The York Region District School Board trustee who used a racial slur regarding a student's mother missed Tuesday night's meeting as dozens of parents presented a petition calling for her resignation.
Instead, Nancy Elgie, who is in her early 80s, submitted a letter to the board in which she said wanted to explain her actions. It expanded on the letter of apology the trustee from the Town of Georgina had written to Charline Grant last week, in which she admitted to using "a racial slur" when referring to the parent of three black children who attend York district schools.
Grant alleges that Elgie called her the N-word, something that the trustee has not directly admitted.
"I can only imagine how upsetting this incident was to Ms. Charline Grant ... and to other members of the black community, who have suffered systemic racism for far too long," Elgie wrote in the letter released at the board meeting Tuesday night. "It is plainly unacceptable that anyone in public office would use such a word to describe another person."
The trustee alleges, however, that "her words came out horribly wrong" while she was speaking with a colleague in November about the concerns Grant had raised regarding prejudicial treatment of her children at school. (more///)
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