unimaginative2
Senior Member
Toronto school board eyes breakup
Public trustees look at four options to repair problems of Tory amalgamation
Dec 19, 2007 04:30 AM
The Star
Admitting it may be too big to serve students as well as it could, Canada's largest school board is looking at ways to become more manageable, including breaking itself into smaller boards.
The proposal – among several being studied by a special "governance" committee of Toronto public school board trustees – comes 10 years after then-premier Mike Harris created what was supposed to be a more streamlined, cost-efficient mega-board out of seven former local boards. But some now call that move a failed experiment.
Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, who fought amalgamation as a parent activist, says the board is simply too big and she's "thrilled" trustees are starting to think smaller. She said she doesn't favour any particular model.
The committee report outlines four options. Two would give the current mega-board more powerful regional offices or even community councils like the City of Toronto has. Another would split it into smaller boards with an "umbrella" overseeing body, as it was before amalgamation when six local boards reported to one Metro school board.
The final proposal would split the board into separate boards with no ties whatsoever.
With about 250,000 students – more than twice as many as experts say is best – the board has been slammed by outsiders and insiders alike for having too much bureaucracy and too little focus, being too inefficient and too impersonal.
Wynne made it clear that in her experience as a trustee and now education minister, "the board is big and it's complex.
"It's not just the size, it's the complexity of the city and all the demographics. Part of the problem is that it's hard for people to feel like they're part of something."
Today's last-minute meeting of the governance committee comes amid rumours the province is contemplating dividing up the board, although Wynne said yesterday she's "not interested in imposing anything unilaterally."
Others say a recent, damning report from a consultant, hired to help in the search for a new director of education, warns the current board is too unwieldy to attract applications for the top job.
Trustee Howard Goodman, chair of the governance committee, admits the board struggles with communication, with each of its 24 superintendents overseeing roughly 10,000 students.
Take Trustee Scott Harrison's booming Scarborough ward: It has roughly 20,000 students, the same size as the Kingston area school board. Harrison, a firefighter, wonders why Toronto couldn't break into four smaller autonomous boards with one head office overseeing human resources and technology – "the way the fire department operates."
While Goodman believes the board must improve communication, he worries that breaking the board apart would be "untenable."
"We're one city; Toronto would never tolerate having two school boards – say, Toronto East and Toronto West – because at least half the people will think they got the raw end of the deal," he said.
Moreover it would thrust students into "years of turmoil just like we had with amalgamation," Goodman warned. "We would be consumed with staff wondering who would go where, rather than serving kids. I don't think we should do that again."
However, Trustee Josh Matlow said there are much more pressing issues trustees should be dealing with: youth violence in schools, crumbling buildings and the board's estimated $51 million deficit for the 2008-9 school year.
But for former chair Sheila Ward, at the helm for the past four years, the board is bogged down and lacks focus.
"We're heaping work on staff. There's something like 50 to 60 reports that are waiting in the wings, and that's an absolutely ridiculous number. The staff time involved to do those is horrendous," she said.
"A responsible board doesn't act like that. A responsible board only asks for three or four a year, around goals you set during your term.
"We have been singularly unable to do that. Everyone is out there freelancing pet projects."
Annie Kidder, of the advocacy group People for Education, cautioned against simply turning back the clock to preamalgamation times.
"Going back is not the point; things weren't perfect then," she said, but there is "probably a much more sensible way of doing things than the way it looks right now," including increasing local input and decision-making.
Matlow said public consultation is crucial before proposing changes, and notes the board has put a lot of time and energy into creating a body that is " amalgamated in jurisdiction but also amalgamated in a sense of spirit.
"To hastily make dramatic change would be disastrous, and in the very same manner the (Mike) Harris government made those changes in the first place."
Board Chair John Campbell said today's meeting is part of an ongoing discussion since last fall, when provincially appointed supervisors Brian Cain and Joan Green recommended a review of the way the board is governed, citing concerns about "bureaucratic layers," "problems in co-ordination" and "loss of connection to communities."
"The sense of theatre around today's meeting has been a little bit overblown," Campbell said. "They're going to be talking in very general terms about how we're going to tackle some of the governance issues."
OTHER BOARDS
With 249,000 students, the Toronto District School Board is the largest in Canada. Here is how it stacks up against other Ontario boards:
Peel School Board: 137,000
York Region District School Board: 103,000
Toronto Catholic District School Board: 87,000
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board: 84,000
Thames Valley District School Board (London): 75,000
Source: Ontario education ministry
Public trustees look at four options to repair problems of Tory amalgamation
Dec 19, 2007 04:30 AM
The Star
Admitting it may be too big to serve students as well as it could, Canada's largest school board is looking at ways to become more manageable, including breaking itself into smaller boards.
