Dysfunctional school board mishandled delay of new school in Parry Sound, report concludes

The leadership and trustees at the Near North District School Board came under fire in a report that examined delays in opening a Parry Sound school.

While construction delays were responsible for the late opening of the new JK-Grade 12 school in Parry Sound, a dysfunctional school board in crisis was incapable of dealing with the problem or communicating with parents about what was going on.

That’s the conclusion of a provincial investigation of the Near North District School Board, which badly mishandled communications with the community when it emerged last summer that the school wouldn’t be ready when school resumed in September.

Rachel Osborne was appointed to investigate what happened – why the school wasn’t ready, why no contingency plan was in place and why there was a lack of communication.

What Osborne discovered were several trustees who didn’t understand their role, who actively opposed the new school and spread misinformation.

In addition, she found that the board’s director of education not only failed to show leadership, he also participated in his own job performance reviews, which saw his salary increase from $171,000 in 2020 to more than $303,000 by 2024, a hike of 37.48 per cent.

“Despite my requests, I was not provided with a copy of the director’s current contract,” Osborne wrote.

“Regardless, I share the concerns that trustees and staff have raised about the salary adjustment and the process followed to approve the salary increase. These questionable practices, including the board’s apparent disregard of their fiduciary responsibilities, warrant a closer review of the director’s contract and compensation.”

Questionable credit card use

In addition, a family member was allowed to use his corporate credit card on at least two occasions for personal use. When asked about it, he said he intended to pay the money back.

“Corporate cards are intended to be used solely in relation to school board business,” Osborne wrote.

“It is unacceptable that the director allowed his corporate card to be used for personal purchases, irrespective of his intent to reimburse the school board.”

He also moved himself out of the main school board office and into an empty school. While he claimed it was because of a lack of space at the main office, Osborne said that “this claim appears to have little merit.”

While praising the work of other superintendents at the board, Osborne said there was a widespread perception that the director himself was “a shadow leader.”

“While the director described his relationship with his senior leadership team as ‘pretty good,’ I heard that relationship described by others as ‘distant,’ ‘unique’ and ‘not engaged,’” the report said.

“The inaccessibility of the director was a consistent theme in my interviews with trustees, staff and parent representatives. Trustees and staff told me that it is often challenging to contact the director, and this unavailability hinders school board business, including decision-making and timely communications.”

He also created a new position – corporate affairs officer – which was posted for four days and elicited only one application – “an individual who had a previous working relationship with the director,” Osborne said.

The new hire was not only paid more than some superintendents, she was responsible for strategic communications, even though she didn’t have any experience in the field.

“I find that the establishment of this position lacked clarity and legitimacy, and the very questionable recruitment and hiring practices followed to fill this position demonstrate poor judgment on the part of the director of education,” the report said.

At the trustee level, Osborne said two of the nine trustees elected in 2022 were openly opposed to closing existing schools and to opening the new JK-12 school.

“These trustees worked to undermine this new build and reverse a board decision that was at the foundation of this project,” her report said.

The new school had been in the planning stages since 2015, when the board created a special committee to oversee the project. But in 2023, a trustee who opposed the new school was made chair of that committee – and didn’t call any more meetings.

“A senior school board official commented that had a meeting been called, there would have been an opportunity to communicate and build relationships,” the report said.

Further, the trustees convinced the board not to close the schools, despite the financial implications, and the “trustees perpetuated the position that changing course was a viable option.”

Trustees ‘sowed discontent’

“One board member suggested that those trustees ‘intentionally sowed discontent in their community,’” Osborne wrote.

“A senior staff person commented that misinformation was repeatedly brought forward by trustees and this information, which originated in the community, ‘became lore.’”

One trustee had a spouse who is a teacher at McDougall Public School -- one of the schools slated for closure -- yet didn’t declare a conflict of interest during discussions about closing the school.

Combined with the director of education refusing to provide leadership, public confidence in the board quickly eroded.

“The relationship between the director and the board was so dysfunctional that it prevented the necessary collaboration to develop a proactive strategy to manage community expectations and to respond in a timely manner to parents’ concerns,” the report said.

While the superintendents she spoke to said the trustees weren’t directly responsible for the delays in opening the JK-12 school, the director of education told Osborne that 80-100 per cent of the blame was with trustees.

The problems came to a head in July of this year, when staff raised the alarm that the school wouldn’t open on time. While it was 79 per cent complete, “one stage of the construction work initially falling behind schedule … snowballed, resulting in the school not being ready in September,” Osborne wrote.

“Neither the prime consultant nor the contractor identified that the build would not be ready for September; that determination was made after experienced senior board staff conducted a thorough walkthrough of the building site.”

A lack of regular visits to the construction site prevented anyone from realizing sooner that the project was behind schedule.

“What ultimately prevented the school from opening in September was a matter of construction delays that resulted from a limited pool of tradespeople and the misplaced optimism of those responsible for this project,” Obsborne wrote.

And when the crisis hit, the dysfunctional board and a lack of leadership from the director of education led to a lack of communication with parents and the ministry.

Parents were told about the delay in August, just weeks before school started. Students had to accept online learning until they could be accommodated at the old high school later in September.

Osborne makes several recommendations, including having an external expert conduct an appraisal of the job performance of the director of education.

Trustees need education on how to do their jobs -- including definitions of conflict of interest. Board meetings must be posted to the website, along with agendas and meeting minutes.

And the Parry Sound Building Committee should meet monthly in open session until the new school opens.

As for the board administration, Osborne said the director of education should immediately move into the main board office.

An external review of hiring practices since 2020 should be conducted, along with an audit of how executive pay increases have taken place. Expense claims from trustees and the director of education should also be audited.

The full report, along with all recommendations, can be found here.