Halifax school board member offers to help pay for mediator

By Jennifer Stewart
Staff Reporter

Halifax regional school board member Gin Yee has offered to pay part of the cost for a mediator to help the board resolve its issues and move forward with regular business.

"I want to do my part to ensure that cost is not a concern," Mr. Yee (Dartmouth Centre-Albro Lake-Harbourview) said in a release Friday.

"There are several issues, other than seating arrangements, within the school board that need to be resolved before we can continue."

Mr. Yee has said he would pay one-13th of the cost, up to $1,200, which is equivalent to two months of his salary from the board.

"I am not doing this to encourage my fellow board members to follow my lead," he said. "This is a personal decision, and . . . I also want to take some of the responsibility for what happened on Wednesday."

Mr. Yee was one of three board members who walked out of the year’s first meeting after Douglas Sparks, the board’s designated African-Nova Scotian representative, kicked up a fuss over seating changes.

The members used to sit in alphabetical order but after the holiday break they changed to seating by district number.

Mr. Yee said he left the meeting so the quorum would be lost and Mr. Sparks would not be forcibly removed from chambers.

"I did not want a board member I respect forcefully removed," he said.

"I felt it would be more prudent to force the dismissal of the meeting rather than have the board further disgraced."

Board chairman Wade Marshall has said he hopes to bring in a mediator as early as next week.

Source: The Chronicle Herald, January 14, 2006
http://www.herald.ns.ca