Integrity Commissioner wants York board trustee Terrell-Tracey ‘reprimanded’

Her ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ tweet haunts her among other mishaps in communication

Yorkregion.com
June 18, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Integrity Commissioner Sandhya Kohli is urging the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) to “reprimand” Elizabeth Terrell-Tracy after what she described as receiving the “third formal complaint” on the trustee.

The issue is part of other topics that will be discussed at YRDSB’s special public board meeting Monday evening. However, “the Informal Resolution Process is conducted in private and to remain confidential.”

While unable to disclose the identity of the person who filed the complained on May 17 as it’s “confidential”, Kohli’s investigation found Terrell-Tracey to have “contravened” section four of the Trustee Code of Conduct, which deals with “Integrity and Dignity of Office” as well as violating clauses 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 b and Section 13 on Discreditable Conduct.

The commissioner, whose investigation took place from May 23 to June 7, also found that she violated sections 14 and 15, which both deal with failure to adhere to board polices, procedures and supporting documents as well as reprisals and obstruction.

Kohli’s investigation found Terrell-Tracey’s tweet “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” aimed at one of the activists leading the charge to get her out of office, as problematic.

Kohli wrote “notwithstanding varied scholarly interpretations of its meaning, the fact is that tweeting a verse from Swing Low, Sweet Chariot caused a negative reaction from the public, one of dismay and alarm, because it harkens back to the era of slavery.”

She said while this tweet - varied in literal and scholarly interpretation, it “was taken as an affront to the Black Community by some of its members, and also by other members of the public at large.”

On May 23, Terrell-Tracey told York Region Media that the tweet to her adversary was meant to make “peace” with him.

But the complaint  alleges that the way the Respondent uses Twitter is indicative of the trustee’s failure to conduct herself in an

professional manner, and one that is likely to discredit or compromise the integrity of the school board. The complaint also claims that the tweet exhibits racist behaviour in a public forum.

Kohli also concluded the tweet cn’t be read in isolation from her previous comments made to the Toronto Star on Dec, 2018 wherein she stated, "a person that doesn’t stay quiet in the kitchen is why they [the public] do not like me. I have many male qualities that traditionalists do not like."

“This comment was construed as disparaging of women and was the subject of two separate formal complaints for which I issued a report and presented to the board on March 5, 2019.”

The board is expected to make a decision whether or not to support the recommendations from the integrity commissioner during tonight's meeting that begins at 6:45 p.m.