The Grande Yellowhead Regional Division will not be dropping the writ on a by-election in Hinton just yet. The school authority decided to wait for ousted trustee Cheryl Howell to decide whether or not to pursue an appeal of the board’s decision. Howell, who was voted out at the January meeting had one month to decide whether or not to pursue any course of action through the courts. On Friday, she did elect to go this route, scheduling a hearing for March 24. At this time, affidavits from the parties involved will be read and the presiding authority will ask questions. Officials from the school board believe that the process should be completed on the same day.

Howell, who had been elected as one of two GYRD trustees representing Hinton in 2004, was kicked off the board after she declined to recuse herself from discussion and a vote on the division’s Retirement Incentive Plan (RIP) at the December board meeting. Howell’s husband is currently employed by the GYRD and is eligible for the program, a situation which other board members believe placed Howell in a conflict of pecuniary or financial interest. 

Howell denies this to be the case, claiming that because her husband had no intention of retiring this year, she was not incapable of debating and voting on the motion in question, given that it dealt with this year of the RIP and no further. 

Given the opportunity to resign her seat when presented with her colleagues’ concerns, Howell declined, and was voted from office through a motion proposed by Jasper trustee Gilbert Wall.

“The integrity of the board may be challenged and the board may find itself in a serious and vulnerable position for any future decisions made as a board,” Wall said at the time of the vote. All other trustees supported the motion to disqualify Howell from the board.

“I am very upset that this matter will take such a long time to be settled,” said Howell in a recent release.  “I had hoped to be reinstated as quickly as possible so as to return to the board table and the important decisions being made in the education of GYRD students.”

Since her removal from the GYRD board, Howell has received much support from the community, she said.