The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, M ay 24 ,2 01 8 | 16 Cell: 416-989-7809 Dave LoDuca • Ceramic & Porcelain Tile Installation • Bathroom Renovations • Kitchen Backsplashes • Heated Floors C C T I L EE RAM I Come in and get your on!Summer Rentals For EVERY need! • Tools & Lawn Equipment • Skidsteers, Excavators &Trenchers • Light Construction Equipment SALES, SERVICE, RENTAL INC. 334 Guelph Street Georgetown, Ontario L7G 4B5 Tel: 905-877-0157 Fax: 905-877-0159 www.adamsequipment.ca Hours of operation: 7:30 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday; 8 am to 5 pm Saturday; Closed on Sunday A Halton Catholic Dis- trict School Board trustee who has been disciplined for her behaviour says she wishes she could explain what happened, but is bound by confidentiality rules. At a private meeting on May 8, trustees determined Burlington representative Jane Michael (Wards 3 and 6) had breached the board's code of conduct. At the board's public meeting May 15, vice-chair Paul Marai read a motion announcing the sanction and stating the penalty: Mi- chael is barred from attend- ing two board meetings, re- moved from her position on the discipline committee and excluded from the search for a new director of education "from the begin- ning to the end of the hiring process." The board's director of education, Paula Dawson, announced her retirement earlier this year. Her retire- ment date is set for Aug. 31. The discipline committee handles high-level student issues such as expulsions. Trustees declined to ex- plain the nature of Mi- chael's offence, citing Onta- rio Education Act provi- sions that govern private meetings. Those state that trustees may discuss the fol- lowing topics in private: the security of board property; the disclosure of intimate, personal or financial infor- mation; the acquisition or disposal of a school site; ne- gotiations with employees; and litigation. Michael has accepted the censure. She declined to comment when asked if she thought it was fair. "I would love to share, but I can't share a thing," she told Metroland Media on May 16. The reprimand may not seem like much, said fellow trustee Anthony Quinn, but it's the strongest sanction available to the board under the legislation. "Our board has not had to censure a trustee in the memory of current trust- ees," he wrote in an email. "I am personally vexed and disappointed to have to go through this process. But it is important to do it, so as to show our stakeholders that we take breaches in our code of conduct seriously." During the May 15 meet- ing, Quinn attempted to amend the censure motion so Michael would effective- ly be barred from an addi- tional board meeting. Chair Diane Rabenda did not al- low Quinn's motion, saying the proper procedure was simply to publicly confirm what had happened in the private meeting. "You want her to be away June 19 ... I know exactly what's happening," charged Rabenda, in one of many heated exchanges between trustees during the meet- ing. June 19 is when the board's final 2018/2019 bud- get will be approved. The board's controversial "Sanc- tity of Life" policy, which stopped schools from donat- ing to charities that violate Catholic principles, is also expected to resurface around that time. NEWS Halton Catholic trustee censured for violating code of conduct Halton Catholic District School Board Trustee Jane Michael Metroland file photo "I would love to share but I can't share a thing," - Jane Michael, trustee Burlington trustee Jane Michael has been removed from the discipline committee and the board's search for a new director of education. SAIRA PEESKER sairapeesker@metroland.com