Peel District School Board put under ‘immediate’ supervision

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A fourth GTA school board has been put under government supervision by the province, while another was put on notice over “pressing governance and financial concerns.”

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The Progressive Conservatives said Wednesday that Peel District School Board is facing “immediate action” by Education Minister Paul Calandra, which includes halting an “imminent” plan to lay off 60 classroom teachers, while the York Catholic District School Board was given two weeks to respond to the government’s concerns.

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The PDSB, Ontario’s second largest school board, was also given 14 days to address Calandra’s concerns, including five straight years of budget deficits “affecting its long‑term financial sustainability,” after which he will consider whether to continue with supervision.

The issues at the YCDSB, meanwhile, include “inadequate financial management” and an “alarming revolving door in leadership and ongoing governance issues.

Infighting, ‘serious financial concerns’ cited by minister

“The action I am taking at the PDSB will put an immediate halt to a disruptive mid-year upheaval in staffing that would have created uncertainty for parents, students and teachers alike,” Calandra said in a news release.

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“I am also putting the YCDSB on notice that the infighting, disruption and serious financial concerns that have undermined student success for years need to end immediately with every penny of public funding directed to support students in the classroom.”

The decision came on the heels of six other school boardsbeing put under government supervision, including Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

The province has said the moves were made to create a “strong, accountable and well-supported public education system” that focuses on the basics and improving student outcomes.

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Critics slam move as ‘power grab’

Opposition critics, however, have called it a “power grab” that makes the education system less accountable to parents and deflects from deficiencies in the classroom, such as increased class sizes and worsening conditions for special education students.

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“How many more boards will be taken over before the minister admits his government’s failures?” interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said in a statement. “How are educators expected to plan for the short or long term when they don’t know which board this government will take over next?

“It’s been almost eight years and all (Premier) Doug Ford and his gang have done is make a mess of our schools.”

NDP education critic Chandra Pasma, meanwhile, had earlier called for “urgent action” to support students with disabilities as parents were “struggling to get answers about their kids’ education” from the PCs’ “handpicked” supervisors.

“Instead of giving them answers, the government just added more bureaucracy,” Pasma said in a statement.

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