Petition calling for Regina school board chair to resign to be presented

After a Pride motion was voted down last month, a petition is to be presented at Tuesday’s Regina Public School Board meeting.

The petition, which has been signed by more than 5,000 people, calls for board chair Katherine Gagne to apologize and resign.

Gagne was one of four board members to vote against a motion that read: “BE IT RESOLVED that Regina Public Schools recognize and support the celebration of Pride and fly the rainbow flag at our facilities each June.”

After the motion was voted down, Gagne emphasized that nothing changes; schools can still recognize Pride in June if they wish to do so.

Eric Bell, who started the online petition, disagrees. He said what changed is the message the “no” vote sent to the LGBTQ community.

“It has done a lot of damage to the reputation of our school system as a safe and inclusive and welcoming environment for students and staff,” he said. “To see that their board doesn’t support them sends a really bad message.

“I’ve had teachers message me saying that they’re glad that I started this petition because they want some accountability from their board and that they’re embarrassed that the board would do such a thing.”

Bell said the motion was put forward in June and Gagne had months to work to gather the board, discuss the motion, and sort out any issues with the wording in order to get the motion passed.

“Instead she didn’t do anything and in fact was the deciding vote to make sure the motion was defeated,” said Bell.

Bell argued elected trustees, especially the board chair, should be doing everything they can to actively support LGBTQ students.

He said he started the petition to find accountability and is now joined by more than 5,000 others.

“It goes to show that there is massive support in the community for LGBTQ students and staff and families that deal with our public school system,” Bell said of the response. “I certainly wasn’t expecting it to get the amount of circulation that it did. I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of support that the petition has received.”

Bell isn’t sure the petition will work, but he hopes it’s enough to convince the board to bring back the motion and get it passed.

“It definitely sends a strong message that people are upset and that something needs to be done,” Bell said. “My hope is that Katherine Gagne does the right thing.

“I hope that she apologizes, I hope that she resigns from her position as board chair and I hope that the board brings back the motion so it can be voted on and ultimately passed. I think that’s what needs to be done in order to repair the damage that has been created.”