Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the decision to replace the director of education at Ottawa’s largest school board rests with the provincially-appointed supervisor. Ford made the comments at an announcement in Edwardsburgh Cardinal Township Tuesday morning, where he also defended paying supervisors, including the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s Robert Plamondon, up to $350,000 a year plus expenses. “If you add up all the school trustee salaries we’re saving $200,000 and saving millions and millions of dollars running school boards more efficiently,” Ford told reporters. The comments come one day after Plamondon replaced director of education Pino Buffone with Stacey Kay, who had most recently been the general manager of the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority. Plamondon did not provide any reasons for Buffone’s departure. In light of the recent changes, parent Kayla Fernet says she would like to see greater transparency from the school board to rebuild trust and better understand the rationale behind their decisions. “What has prompted this?” Fernet told CTV News. “At the end of the day, I think it’s important for parents to really understand that the board’s focus is going to be on our students, on what’s best for them and pushing forward and ensuring that stability at the top.” Ottawa South MPP and Ontario Liberal Party education critic John Fraser says the government is taking the wrong approach. “There are a lot of parents out there who need the help of someone like a trustee, that’s why we have them and they don’t have that now,” Fraser said. “They can’t go to the supervisor. They can’t go to the minister. You can’t run every school in Ontario from some office in Queen’s Park or downtown Toronto.” CTV News has reached out to the school board and the province several times to comment on why Buffone is no longer serving as director of education and has not received a response.
