TDSB in dire need of overhaul

While the mayor-led dysfunction at Toronto’s city hall has attracted undesirable global attention, odds are that the looming election will yield a positive change. But Toronto voters need to reserve a good measure of electoral energy in order to ensure that the even more dysfunctional Toronto District School Board is also pushed to a badly needed sea change. Way too many of the existing trustees are part of the problem. The reign of error at Canada’s largest school board must come to an end.

The TDSB’s crisis in governance has been marked by a steady drip of errors of judgment, mismanagement, internecine warfare and a gross neglect of the basics of accountability and conflict of interest.

The last few years have seen cliques of TDSB trustees fighting each other for power without apparent consideration of the purpose of that power. When the Star published reports about the TDSB’s gross financial negligence in procurement fiascos that cost taxpayers thousands upon thousands of dollars — a problem that seems to persist — the former director, Chris Spence, said “the buck stops with me.” The problem was so incredibly serious, why didn’t the board fire him for mismanagement? Instead, it waited until charges of plagiarism made the long-desirable outcome unavoidable.  (more...)

TDSB in dire need of overhaul

H/T to Socialist Studies