Education advocate Peter Ferguson wanted to speak at the Bluewater District School Board meeting on Tuesday — but there was no one to listen.
Ferguson wanted to speak to trustees as an unannounced delegation but the bylaws state that under these circumstances the speaker can only talk about something already on the agenda.
As this was explained to him by board chair Marg Gaviller, Ferguson was saying, “I don’t care,” and “You work for me, I don’t work for you.”
Ferguson continued to talk, forcing Gaviller to recess the meeting for ten minutes as most trustees and admin staff left the room.
Gaviller says she was disappointed with Ferguson’s actions.
She says the board was following its bylaws and she would expect Ferguson to respect that.
It’s not known exactly what Ferguson wanted to talk about and eventually left the building.
Ferguson, an architect by trade, had been at the board meeting on January 4th to talk about the design of the meeting room which he maintains was not user friendly for the general public.
The room has since been re-configured taking into account some of Ferguson’s suggestions.
Gaviller said even if he had applied to speak beforehand, he would have been turned down because again the bylaws state a delegation can speak on the same subject only once every three months.
