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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, July 15, 2016 | 6 Let the infighting go Dishonourable. Dissension. Highly-inappropriate. These were among the descriptive words hurled by Halton Catholic District School Board Chair Jane Michael when a fellow trustee suggested an interview she recently gave to a Toronto reporter was conduct unbecoming her position at the board. Last month's school board meeting quickly disintegrated into a back and forth of trustees being hyper-critical of each others' actions in recent weeks. It was behaviour one would hope not to see in a classroom -- or even the schoolyard. It all stemmed from what was thought to be a simple housekeeping matter involving strengthening policies for school boards to remain safe and inclusive places of learning. Under provincial statute, "gender identity and gender expression are now included as prohibited grounds of discrimination," according to former Education Minister Liz Sandals. School boards across the province had been instructed to update their discipline and safety policies to re ect upgraded language found in the Education Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code. Halton's Catholic board had been working on updating its policy since February of this year. The issue has split trustees into two camps -- pitting the safety and inclusiveness of the school environment versus religious teachings. Recently, an overdue motion to update the board's policy failed in a 4-3 vote after Oakville trustee Anthony Quinn voiced concerns over the words sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite the policy having been given a thumbs up by the board's own religion consultant, Quinn worried students who follow their Catholic religious beliefs might be at risk of being disciplined under the new language. In a subsequent interview with a Toronto reporter, an obviously ustered Michael suggested there was some political foot dragging going on. Then, Burlington trustee Susan Trites alleged Michael had "failed in her duty to always state and uphold the will of the board regardless of personal opinion." While Trites' motion failed at the board table, it was successful in igniting heated debate. Another Burlington trustee, Arlene Iantomasi, provided the most sobering assessment of the situation. "Why are we doing this -- in ghting? We need to let this go... for all our students who need our support far more than they need us sitting here talking about this nonsense." She's right. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 or via email to ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. 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Germ urges Rotary members to have more willing hands, more caring hearts, and more bright minds to move our work forward. "Every day that you serve in Rotary, you have the opportunity to change lives. Everything you do matters; every good work makes the world better for us all," he writes. "In this new Rotary year, we all have a new chance to change the world for the better, through Rotary Serving Humanity. This year's theme, gives our members Letter to the Editor and the 1,220,000-plus Rotarians around the world a renewed and invigorating opportunity to nd ways in which we can serve our communities and the world around us. It takes each and every one working together to truly make a difference for others. That is what Rotary is all about... "Service Above Self." 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