Hanover School Board sanctions, suspends trustee Funk

The Hanover School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to sanction trustee Danielle Funk for allegedly breaching their governance policies.

“I’m not going to comment a whole lot about it because it’s always a sensitive issue,” said board chair Jeff Friesen. “It was something we’ve been working with for quite a period of time, with the leave and a few things, it was time to deal with this situation so it had been sitting there for a while this code of conduct violation. You’d have to read those policies to know exactly why and I’m just going to leave it there. I don’t want to speak to what the situation was, but in the recommendation and what we voted on is what the policies that were deemed by the board that were violated.”

In its decision, the board cited policies claiming Funk failed to support the legitimacy and authority of board decisions, irrespective of her personal position on an issue and that she failed to listen respectfully and with an open mind to the full range of opinions, and make her decisions based on the merits of these varying opinions.

Further, the board claimed she failed to treat board colleagues, divisional and school staff, students and community members in a respectful and courteous manner and that she expressed opinions and/or shared information through social media that discredited, undermined or compromised the integrity of the board.

Funk was suspended and sanctioned for six weeks beginning Sept. 1 and she will not be paid her indemnity as a trustee during that time.

Funk was not at the meeting as she’s been on personal leave since Feb. 18. Funk directed all media to her Facebook post about the matter where she states, “At this time the only comment I can give is that I have and do take my role as a trustee seriously and this will continue when I am able and allowed to return to my duties representing the constituents of HSD.”

Prior to her leave of absence, Funk had been calling for more board transparency stating in a November board meeting that her “rationale in bringing this notice of motion forward is that I noticed a continuation of habits dealing with things in the committee of the whole that should be in public.”

In January, she made a motion for an independent and external reviewer to conduct a comprehensive review of governance practices and the effectiveness of the board’s code of conduct.

“This review is essentially to ensure transparency, accountability, and adherence to our core values,” said Funk at the time.

The review, which was voted down by the board, would have included an assessment of governance practices, evaluating the current governance structure, policy, and procedures, to identify areas for improvement and assure alignment for best practices.

The review would have also looked at the existing codes of conduct to assess effectiveness in guiding board member’s behavior and decision making. Further, the reviewer would have conducted a historical investigation into the compliance of the current board to establish governance practices and code of conduct, and report all findings in a publicly made report.

Friesen doesn’t believe the current decision to penalize Funk will divide the board and he stated that Funk was not being singled out for any reason.

Funk has 10 days to appeal the board’s decision.