More than 3½ years after the Ryan Land saga began, an afterword of sorts, even if unspoken or acknowledged publicly, is nonetheless being written in bold letters as the former probationary principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate, who now works as manager of corporate affairs and organizational development for Vale’s Manitoba Operations, announced Sept. 13, three days before nominations close, that he is running for a four-year term as a trustee in the Oct. 22 School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) board of trustees election.
The board is composed of seven elected trustees and this is the first election to be held since Land’s controversial firing as principal of R.D Parker Collegiate in 2011. Nominations close at Thompson City Hall Sept. 16 at 4:30 p.m.
On a new Facebook group page, “BLB – Bring Land Back for SDML Trustee!,” Land wrote Friday:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1460946134194226/permalink/1461270204161819/
“I, Ryan Land, just turned in my nomination and registration papers to run for school trustee in the School District of Mystery Lake. I did it because I love learning and I believe in students. I believe in their infinite capacity to learn, create, surprise, excel and inspire. I believe education should be democratic, differentiated, and inclusive, and should consider individual context, culture, and collective impact, and that trustees must be passionate promoters of student achievement and accountability. Like Barbara Coloroso, I believe education should be neither a ‘jellyfish” nor a ‘brick wall’ parent to the children and youth within its care, but rather it must be a reasonable and prudent parent with a ‘backbone’.
“I believe in teachers. That teachers are so often the difference, especially for at risk, high-achieving and exceptional children and youth. I believe in the power of belief and that children and youth learn best when they feel safe, confident, competent and loved. I believe that everyone that comes into contact with students–parent, caregiver, coach, custodian, educational assistant, mentor, trustee, etc.–is a teacher and that we are all career educators. Like Parker Palmer, I believe the loudest lesson we all teach is ‘who we are.’
“I believe in Thompson and in the School District of Mystery Lake. I know we have the capacity to be a flagship school division in the province and that every student can be successful in Thompson. I am proud of everything that we accomplished during my time as principal of RDPC. Being a part of that team was an honour that remains one of most amazing and inspiring professional experiences I’ve ever had, and I miss working with students, families and educators every day. This community showed me that it is capable of great care, and even greater courage. Ubuntu!
“I believe we are better together, when we lead from and listen with our hearts and our heads, especially where children and youth are concerned. I believe we accomplish more when we focus on our shared values and interests, rather than on positions. I am absolutely encouraged by the fact that Doug Krokosz, Caroline Winship, Janet Brady, Leslie Tucker, Liz Lychuk, and Don MacDonald are also looking to run!
Brady was elected in a byelection Nov. 17, 2011 to replace Valerie Wilson, who resigned and moved to Winnipeg, as a School District of Mystery Lake trustee. Brady easily swept by Julyda Lagimodiere in a 458 to 230 vote cakewalk.
Brady, 60, a Montreal native, is a product of Quebec’s Roman Catholic school system in the 1960s and early 1970s, and a senior instructor at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Social Work in the Northern Bachelor of Social Work program here.
A former social worker with Awasis from 1987 to 1990, Brady returned to Thompson in 2002 to teach at the University of Manitoba.
Brady has a master’s degree in social work from Carleton University in Ottawa.
In 1999, she sought the NDP nomination for the riding of Arthur-Virden for the September general election, but lost out to fellow dipper Perry Kalynuk.
She did secure the NDP nomination, however, in the riding of Turtle Mountain where she finished second, losing to Progressive Conservative incumbent Merv Tweed.
Tucker is manager of Northern Region Training and Employment Services here for Jobs and the Economy Manitoba. She was first elected to the school board as a trustee last election in October 2010. Liz Lychuk is the manager of child and adolescent mental health programs and mental health promotion here at the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA).
Caroline Winship came to wide public notice several months ago when she tried unsuccessfully to have her son, Colin, who is home schooled, enrolled on a part-time basis in the Grade 6 band program this academic year. The seven incumbent trustees of the School District of Mystery Lake, including Brady and Tucker, decided unanimously May 27 to turn down the request, as the board says it no longer allows partial enrollment of home schooled students. Five years ago, Colin had been permitted into music and physical education classes through partial enrollment at École Riverside School back in 2009 when he was in Grade 1.
But the board’s position now in 2014 is that home schooled students cannot partially enrol for some classes or activities with SDML, due to the board’s space and funding concerns, because in fairness saying yes to one such request would make it necessary to say yes to them all. There were eight families last academic year who home school their children in Thompson and some of their children, in addition to Colin, had taken part in school district programs in the past, though none have for the past two years.
Winship said last June she has spoken to superintendents at 38 other school districts or divisions, and that only one had a policy against allowing home schooled students to partially enrol and that was because that district didn’t have enough room for all of its own students in its programs.
