Michael McKinnon
Dear Mike:
I was shocked to read the following in the April 20 letter from Glenda Belluz, a former trustee of the Rainy River District School Board:
“Mr. Kircher and Mr. Lewis had said during their campaigns that they would go in and clean up the board and administration if they were elected. With threats like this, there was a concern about the job security of two employees.”
I challenge Ms. Belluz to provide even a shred of evidence that either Mr. Kircher or Mr. Lewis said anything of the kind. I followed the Times’ coverage of the election closely and certainly it never reported such “threats.”
Mr. Lewis ran virtually no campaign; he was acclaimed to the position of trustee for Atikokan. In announcing his candidacy, he expressed disappointment in former Atikokan trustee Judy Eluik’s work, specifically her absolute refusal to address her constituents (including the AHS school council) during a 2007 controversy around a board-owned bus at Atikokan High School.
Mr. Lewis has a record of more than 30 years of outstanding public service, and these kinds of baseless allegations are a disservice to him.
I have no doubt members of the old board heard rumours—we hear them all the time. So I also must ask Ms. Belluz: did the old RRDSB award these four-year severance packages based on anything more than rumour and innuendo?
Was it standard practice of the old board to act solely on the basis of rumour and innuendo?
One more question, please, Ms. Belluz. Are you speaking on behalf of your brother-in-law, current trustee (and former chair) Dan Belluz? He told CBC Radio in February that the old board “had heard things” that led it to believe the new trustees somehow threatened board administrators, but apparently declined to spell out what these threats were or how they were made.
I do appreciate former trustee Glenda Belluz’s willingness to speak out on this issue—it is an important one. I would appreciate even more some clear evidence that the accusations she has made against these public officials have some basis in fact, and are not merely the product of rumour mongering.
Signed,
Michael McKinnon
Atikokan, Ont.
