Trustees from English school boards in Ontario are working hard to protect their positions as the province’s Minister of Education considers eliminating these roles entirely in the near future.
On Tuesday, the Waterloo Region District School Board convened a special meeting to discuss two motions aimed at supporting the role of trustees.
Last fall, Minister of Education Paul Calandra revealed “excessive and unjustifiable” expenditures made by a trustee from the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, who used $50,000 of taxpayer money for a trip to Italy.
This incident, along with other cases of wasteful spending, led Calandra to announce intentions to reform English school boards and potentially do away with trustee positions altogether.
“To remove that position means there’s no layer of protection,” said trustee Cindy Watson during Tuesday’s meeting. She wore a shirt that read “Respecting Parent Voice” on the front.
Her motion proposed drafting a letter that would be online and sent to both provincial and local governments.
Trustees in Waterloo Region argued that their roles are essential for giving parents a voice within the systems that oversee their children’s education and serve as a link between families and school staff.
However, trustee Mike Ramsay pointed out that given recent issues at some Ontario school boards, now isn’t the time to stick with the status quo.
“I think we need to accept some of the things that brought us to where we are right now in terms of some of the behaviours at boards of education across this province,” said Ramsay. “Some of the things that took place made it easy for the minister to be making the statements that he’s made.”
A second motion was introduced at the public board meeting, which sought an investigation from the Ontario Ombudsperson regarding transparency, fairness, and accountability concerning policies related to removing trustees.
Both motions were approved, and those letters will be available on the WRDSB website once they’re completed.
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