Chairman Bob Borden says the Upper Grand District School Board has decided trustee Kathryn Cooper’s actions were above board during the boundary review for Edward Johnson Public School in Guelph.
“By a unanimous vote, the board wishes to publicly announce that the legal opinion received stated that trustee Cooper … in no way contravened our code of conduct, her oath of office or any provincial statute and regulation,” Borden said in a March 1 press release.
The board decided in January to host a closed-door “caucus meeting” to investigate Cooper’s actions, which included requesting and later receiving $600 from Erin council to create promotional materials Cooper said “will espouse the virtues of Erin’s French immersion programs.”
Cooper offered to pay half the funds herself, noting schools and the board can not fund such projects.
Acting as part of a small group of parents from Erin, Cooper made a written request for funds to Erin council on Nov. 30, more than two weeks before the initial public meeting for the boundary review, where Guelph-Eramosa parents first learned their children could be moved from Edward Johnson Public School to Erin schools.
The board hosted the caucus meeting on Feb. 28 to discuss a report from Director Martha Rogers, which contained a legal opinion on the matter.
Last week’s statement reiterates a comment Borden made to the Advertiser last month, though at that time he did acknowledge Cooper “came pretty close” to breaking the rules.
Cooper herself has called her actions “stupid” and an “error in judgment.”
In a Newsletter distributed on March 5, Cooper said, “I am pleased we can now turn our full attention to successfully completing the FI [French immersion] study in Rockwood.”
