The London police board held a special meeting Thursday morning to deal with allegations against its vice-chair.
The board has asked the Ontario Police Commission to look into allegations of harassment against Michael Deeb by Najwa Zebian.
In a statement, the board asked the commission to “investigate, inquire into and report on the conduct or the performance of dutues of a member of the London Police Services Board, namely Mr. Michael Deeb, respecting the information published by Ms. Najway Zebian brought to the board’s attention.”
Deeb is also principal at Beal secondary school and is getting married in a couple of days.
Zebian is a teacher.
On Zebian's Facebook page she writes: "I have experienced forms of power abuse, gendered violence and financial abuse from Mr. Deeb."
Deeb is pushing back through his lawyer Faisal Joseph.
Joseph said his client is considering legal action against Zebian.
"They do not have one scintilla of evidence, nor a formal complaint with respect to what has transpired between these two people," Joseph said.
Joseph also sent an email to CTV London.
"My client is a valued employee of the TVDSB (Thames Valley school board) for years with outstanding carreer (sic) over two decades and I don't think it's a coincidence that Ms. Zebian has not ever mentioned my clients name in over 2 years but has chosen to do so publicly with over 700thousand followers within a week of finding out, he he (sic) is to be married in the next 48 hrs."
Joseph also said the Thames Valley board had investigated the claims and that Deeb continues to work as a principal.
The board provided a statement. It said in part:
"While TVDSB encourages transparency in all practices, the process of investigating harassment is conducted in a confidential manner. The results of an investigation are shared with parties involved in a complaint, however TVDSB does not comment publicly on personnel matters.
"If the investigation finds evidence of harassment, TVDSB takes appropriate punitive action, which may include dismissal."
