The Pembina Hills board has decided to file complaints with the RCMP, the College of Alberta School Superintendents (CASS) and Alberta Education’s Office of the Registrar regarding the allegations of harassment and bullying involving former superintendent Colleen Symyrozum-Watt.
During their Sept. 26 meeting in Westlock, trustees passed a motion directing the two-member ad hoc committee originally tasked with investigating the allegations to file complaints with all three authorities.
“The board is guided by its responsibility to public, students and staff. That’s why we are following through in the only responsible way we can,” said board chair Jennifer Tuininga, in an e-mail.
“We are ensuring that the appropriate parties are making decisions on how best to respond to the evidence.”
In a weekend interview, Symyrozum-Watt said the last eight months have been very difficult as she came to terms with no longer working for Pembina Hills and all the people who make it a great system for students.
“The board has now chosen to focus its efforts and resources on pursuing a punitive agenda,” she said.
“It has apparently been insufficient for them to attempt to destroy my reputation, which was built over 33 years of work for the district, by terminating me.”
The story of Symyrozum-Watt’s termination goes back to Jan. 27, when Tuininga received reports of allegation and harassment involving the former superintendent.
The allegations came to her via the processes outlined in Alberta’s Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act and Pembina Hills’ own Administration Procedure 40-02, which deals with public interest disclosure.
The ad hoc committee was created at a special meeting on Feb. 1 to investigate the allegations. A lawyer was also retained through the Alberta School Boards Association and MNP LLP (Meyers Norris Penny) to conduct a thorough investigation; they did a review of the evidence and interviewed both the staff and Symrozum-Watt.
In late July, the ad hoc committee submitted its final report, as did the board’s legal counsel. On July 31, the board passed a motion supporting the immediate termination of Symyrozum-Watt’s contract of employment as of that date.
The motion stated Symyrozum-Watt had breached various contractual, board policy and administrative procedure requirements related to per diems, expenses, vacation days and nepotism.
It also stated she had counseled employees to misrepresent information to the board, had engaged in harassing behaviours and was dishonest in responding to questions during the formal investigations.
The motion stated these actions had broken the trust of the school board and were not compatible with the values of Pembina Hills, nor the fiduciary obligation and expected conduct of the superintendent.
Tuininga said the board had been advised that the findings of the independent investigator were of sufficient concern to turn the findings over to the RCMP, the Office of the Registrar and CASS.
“We are ensuring that the appropriate parties are making decisions on how to best respond to the evidence,” said Tuininga.
“At all times, the board has worked to ensure that the process was thorough, fair and impartial.”
Symyrozum-Watt said the board was now using public resources to “establish some justification for their actions” rather than use them to improve the educational lives of students.
“At this point, it’s unclear what criminal act they think I’ve committed. But I welcome the investigation by a third party,” she said.
“I expect that reason will finally prevail, and the board will finally learn that the process they have led has been fundamentally unfair.”
Tuininga noted she had written in an e-mail to all staff in August that the investigation was the result of people coming forward to report activities “they felt were wrong and not in the best interests of the division.”
She added, “That took courage and was the right thing to do.”
It was reported in July that Symyrozum-Watt was investigating legal action against the division. She confirmed she is still in the process of preparing a legal claim.