The proposal – among several being studied by a special "governance" committee of Toronto public school board trustees – comes 10 years after then-premier Mike Harris created what was supposed to be a more streamlined, cost-efficient mega-board out of seven former local boards. But some now call that move a failed experiment.
Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, who fought amalgamation as a parent activist, says the board is simply too big and she's "thrilled" trustees are starting to think smaller. She said she doesn't favour any particular model.
The committee report outlines four options. Two would give the current mega-board more powerful regional offices or even community councils like the City of Toronto has. Another would split it into smaller boards with an "umbrella" overseeing body, as it was before amalgamation when six local boards reported to one Metro school board.
The final proposal would split the board into separate boards with no ties whatsoever.
With about 250,000 students – more than twice as many as experts say is best – the board has been slammed by outsiders and insiders alike for having too much bureaucracy and too little focus, being too inefficient and too impersonal.
Wynne made it clear that in her experience as a trustee and now education minister, "the board is big and it's complex.
"It's not just the size, it's the complexity of the city and all the demographics. Part of the problem is that it's hard for people to feel like they're part of something."
Today's last-minute meeting of the governance committee comes amid rumours the province is contemplating dividing up the board, although Wynne said yesterday she's "not interested in imposing anything unilaterally."
Others say a recent, damning report from a consultant, hired to help in the search for a new director of education, warns the current board is too unwieldy to attract applications for the top job.
Trustee Howard Goodman, chair of the governance committee, admits the board struggles with communication, with each of its 24 superintendents overseeing roughly 10,000 students.
Take Trustee Scott Harrison's booming Scarborough ward: It has roughly 20,000 students, the same size as the Kingston area school board. Harrison, a firefighter, wonders why Toronto couldn't break into four smaller autonomous boards with one head office overseeing human resources and technology – "the way the fire department operates."
While Goodman believes the board must improve communication, he worries that breaking the board apart would be "untenable."
"We're one city; Toronto would never tolerate having two school boards – say, Toronto East and Toronto West – because at least half the people will think they got the raw end of the deal," he said.
Moreover it would thrust students into "years of turmoil just like we had with amalgamation," Goodman warned. "We would be consumed with staff wondering who would go where, rather than serving kids. I don't think we should do that again."
However, Trustee Josh Matlow said there are much more pressing issues trustees should be dealing with: youth violence in schools, crumbling buildings and the board's estimated $51 million deficit for the 2008-9 school year.
But for former chair Sheila Ward, at the helm for the past four years, the board is bogged down and lacks focus.
"We're heaping work on staff. There's something like 50 to 60 reports that are waiting in the wings, and that's an absolutely ridiculous number. The staff time involved to do those is horrendous," she said.
"A responsible board doesn't act like that. A responsible board only asks for three or four a year, around goals you set during your term.
"We have been singularly unable to do that. Everyone is out there freelancing pet projects."
Annie Kidder, of the advocacy group People for Education, cautioned against simply turning back the clock to preamalgamation times.
"Going back is not the point; things weren't perfect then," she said, but there is "probably a much more sensible way of doing things than the way it looks right now," including increasing local input and decision-making.
Matlow said public consultation is crucial before proposing changes, and notes the board has put a lot of time and energy into creating a body that is " amalgamated in jurisdiction but also amalgamated in a sense of spirit.
"To hastily make dramatic change would be disastrous, and in the very same manner the (Mike) Harris government made those changes in the first place."
Board Chair John Campbell said today's meeting is part of an ongoing discussion since last fall, when provincially appointed supervisors Brian Cain and Joan Green recommended a review of the way the board is governed, citing concerns about "bureaucratic layers," "problems in co-ordination" and "loss of connection to communities."
"The sense of theatre around today's meeting has been a little bit overblown," Campbell said. "They're going to be talking in very general terms about how we're going to tackle some of the governance issues."
OTHER BOARDS
With 249,000 students, the Toronto District School Board is the largest in Canada. Here is how it stacks up against other Ontario boards:
Peel School Board: 137,000
York Region District School Board: 103,000
Toronto Catholic District School Board: 87,000
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board: 84,000
Thames Valley District School Board (London): 75,000
Source: Ontario education ministry
