Former Rainbow District School Board trustee Larry Killens said a less-than-friendly letter he received last month from Bob Dewar, the husband of Rainbow board chair Doreen Dewar, “hurts personally.”
The particularly nasty letter (which you can read in its entirety below), which Killens said he received Nov. 22, is entitled “on the occasion of your final day as trustee” — Killens did not run for re-election in the October trustee elections.
Accompanied by an unworn OPP hat that Killens, a retired OPP officer, once gave Bob Dewar, the letter calls Killens' legacy as a trustee “dismal.”
Bob Dewar said in the letter he returned the hat so that Killens would not have the mistaken idea that “you and I are on friendly terms and that I might, somehow, still think kindly toward you.”
The letter reveals that the Killens' and the Dewars were once on friendly terms, and were guests in each others' homes. It concludes with the phrase “thank you and good riddance.”
Although Killens had a long history of strained relations with the Rainbow board and his fellow trustees, he said he's “at a loss as to what prompted this.”
He said he's never known Bob Dewar to sit through a whole school board meeting.
“I've seen him out in the parking lot waiting for his wife,” Killens said. “Where is he getting his information from to justify it? What's the back-up for this? Why such a bullying attitude?
“I think of only one place he's going to get the information that he needs, but I know it wasn't gleaned by himself and his personal observation.”
Despite the letter, Killens said he still holds Bob Dewar, a retired teacher, “in high esteem.”
When contacted by Sudbury.com, Bob Dewar confirmed he sent the letter, but said he wasn't willing to discuss the matter in detail.
“That was a personal letter between myself and Larry Killens, and he chose to put it on the Internet,” he said. “I don't wish to discuss it at all.”
Doreen Dewar, who was re-elected as trustee in October and acclaimed as the Rainbow board's chair this month — a position she's held for many years — also did not provide a comment about the letter.
“I have nothing to say about that,” Doreen Dewar said. “It's not from me. I don't know anything about it.”
When asked what he thinks about the Rainbow board chair's husband sending a letter of this nature, Killens said it does carry “some inferences,” whether Bob Dewar likes it or not, that it came from Doreen Dewar as well.
The letter in question has been circulating on the Internet after Killens posted it on his Facebook page.
Killens said he made the decision to post it after receiving a phone call from someone who said they also received a copy of the letter.
He also posted a letter he received the same day from the Ontario Public School Boards Association which praises his contributions to education during his tenure as trustee.
“I wanted to speak in my defence,” Killens said. “It's out there how terrible I am.”
Bob Dewar, however, denies he sent the letter to anyone but Killens.
“I sent one letter out along with a hat,” he said. “I sent it in a bubble pack. I sent it to Larry Killens at his home on Manitoulin Island. That was a personal correspondence between Larry Killens and me. If someone chose to put that on the internet, that's not my responsibility.”
Earlier this year, Killens was barred by his fellow trustees from all Rainbow board meetings until Nov. 30, when his term was up.
The reasons behind the ban included accusations of inappropriate interactions with outside individuals to facilitate litigations against the board, undermining decisions of the board, sharing confidential information and making false and disparaging comments about staff and members of the board.
Killens said at the time that he wished to assure people the “allegations are unproven, untrue and hold no substance.”
While Killens is no longer a trustee — his Manitoulin Island seat is now filled by Margaret Stringer — he still has several active complaints before the Ontario Ombudsman's office.
All of them concern his banning by the Rainbow board earlier this year.
“I just hope this doesn't reflect on the new board, and they get on with delivering an education to our kids,” Killens said. “We are a board in crisis, and I hope that gets straightened around. I'm anxious to hear the decisions of the Ombudsman's office.”
Read the full text of Bob Dewar's letter below:
ON THE OCCASION OF YOUR FINAL DAY AS TRUSTEE
Larry,
Enclosed you will find the OPP hat that you gave me as a gift many years ago when the Dewar's and the Killens's were friends — do you remember back when you and Shelley were guests in our home and Doreen and I visited you on Manitoulin Island and in Zephyr Hills?
My reason for returning the hat (unworn) is that I do not want you to have the mistaken idea that you and I are on friendly terms and that I might, somehow, still think kindly toward you.
I hope that the increased days of leisure, both on The Island and in Zephyr Hills, will permit you ample opportunity to reflect on how dismal is your legacy as trustee.
I believe that your greatest contribution to education has been your decision to leave the leadership and care of your school children to those trustees who actually have a positive attitude and a desire to provide the best educational climate possible in all Rainbow schools.
For this one final decision I say 'Thank you and Good Riddance.'
Bob Dewar
