Derrick Long (Photo from BWDSB website)
The Bluewater District School Board is planning to censure one of its trustees and bar him from sitting on all committees for 90 days, after he was found to have breached several sections of the board’s code of conduct.
The Board of Trustees resolved to impose sanctions against Brockton & South Bruce Trustee Derrick Long at a special meeting Tuesday. But they aren’t finalized yet. The Education Act requires Long be notified in writing and given 14 days to respond, and then the board would meet again to confirm, vary or revoke the sanctions.
The actions taken by the board were recommended in a report by Michael Maynard of ADR Chambers, who acted as an Integrity Commissioner and investigated five complaints filed against Long containing numerous allegations. The complaints were filed by Bluewater Board Chair Jane Thomson, Vice-Chair Jan Johnstone and a student trustee. Maynard’s report says they were referred to him over several months, beginning in March 2024.
Long wasn’t present at Tuesday’s meeting. Southgate & Grey Highlands Trustee Janice Kaikkonen and Owen Sound Trustee Michael Craig were also absent.
Bayshore Broadcasting News contacted Long for comment on this story, but did not receive a response by publication time.
If the board does finalize its sanctions, Long’s suspension from sitting on committees would begin on Jan. 6, 2025. He would still be able to attend the monthly regular meeting of the school board.
Maynard’s 56-page report provides his findings about several alleged incidents involving Long. The reports talks about several social media posts by Long that were found to be “harmful and needless” and in violation of the board’s code of conduct.
“Records show various social media posts including comments such as ‘the illness in Bluewater’ and references to the Board of Trustees ‘being directed by the Director,'” the Integrity Commissioner’s report explains.
Long also made public on social media confidential information about the legal costs associated with litigation involving the board. It was information that was shared in-camera to trustees.
“I accept that Trustee Long improperly published that information,” Maynard says in his report.
The report also confirms the Brockton & South Bruce Trustee wore and “made obvious attempts to highlight” a “straight Pride” shirt while virtually attending a board meeting on April 16, 2024. At another meeting, he appeared on camera in a bathtub shirtless. The Integrity Commissioner’s report says Long’s explanation was he was dealing with connectivity issues with his computer, and then decided to fix his bathtub and didn’t want to get putty on his shirt. And then the laptop later connected.
“He stated he was ‘not in a mankini doing a pole dance,'” the report says.
It also talks about how Long apparently tried to absolve himself from the board’s code of conduct, when he sent a handwritten note in February 2024 providing “formal notice” he was “rescinding and revoking his signed oath.” A few other alleged incidents are examined in the report as well.
The Integrity Commissioner notes Long has not previously been found in contravention of the code of conduct, and in some cases “he truly did not grasp the limits of the role of trustee, though only some of the impugned conduct related to that misunderstanding.”
“On the other hand, some of his conduct was simply bizarre and inexplicable,” Maynard continues. “Other conduct was blatantly disrespectful.”
Maynard adds Long did acknowledge he should have handled things better and indicated “he would reform his conduct moving forward.”