The Toronto District School Board has voted to express its severe disappointment with Trustee Elizabeth Moyer for having “breached the trustees’ code of conduct” after an outside report found she sexually harassed two senior staff members.

Board Chair Chris Bolton said he believes the move to officially “censure” Moyer in a recorded vote of 11 to 1 should show the board can handle problems that arise and staff should not be afraid to raise concerns.

“There’s been this feeling that there’s a culture of fear at the board and I think it’s why it took some time for this complaint to come to the fore. So for all concerned, we needed to come to a decision,” said Bolton, noting it has been more than a year since executive superintendent Jim Spyropoulos complained that Moyer touched his face in a flirtatious way that made him feel uncomfortable.

An outside investigator found Moyer did touch Spyropoulos inappropriately and also made a sexually suggestive comment to executive superintendent Manon Gardner.

Moyer, who attended a private board meeting on the issue Thursday night, said Friday that the board has the right to take the step of formally censuring her, “but it doesn’t affect my role as a trustee and I will continue to serve students and focus on the financial situation at the board.”

She said she has apologized to Gardner and has offered to apologize to Spyropoulos, or enter mediation with him, without success.

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“I’ll continue to be who I am. I see myself as a nice person, not someone who wants to offend anyone, but I do hug people. That’s who I am.”

Hugging was not the issue in the complaints.

Bolton said it is the first time Canada’s largest school board has dealt publicly with a complaint of sexual harassment by one of its trustees, although some have suggested the board leadership could have handled the problem earlier and more quickly. Gardner’s complaint arose in 2011.

“More egregious things have been dealt with before coming to the board in the past,” said Moyer. “We’ve spent more time discussing this than discussing the Ernst & Young (financial) report. It’s time to move forward and focus on issues like the mental health and wellness of our students, and getting our financial house in order.”

The motion to find that Moyer had breached the trustees’ code of conduct won the support of 11 trustees; Bolton, Sheila Cary-Meagher, Sheila Ward, Chris Tonks, Jerry Chadwick, Chris Glover, Howard Kaplan, Sam Sotiropoulos, Pam Gough, Maria Rodrigues and Gerri Gershon. Only Trustee Shelley Laskin was opposed.

On the subsequent vote to officially “censure” Moyer, which Bolton called “a formal expression of extreme disappointment, severe disappointment, rebuke, reproach, reprimand,” the votes remained the same except for Gershon, who joined Laskin in opposing it.

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“I think for staff and members of the community who have watched to see if the board of trustees can effectively govern ourselves, this decision shows the board is functioning in a reasonable, transparent way,” said Bolton.

The statement of censure will be sent in writing to Spyropoulos, Gardner and to Moyer.