BRANDON — Three Dauphin-area trustees have resigned following the departure of the school division’s superintendent.
The Manitoba Métis Federation alleged in a Monday news release Superintendent Stephen Jaddock of the Mountain View School Division was fired because he allowed last weekend’s Dauphin Pride parade to start at a division school. The board chair has denied the allegation.
Trustee Lloyd Martens confirmed to the Brandon Sun by phone Monday evening he had submitted his resignation earlier in the day and said his colleagues Leifa Misko and Scott McCallum had submitted theirs as well.
Martens said he did not want to say much more ahead of the release of results from a governance review into the division ordered by Education Minister Nello Altomare, but read out the contents of his resignation letter.
“I’m resigning as a school trustee effective immediately,” Martens said. “The conduct I’ve witnessed by board members is not something I can support or continue to be associated with.”
Martens said he was not present at a board meeting Friday when Jaddock’s status was discussed.
By Facebook Messenger, Misko confirmed she had resigned. The Sun was unable to reach McCallum.
The governance review was ordered after trustee Paul Coffey made a presentation in April making comments about Indigenous people that were condemned by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Southern Chiefs’ Organization.
Coffey defended residential schools, denied the existence of white privilege, used outdated terms to refer to Indigenous people and attacked land acknowledgements.
The review was expected to conclude Monday, according to a letter from Altomare read out at the board’s May 13 regular meeting.
In a statement issued by the Dauphin-based division earlier Monday, board chair Gabe Mercier announced Jaddock’s departure was effective immediately and the search for his successor had started.
In an email to the Sun, Mercier denied the MMF’s allegation about Jaddock’s departure and said the board had been reviewing his contract and performance since April 22 “when he made a proposal to the board.”
Mercier also referenced the meeting held about Jaddock’s status, though there is no record of the meeting on the division’s website.
He said the decision to dismiss Jaddock was unanimous among board members present at the meeting. He denied Jaddock’s dismissal was related to the statement the superintendent posted to the division’s website following Coffey’s presentation.
Though Jaddock did not name Coffey, his statement said that he regretted not stepping up and interrupting the presentation and that he intended to continue to pursue reconciliation.
That statement has since been deleted from the school division’s website.
After the announcement of Jaddock’s departure, the MMF sent out a news release claiming it came in the aftermath of the Pride parade the federation’s Northwest Region held last Saturday.
“The MMF’s Northwest Region sponsored the second annual, successful Pride Parade in Dauphin on Saturday,” the release said.
“Unfortunately, the event was overshadowed by the (Mountain View School Division) superintendent’s abrupt dismissal the night before. Northwest regional leadership and citizens were deeply concerned by reports within the community that the superintendent’s dismissal was at least partly in reaction to the Pride parade beginning on school grounds.”
In a phone interview, Frances Chartrand, Métis minister of child care, said she had been told at the Pride parade by division teachers, parents and Métis citizens that Jaddock had been fired over the event.
She said there were worries the parade would be shut down, but that did not happen.
— Brandon Sun