Winship, and her husband, Jason, asked the board to reconsider their decision, which they did June 24. She presented a 15-page petition, including 324 names of people supporting Colin’s participation in the band program. While many of their petition supporters were from Thompson, many of the other petition signers were from places like Oxnard, California, Las Vegas, Richmond, Virginia, Indianapolis, Phenix City, Alabama, Summerville, South Carolina, Cleveland, Tennessee, Paramus, New Jersey, Panama City, Florida, Vienna, Austria, Cacém-sintra, Portugal, Gauteng, South Africa, Vyshneve, Ukraine and Ranelagh, Australia.
Neither the petition nor the second Winship delegation June 24, however, proved persuasive. “The decision we made at the May 27 meeting remains unchanged,” Brady wrote to the Winships in a one-paragraph letter of response June 26.
The Winships then took their case to provincial NDP Minister of Education and Advanced Learning James Allum, who asked Gerald Farthing, his deputy minister, to review their concerns directly. In his reply to the Winships, Farthing said “the decision to admit the student rests with locally elected school board trustees,” but added he contacted SDML officials and they “have agreed to review their policy regarding the admittance of home schooled children into public school courses and extra-curricular activities.”
In her new Facebook group page, created Sept. 19, “Caroline Winship For School Board Trustee” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/winshipfortrustee/, Winship notes she aside from the recent homeschooling issue, she has also been long well known as a local advocate on autism issues.
“As a local autism advocate and tutor,” Winship writes, “who has accompanied many families into meetings regarding their child’s education, I have seen, first hand, the trials that teachers and parents go through as they navigate the needs of each particular child.
“I have helped educate many EA’s here in town on the latest research and strategies for children on the spectrum and it has become a passion of mine to see every child succeed.
“Being on the school board would just be an extension of that passion.
“I am known, most recently, as the mom who attempted to bring the homeschooling world together with the public school district by having my son admitted into the band program. This is one issue that I could not vote on as a school board trustee due to conflict of interest.”
“I do feel however, that this situation proved to the community that I am a fighter for the underdog.
It showed my ability to work diligently, be well researched in policies and be professional and polite while working with others.
“This recent situation ignited a fire under my feet to make a difference.
“Whether my children are in public school or not.
“Whether they are in band or not.
“Education in our community is a top priority and I want to do whatever it takes to help all students succeed by supporting the staff of Mystery Lake so they can do the absolute best job possible.”
Writes Winship: “I am excited to ‘Be A Part Of The Change’ along with other new candidates that want to form a fully functional and accountable school board for the District of Mystery Lake.
“For those who might not know me,” Land writes on his Facebook group page,BLB – Bring Land Back for SDML Trustee!, “I have a B.Ed. degree with specializations in English and Physical Education, and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership. I was a long-time teacher and administrator, which included two of the very best years of my educational career as principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate. I am a proud parent of four children who currently attend three different schools in SDML, and my amazing partner Carmilla and I are in our twenty-second year of marriage. Our dog is Kofi.”
Land sets the tone in his new Facebook group page in a comment Saturday, where in response to a thinly-veiled sarcastic comment about another trustee, replies in his comment at 12:59 p.m., “We’ll keep it healthy, clean, positive and constructive.”
Land has already gained some high-profile endorsements for his election bid as a trustee next month.
Wally Itson, who served as a vice-principal under Land and eventually replaced him, wrote Saturday on the Facebook group page BLB – Bring Land Back for SDML Trustee!, “As a educator, I had the pleasure of working with some very good people. As a vice principal, I was fortunate to be part of Principal Ryan Land’s leadership team and I must tell you, it was an awesome experience and I learned a great deal. He is the finest administrator I ever worked with. His knowledge about educating our youth is exemplary. His passion for the success of students is second to none. His work ethic is amazing! I proudly endorse Ryan Land as a candidate for the School District of Mystery Lake.”
Itson, 63, who retired in June, was named as principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate in 2012. He took over the job of acting principal, which he had previously held briefly during the 2010-11 school year, from January 2012 until August 2012, taking over from interim principal Eric Overall, who came out of retirement for a second time to take on the job after the school district was unable to find a permanent replacement for Land. The “acting” was dropped from Itson’s job title effective September 2012. Itson landed the job after Legacy Bowes Group of Winnipeg conducted a national job search for SDML to fill the job, but in the end board trustees opted to stick with Itson’s local experience, as the district sought to solve the problem of transiency among senior administrators both at the high school and in the district office.
