By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

Three Person External Review Panel Selected by Palliser Regional Schools

Mar 29, 2016 | 4:10 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The Palliser Regional Schools Board of Trustees will be offering contracts to three individuals to begin an independent operational review.

Superintendent Kevin Gietz requested that the board conduct the investigation back in January after unverified comments and allegations were made against him online of bullying and unwelcomed physical contact toward female employees.

The selection committee, consisting of Vice-Chair Robert Strauss and Trustees Craig Whitehead and Debbie Laturnus, received multiple applications. They were looking for people with investigative, human resources, organizational leadership and educational environment backgrounds.

“Once the contracts are signed, the panel will formally begin its process, and they will conduct their independent review of the Palliser organization. That review will result in a report coming back to the Board of Trustees. The board will review that and move forward from there,” explained Strauss.

Further information about the review process, as well as contact information and biographies from the review panel, will be released to the public after contracts are finalized.

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The entire process will be held off-site and is expected to be complete by mid-June, if not sooner. A budget of $136,000 was approved for the review.

As part of their investigation, the panel will be given full access to interview any current and previous Palliser employees, without those employees facing retribution for their comments.

Trustees were informed by the Minister of Education in January, that the sole responsibility of the review falls on the local board. However, an administrative representative from Alberta Education was added to provide more direction on the implementation and use of appropriate policy and protocol to the selection committee.

The ultimate goal was to keep any Palliser staff distanced from the process.

The board cannot make any further comments on the issue since it’s currently before the court.