On Wednesday, Ontario’s education minister placed a seventh school board under provincial supervision to avoid the layoffs of many teachers, as he explained, and he’s also looking to take control of another board soon due to financial issues.
Paul Calandra revealed that he has placed the Peel District School Board under supervision and is giving the York Catholic District School Board two weeks to justify why they shouldn’t face the same situation.
The Peel Region board, located west of Toronto, was on the verge of laying off 60 teachers, which would have impacted around 1,400 students, according to Calandra.
“Mid-way through the year, they were planning on laying off teachers and moving around classrooms and impacting students,” he said in an interview.
“You can just imagine what that does in schools, and the chaos it causes for students, let alone parents who built a relationship, and obviously (affects) the teachers as well.”
The Peel board now has two weeks to address Calandra’s concerns. After that period, he will decide whether or not to lift the supervision. If it continues beyond that time frame, he’ll appoint a supervisor.
“I think they’ll be hard pressed to convince me in 14 days that they will change what has been five years of, frankly, mismanagement and bad decision-making,” Calandra said.
The board has run a deficit for five straight years now, raising questions about its long-term financial stability. Additionally, he mentioned that the York Catholic board has exhausted its reserves and hasn’t submitted a “realistic financial recovery plan,” along with having seven directors of education in nine years.
Critics argue that Calandra’s actions undermine local democracy by taking control away from school boards. They claim these boards are struggling financially because provincial funding isn’t keeping pace with rising demands or inflation.
The president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association stated trustees provide communities with a genuine voice and when that voice is weakened, everyone suffers.
“We remain ready to work with the government and all education partners to innovate, modernize, and strengthen Ontario’s publicly funded education system, but it is getting more and more difficult to do so with each passing week as classroom-level decisions continue to be made at Queen’s Park without local input,” Kathleen Woodcock wrote in a statement.
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser criticized Calandra’s strategy as misguided.
“This government is using takeovers to deflect from the fact that schools aren’t safe places to learn,” he wrote in a statement. “Class sizes are too big; special education has been starved; we have a mental health crisis that’s not being addressed.”
Calandra has hinted for months at potential changes in how school boards operate; this could include nearly eliminating trustee roles altogether. He mentioned expecting to finalize his decision “soon.”
Trustees within Catholic and French boards will still play a part in denominational matters according to Calandra; however it’s different for English public systems.
The province has taken over six other school boards since Calandra became minister due to their mismanagement issues.
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