After 1,806 days (that's four years, 11 months and 10 days), a longstanding trespass order banning a Sudbury couple from certain Rainbow District School Board properties has been partially lifted.
Dylan and Anita Gibson are vocal opponents of accommodation reviews who often attended Rainbow school board meetings before they were banned.
Keenly interested in school board politics, they also ran unsuccessfully to become Rainbow board trustees in the 2014 elections. Their two children attend Rainbow board schools.
The parents had been banned from the board's high schools and its downtown board office since September 2012, after what they say was a seemingly innocuous interaction with a now former Rainbow board trustee.
In 2014, Sudbury.com wrote an editorial questioning the reasons for the ban and the board's motives for moving against the couple.
They got word Sept. 18 from Rainbow board director of education Norm Blaseg that they were no longer barred from entering the board's high schools.
However, they are still prevented from entering the board's downtown board office. And a new restriction has been added — they're now also banned from the board's new Centre for Education, located in the former Wembley school.
“I wish I could share further information on this development with you, but none has been provided by the board,” Anita said in an email to Sudbury.com.
“What I can tell you is we were not required to meet any conditions for the removal of the restrictions on secondary schools.”
Sudbury.com requested an interview with the Rainbow District School Board about the situation, but a board spokesperson said in an email “we must respectfully decline.”
Three years ago, during the trustee elections in which Dylan and Anita were both running, Sudbury.com attempted to discuss the Gibsons' case with the Rainbow board.
Blaseg said at the time he couldn't discuss trespass orders against any specific parents.
In general, though, he said trespass orders are issued when an individual's presence on board property is “detrimental to the safety or well-being of others.”
When presented with a hypothetical scenario of a trustee candidate who is under a trespass order from board property being elected, Blaseg said Rainbow would have to “revisit” the circumstances that led to the individual being banned.
“Every scenario has a context,” he said. “I would have to take a look at all of the contextual pieces.”
The Gibsons issued a written statement in 2016 explaining in detail what they say happened in September 2012 that led to the ban — at least what they think led to the ban.
The board has never fully explained that, the couple contends.
It involves a conversation after a school board meeting with Tyler Campbell, a former trustee with the Rainbow board who stepped down last year amid conflict of interest allegations.
“In a nutshell, Trustee Campbell was unnecessarily and overly aggressive when he insisted that I answer his questions about a personal comment I had made to my husband (quietly) as we exited the building after a board meeting,” the Gibsons' statement said.
“The comment was not intended for Mr. Campbell. I did not appreciate his wagging his finger in my face. I was annoyed, but quickly got over it. It was nothing extraordinary; it was a conversation. Mr. Campbell was aggressive and I answered him back in kind. And then it was over. Or so we thought.
“(What did NOT happen) There was no physical interaction between Ms. Gibson, Mr. Campbell or Mr. Gibson. All parties were involved in discussions, and only Mr. Campbell chose to invade personal space.
“Moreover, the discussion was concerning board business and was not discourteous in any fashion. There has never been any legal action against me, I have never been arrested, charged or found guilty of any crime.”
The Gibsons say they were prompted to issue the above statement because Anita was planning to apply for the trustee position vacated by Campbell in 2016.
They were asking for the trespass order to be rescinded because it had caused the dismissal of Anita as an appropriate candidate in the eyes of the public.
Some suggested that Anita, who came in second to Campbell in the last election, should have automatically been appointed to the post.
In the end, Ruth Ward, who served as a trustee with the Rainbow board from 2006 to 2010, was appointed from a list of 12 candidates — including Anita Gibson — to replace Campbell for the remainder of the 2014-2018 term.
