An investigation report from the ongoing battle between the Grand Erie District School Board and a barred trustee paints a picture of “tension, miscommunication and missed communication.” 

After the Divisional Court sided with Carol Ann Sloat earlier this month, the school board has released what it’s calling the “Call the Police” report — one of several related to the longtime trustee over the past couple of years.

“This step is being taken to ensure clarity and accuracy in the public record in response to the court’s … decision,” the board wrote in a statement posted to its website on Monday.

Until now, Sloat, the trustees — and even the panel of justices — hadn’t seen the full investigation report, something Justice Thomas Heeney noted as “procedurally unfair” in his ruling.

It’s board policy not to share such reports for “confidentiality.” But given “comments made by the court,” and because it didn’t address “the merits” of the complaint, the board felt it was now in the public’s interest, the statement said. 

In the protracted dispute between the board and Sloat, the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice has upheld Sloat’s position, striking down disciplinary decisions imposed by the board on two occasions.

The board “does not agree with all aspects” of the latest decision, released on Aug. 8 by Heeney — particularly with respect to the police complaint, it wrote in a second statement posted Monday.

The flashpoint came in June 2024, when Sloat took confidential documents out of a closed meeting and refused to return them. As part of the exchange, she shouted: “call the police.”

The board retained independent lawyer Cenobar Parker to “investigate the allegations” and determine facts, the report said.

But “legal analysis, including a credibility assessment,” is “outside the scope” of the investigation, so the report “does not offer an opinion” on whether Sloat violated the code of conduct, as the board said she did while sanctioning her in June 2024. 

Parker did, however, find an investigation was “warranted” because the allegations were not “frivolous, vexatious or more appropriately referred to another venue for resolution.”

Following a special board meeting last week, Sloat voted against releasing the report because she wasn’t “part of the conversation” in the closed meeting before the public vote, she told The Spectator on Tuesday. 

But she has “always said that the public has a right to know what’s going on,” she said. 

Trustee Carol Ann Sloat has been at the centre of a long-running dispute with the Grand Erie board.

Key takeaways from the ‘Call the Police’ report

Parker noted a seemingly “real barrier to meaningful dialogue” between Sloat and her fellow trustees — “and certainly a real barrier to any genuine understanding between them.”

She pointed to the varied interpretations of “call the police.”

“If I was being such a bad person, then call the police if I’m breaking the law,” is what Sloat told Parker she meant.

But another trustee, former vice-chair Brian Doyle, interpreted it to mean “that she’s not going to change her mind …‘call the police if you don’t like it.’” the report said.

Board chair Susan Gibson and an unnamed interviewee said Sloat was “clearly frustrated and hollering,” which they found to be “in contrast” to Sloat’s “perspective of being the victim and unfairly targeted.”

The board has “struggled a little bit with Trustee Sloat and her understanding of the governance process and what our role is day-to-day,” Gibson told Parker, while suggesting there needs to be more education on the board’s changing role.

Doyle referred to the situation as “sad,” saying Sloat was initially “pretty solid” but the working environment is soured by knowing there will be “problems” before getting into the room.

Sloat was “distraught” over the situation, as she “got emotional, teared up or tried to hold back emotions” on “at least a couple of occasions during our interview,” Parker wrote. 

Parker said it’s “clear” that Sloat feels isolated from the board. “In answering whether she got a response from anyone in the boardroom after her comment to ‘call the police,’ Trustee Sloat said, ‘they’d have to talk to me to get a response.’” 

In its statement, the board said it is “optimistic” Sloat will drop “further litigation” against the board, “allowing all parties to focus on the work of serving students, staff and families.”

Sloat told The Spectator she is “more than willing to sit down and discuss or have our lawyers discuss.”

It’s unclear how much these tensions have cost the board overall. The Spectator requested legal fee totals related to the court case through a Freedom-of-Information request, which was denied.

According to Sloat, she has received settlements from the board totalling $30,000 from the court rulings in her favour. 

Celeste Percy-Beauregard’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report on stories about Brant County. Reach her at cpercybeauregard@torstar.ca.

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