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Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra is making it clear he will act quickly to use the new powers given to him to take control of school boards, addressing one board in particular that was called ineffective in a government report.
The bill, which passed its third and final reading on Wednesday, makes it easier for the minister to bring school boards under control and also requires more boards to place police officers in schools.
Critics have denounced the bill as undemocratic because government oversight of boards eliminates the role of elected trustees, but Calandra said the law allows him to get boards back on track when they go “off the rails,” citing the example of the Near North District School Board.
A government review found a breakdown in the relationship between the administration and trustees, the director of education, who was involved in determining his own performance ratings, a “lack of leadership” from the director of education, and that the actions of some trustees contributed to long delays in building a new school in Parry Sound.
Calandra issued a series of directives to the board last month and said Wednesday that if the board fails to meet all of those demands, he will take over.
“You have students who are studying in a dilapidated high school because of board decisions and anyone who suggests the Education Secretary should allow this mess to continue is wrong and I will fight them every step of the way,” he said.
Minister is considering eliminating the role of trustees
The Near North board did not respond to a request for comment. He previously stated that he intends to implement all directives.
Calandra has already appointed leaders of five other school boards over what he calls mismanagement, and the bill expands the grounds for launching an investigation or placing a board under oversight beyond financial ones to include matters of public interest.
Calandra also said he is considering eliminating the role of trustees and hopes to make a decision by the end of the year.
But on Wednesday he said the French and Catholic councils would retain their constitutional rights, giving trustees powers at least on matters affecting France and Catholics.
“They created this mess”: NDP
Opposition parties, teachers' unions and some parents have strongly criticized the bill. The Association of Public School Boards of Ontario said trustees will ensure every community has a say in how schools are shaped.
“When this local voice is silenced, everyone loses,” President Kathleen Woodcock wrote in a statement.
“Oversight should always be a last resort, backed by a clear and well-communicated plan outlining the required expectations for all parties, including a transparent governance path out of oversight and back into the hands of the local, elected community.”
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said problems in schools and councils are the result of government decisions.
“They're trying to pretend like they're the ones who are going to fix this, when they're the ones… who created this mess in the first place,” she said.
“That’s why I don’t trust Paul Calandra or Doug Ford to fix our schools. They created this mess and I think what they should be focusing on now is how to properly fund our schools.”
The bill also requires school boards to implement a school resource officer program if the local police service offers such a program.
Some school boards operate such programs on a voluntary basis, while others completed their programs several years agoafter some students reported feeling uncomfortable or intimidated and some racialized communities expressed concern.
Andrea Vazquez Jimenez, director and general counsel for the group Police-Free Schools, said at a news conference this week that increasing the number of police officers in schools is the wrong direction.
“The government knows that it cannot control school safety, student safety, or student achievement, and that the relationship-building narrative is an intellectually disingenuous and harmful narrative,” she said.
