny urged the punishments levied are fair.

“Given the impact of trustee Blackburn's breach, the sanctions are proportional and appropriate for the breach of that code,” Penny explains.

On July 8, Ontario's education minister Stephen Lecce called for Blackburn to resign over the incident.

“As stated by members of the community: it was shameful, it was racist, it was abuse of her priviledge,” Lecce told the Ontario Legislature. “It is clear that this trustee must do the right thing and step down.”

Shortly after Lecce made those comments, Blackburn's lawyer said the trustee would not be resigning. 

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