Windsor trustee Qin hospitalized, misses penalty appeal deadline

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Laid up in hospital with pneumonia, local public school board trustee Linda Qin missed the deadline to file an appeal of sanctions levied against her by her colleagues despite being given a three-day extension. 

The Greater Essex County District School Board levelled sanctions against Qin on June 25 after hiring an outside investigator to look into complaints made by trustees and holding a special council meeting that found her in breach of the board’s code of conduct beyond what the investigator concluded. 

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Qin was banned from board meetings until November and from committee meetings involving the public for the remainder of the current term in November 2026. 

Qin vowed to appeal the sanctions, a process that would see trustees review their own decision, but as the July 14 deadline approached, she fell ill. Qin has previously suffered from breast cancer, but she said she was cancer-free in February. 

She was admitted to hospital with a worsening fever July 11 and released July 18 after bouts of low oxygen levels in her blood.  

Qin was granted a one-day extension to submit her appeal, followed by a two-day extension, which ran out July 17. That day, she sent a photo of herself in hospital with a monitor showing her oxygen levels with a request for another extension .

But she remained in hospital as the July 17 appeal date expired. She filed her appeal after her release on July 18 and followed it up with an updated version the next day, but it was denied, which was communicated in an email by board chair Gale Hatfield. 

Asked about the appeal process and deadline extensions, Hatfield said in an email to the Windsor Star that Qin had 19 days to file her appeal, which exceeds the minimum requirement of 14 days. 

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“Following Trustee Qin’s request for an extension, an initial extension was granted until July 15 at 4:30 p.m,” Hatfield said in the email. “A subsequent request for an additional extension was also granted moving the deadline to July 17 at 4:30 p.m.

“This allowed Trustee Qin a full 19 days to provide a submission from the date she was notified of the decisions of the board of trustees. 

“Unfortunately, Trustee Qin did not meet the final deadline therefore the process was concluded in accordance with section 59 of the Trustee Code of Conduct. 

“We understand this may be a sensitive matter, however the board is required to uphold the integrity of the Trustee Code of Conduct and its associated processes,” Hatfield said. 

“I don’t think it is correct,” Qin told the Star of the board’s refusal to accept her late appeal. “I believe that (the board) breached the human rights code by pushing me and blaming me like this when I was in such a situation.

“I had a doctor’s note. The doctor said I cannot do any duty before 18th of July. They just ignored (it).” 

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Qin has not yet determined whether she will take the next legal step and attempt to have the sanctions set aside in court. 

A trustee at the Grand Erie District School Board did just that after she was sanctioned earlier this year by that board for breaching its code of conduct.

Carol Ann Sloat had the sanctions set aside pending a judicial review but the case cost her $40,000, according to Michael Barrett, former head of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, who now teaches organizational governance. 

When Sloat returned to board meetings following the court stay, the board sanctioned her again. 

bamacleod@postmedia.com 

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