Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 18/99) - Superintendent Ken Woodley has sought legal action in his on-going dispute with Yellowknife's public school board.

Suspended with pay June 3, Woodley filed an application with territorial Supreme Court Tuesday that calls for a judicial review of the board's decision.

Woodley said that he knows of no valid reason for the suspension and he had no choice but to appeal to the courts.

"Action has been taken against me, and I had to look at what recourse to take," Woodley said. "I have not made any effort to contact the board, because my take on it is, that the time for contact has passed -- they have taken action against me, without my participation."

Woodley's attorney, Austin Marshall, said judicial reviews are not uncommon.

"It's a procedure that's effectively used where someone alleges that power in a public body has been used wrongly or oppressively...and it's about being treated fairly," Marshall said.

He said the application requests a hearing date of June 25.

"Mr. Woodley wants his name cleared and the suspension quashed," Marshall said. "And once the suspension is quashed, his name will be cleared."

Woodley said clearing his name is the primary focus of his court action.

"The suspension will do serious harm to my reputation if it remains as a matter of record," he said.

Woodley's affidavit referred to dissention among the board's members in the handling of his suspension.

The affidavit contains e-mail correspondence between two of the board's seven members -- an exhibit Woodley said shows, "that members of the board are in disagreement about how the matter was handled."

Board member Terry Brookes had questioned whether the board followed due course in handing down the suspension.

Brooks said he hopes upcoming meetings will shed further light on the action.

"I don't believe I have all the information," Brookes said. "The board makes decisions as a whole -- and if all the information is known by everybody, the better it is."

Board chairman Dan Schofield said the motion to suspend Woodley was passed by a unanimous vote.

"The vote was 7-0, and that's recorded in the motion," he said, "and as with any due process, there's a continuing sharing of information -- I don't think anyone was deliberately excluded."

Schofield stressed that because the suspension is a personnel matter, it was and will continue to be dealt with by the board in-camera.

The chairman said the board is receiving its own legal interpretation on the judicial-review application, which he said Woodley has every right to pursue.

In the meantime, Schofield said the board's Personnel Committee, chaired by Mark Loan and comprised of Brookes and Al Woods, will "take the time needed" to carry out Woodley's performance review and bring their recommendations to the board.

"This is a very stressful time," he conceded, "and our point would just be to reassure people that the teachers are doing a good job and the kids are learning and looking forward to coming back next year."