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Boothby filed a second complaint against Blackburn for violating the confidentiality provisions in the conduct code by talking to the media about the first complaint.

Blackburn said she handed over a tape recording of the meeting to board chair Shirley Seward. She wants Seward to either throw out Boothby’s complaints as frivolous, or move ahead quickly with a formal investigation, which she is confident will vindicate her. “I didn’t do anything wrong in that meeting.”

A mediator hired by the board met separately with Blackburn and Seward. Blackburn said that was a waste of time and money.

The recording of the meeting doesn’t show body language or facial expressions, but it should be enough to prove that her behaviour did not warrant “code of conducting,” said Blackburn. She was “assertive to be sure, bordering on aggressive, perhaps,” said Blackburn in a letter to Seward.

“Does my behaviour merit a very expensive, divisive investigation? Absolutely not!!!” Blackburn wrote that she would be happy to sit down with Kirwan andhave a facilitated conversation to “discuss in a safe place what has transpired and why.”

And, she added, Boothby was “aggressively challenging people who had a differing view than hers, in addition to giving people dirty looks,” at the same meeting.‎

The political backdrop? Staff had recommended changing programs for gifted children, including reducing the number of specialized classes. Parents with children in the classes were upset and launched an intensive lobby campaign. Boothby, who has spoken about how her own daughter benefited from classes for the gifted, planned to ask trustees to halt plans for public consultation on the issue.