Land also has the support of John Donovan, a well-known R.D. Parker Collegiate figure, who retired March 17 from his encore career as Northern regional director of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM) as Eaglewood Addictions Centre here, and Elaine Thompson, who retired as principal of Westwood Elementary School here in June 2013 and now lives in Gimli. Wrote Thompson on BLB – Bring Land Back for SDML Trustee!, Sept. 13:
“Like Wally Itson, I too worked with Ryan Land while I was an administrator at Westwood School. He was an exceptional leader and role model. I was lucky enough to attend principal conferences with him and watched while other administrators in the province networked with him and even nominated him to sit on the provincial board. Unfortunately he was not around long enough to take up the challenge of leading administrators at a provincial level. He was also involved in basketball at RDPC and chaperoned the boys team while I was asked by my coaching daughter, Jennifer Bryan to chaperone the girls on a trip to Flin Flon. At the tournament Ryan was approached by the organizers to ref some games, which he agreed to do. He then had to head to the local Walmart to buy new shorts and runners for the task. When he wasn’t with the boys team he came to watch the girls play, he asked them about their injuries and how they were feeling and he knew them all by name, something my daughter pointed out as being pretty special since her high school principal never knew her name. An awesome man, an awesome educator; an awesome parent (his daughter went to WW) and he’ll be an awesome trustee if given the opportunity. Bring Land Back!”
Trustees twice in identical 5-2 splits on Feb. 22, 2011, and again on April 5, 2011, where a five-member “Concerned Aboriginal Women’s Coalition” – consisting of Jackie Fitzpatrick, Hilda Fitzner, Freda Lepine and Sharon McLeod and Lagimodiere – appeared as a delegation to challenge several of the claims from an anonymous letter distributed earlier supporting Land, and also questioned his commitment to aboriginal students, saying no new aboriginal programs or courses had been introduced during his tenure as principal, voted to remove Land as probationary principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate – with then-chair Rob Pellizzaro, then vice-chair Guido Oliveira, as well as trustees Vince Nowlin, Alexander Ashton, and former trustee Wilson voting in favour both times – and trustees Sya Gregovski and Tucker opposed.
In mid-June 2011 Land was then subsequently fired for cause by the school board – four months after they had removed him as probationary principal. At a trustees meeting the day before graduation, then superintendent Bev Hammond provided details of an investigation she said she had conducted, which she said found that students had had marks changed without doing remedial work, responsibility for which she later laid at the feet of Land. Hammond’s marks-changing investigation focused only on the years that Land was principal.
The bureaucratic soap opera began April 27, 2010 – before Hammond was hired and when Hugh Fraser was still superintendent. Then-chair Pellizzaro, delivered what was described as a “public rebuke” to Land during a board meeting and announced that his probationary status, normally one year in duration, was being extended another year after a unanimous vote by the board of trustees, who had considered the option of terminating Land’s employment, but ultimately decided not to.
Pellizzaro then denounced employees who try to “manipulate the board by influence.” Pellizzaro, elected in 1998, is the longest-serving trustee on the board.
Five months later, just a few months into Hammond’s superintendent stint, the board apologized to Land – without his being present – for discussing his contract status publicly.
Before becoming principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate in August 2009, Land had spent the previous academic year in West Africa as principal of the Canadian Independent College of Ghana in Accra, a Canadian university preparatory co-ed college day and boarding school. Land completed one year of a five-year contract in Ghana, but, as was allowed in his contract, resigned from the position for family-related reasons.
The Canadian Independent College of Ghana is a licensed sister campus to the Canadian Independent College (CIC), a co-ed university preparatory college, formerly known as the North Wilmot School, which opened in 1964 and is located in Baden, Ontario. It is a member of the Council of Advanced Placement Schools in Ontario.
Hammond herself resigned on Jan. 18, 2012 as superintendent of the School District of Mystery Lake, She had been on medical leave from Dec. 13, 2011 through Dec. 22, 2011 and on holidays from then through Jan. 9, 2012 when classes resumed. In an e-mail sent about 5:25 p.m. Jan. 18, 2012 to all School District of Mystery Lake trustees and staff, Hammond wrote:
“It is with both regret and anticipation that I must advise you of my resignation as your Superintendent/CEO of Schools effective immediately. Life has a way of throwing us a few curve balls from time to time and my decision, while not an easy one, is the right one for me at this time both personally and professionally.”
Three months later in April 2012, in an unrelated matter that pre-dated her employment with SDML in Thompson, Hammond reached an out-of-court settlement in her $5.29-million lawsuit against one of her former employers, the Wild Rose Public School Board in Rocky Mountain House, Alta.
Land, who as principal was a member of Thompson Teachers’ Association No. 45-3 of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, filed a number of grievances through his union against the SDML, his former employer. A five-day arbitration hearing was set to begin June 18, 2012 at the Burntwood Hotel between Land and the School District of Mystery Lake over his dismissal as principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate. However, two days later, on June 20, 2012, the parties issued a joint press release saying Land had offered his resignation to the SDML on June 14, 2012, effective Nov. 18, 2011. The board, Ashton said, as a result accepted Land’s resignation and rescinded his termination. Both Land and the SDML withdrew all claims against each other and ended all litigation between the parties.
The School District of Mystery Lake, citing his “litigation” against them, had banned Land in 2011 from setting foot on any school property or attending any school event, including in his capacity as corporate affairs manager for Vale’s Manitoba Operations, as the job was then called. The only exception was for matters as a parent involving his children.
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