Linda Pitney — charged last year and accused of sending a bomb threat to a west end school — has now been disqualified after a short run for the Eglinton-Lawrence Toronto District School Board trustee position.
Bonita Pietrangelo, the director of elections, said Pitney had written a post office address on her application, disqualifying herself. All school trustee candidates must reside in the relevant ward to qualify. Pitney, however, said she has several places she considers home and that application guidelines were not clear. “I have different spots.… I stay with people in Toronto. I have a spot in London,” she said.
The threatening letters Pitney is accused of sending started to appear at Perth Avenue Public School in the Dundas Street and Dupont Street area in December 2008. They were allegedly motivated by Pitney’s defence of an Iranian student, who Pitney said was being treated unfairly. She said that though it was her duty to report a abuse, she maintains she did not send the letters. “It doesn’t add up…. It’s devastated my life,” she said.
Pitney is currently scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 20. She said her decision to run for trustee was an attempt to bring some attention to her case and to help clear her name. She also said she wanted to bring more transparency to the school board.
Howard Goodman, the current Eglinton-Lawrence trustee, said, though he is uncertain of all the exact requirements for trustee candidates, he does believe a person is innocent until proven guilty. “I’m taking the situation as an accused who hasn’t been tried yet,” he said.
Goodman also said, if Pitney is running to bring more transparency to the board, he agrees with her reasoning. “If somebody has issues with the way we’re doing things, it’s a really good reason to run.”
