Peel District School Board plan would have caused ‘chaos’ for students, Calandra says

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra says the moves are in response to concerns over infighting and long-term financial unsustainability.

A day after announcing the takeover of the Peel District School Board, Education Minister Paul Calandra is shedding more light on his decision, saying that he had to act because a reorganization plan midway through the schoolyear would have caused “chaos” for the school community.

“Midway through the year, to be contemplating laying off teachers, reorganizing classrooms to deal with a budget that they only a few months ago said would be in a balanced situation, just would put so many parents, teachers and students in chaos,” Calandra said. “That is why I made the move that I did.”

His comment comes a day after he announced he was placing the Peel District School Board (PDSB) under provincial supervision and issued a warning the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) could be next.

He said the board is also dealing with a number of other “challenges” that need to addressed, including violence in schools and ongoing work to implement a plan to address racism within the board.

“This is also a board where I am just inundated from parents, teachers and even students, with respect to some of the challenges that they’re having with safety and some of the schools, and more importantly, how the board is dealing with it,” Calandra said.

“So there’s a number of those challenges as well, and ultimately, we just got to get the board back on a strong, fiscally sustainable position, stop the infighting with trustees and just move forward.”

But also speaking with Newstalk, PDSB Chair David Green said there is no mismanagement at the board.

“There’s no mismanagement here and all the information that has been put out on Twitter is misguided,” Green said. “I am proud of the work that my colleague, the director, and her staff, has done over the last three and a half years. Our board has a robust strategic plan.”

He added that trustees “run a very tight ship and are focused on helping students succeed.

When it comes to the YCDSB, which has been put on a two-week notice that it could face supervision unless it addresses “governance and financial concerns, Calandra cited “infighting” and a failure to produce a clear plan to move forward.

“They’re on their seventh director of education in in nine years, so they’ve absolutely refused to provide a fiscally sustainable plan, financial recovery plan, and we just can’t let this go on,” he said. “It just impacts students, impacts teachers, impacts the people who work with them in the boards.”

Meanwhile in a note sent out to school communities Thursday, the YCDSB said day-to-day operations are continuing “as usual” at the board as a response is prepared to Calandra’s request for a governance plan.

“The Board of Trustees and the Senior Team are working together to create a plan that best serves our students, staff and families. As part of the process, there will be board meetings in the coming weeks to discuss this plan,” Board Chair Maria Iafrate and Interim Director of Education Jennifer Sarna said in a joint statement.

Just months ago the provincial government passed legislation giving itself more power to take control of school boards at the discretion of the education minister.

Calandra said he plans on providing “certainty” around the governance structure of all school boards as soon as MPPs return to Queen’s Park in several weeks.

“I definitely haven’t changed my mind on the fact of providing certainty on where I’m going on governance as soon as the house returns in March,” said. “That is 100 per cent still on the table.”

However he added he has “no intention of eliminating school boards” altogether.

“I think boards themselves perform a very important function in helping address local educational needs. So school boards will remain regardless of the governance structure,” Calandra said.