April 28, 2020
Dear Durham District School Board Trustees,
In the summer of 2019, you hired a third-party investigator to delve into allegations of harassment by senior officials in the Durham District School Board. The investigator concluded that the Director of Education, Lisa Millar, and the Associate Director, David Visser, formed a duopoly of power, contravened Ontario’s laws and board policies, made repeated abusive, derogatory remarks to senior staff, and adopted a vindictive dislike towards certain superintendents.
Mr. Visser immediately left the board, but you voted to keep Ms. Millar in her position as Director of Education. Ms. Millar then left on medical leave.
Recently Ms. Millar wrote to you to say that she is stepping down to focus on her health, and that she would be officially retiring from the board effective August 1. On April 23, you confirmed that Ms. Millar was stepping down, and you issued a statement through the board’s communications department stating that you were not able to provide further information on this personnel matter.
Ms. Millar has earned over 1.1 million dollars in salary over the past five years. (Her salary in 2018 alone was nearly $300,000 per year.) When Ms. Millar retires, her pension will be approximately $130,000 annually. Ms. Millar is also likely collecting a pension from her late husband worth tens of thousands of dollars. Additionally, Ms. Millar will be paid approximately $118,000 for the six months she is on medical leave.
More than one million jobs have been lost to Canadians since March of this year. An additional 2.1 million people have worked fewer than half their normal hours, or not at all, between March 15 and March 21 of this year. More than 5 million Canadians have applied for emergency benefits since March 15 of this year.
In September 2019, average household debt to income stood at 175.9 percent, which meant for every dollar of disposable income, Canadians owed about $1.76 in debit – a total that included mortgages and credit cards, and this was before Covid-19.
A recent poll by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that 46 percent of respondents are $200 or less away from financial insolvency. This, too, was before Covid-19.
As school board trustees, it is your job to ensure the Director of Education implements board policies and follows Ontario legislation. It is also your job to promote accountability and to hold the Director of Education accountable. You are also legally accountable to the province of Ontario for the use of provincially allocated funds, and you have a responsibility to adhere to high ethical standards and to conduct yourselves in a manner that enhances public confidence. You even wrote to Education Minister Stephen Lecce in February requesting assistance from the province saying that public confidence and trust in the Durham District School Board is essential.
Why, then, didn’t you request that Ms. Millar retire immediately? Allowing Ms. Millar to collect more taxpayers’ money at a time when many of your constituents are under severe financial strain and when many of your students don’t have enough food is an abuse of taxpayers’ money.
It may be legal for Ms. Millar to collect 6 months of sick benefits before she retires, but considering the results of the third-party investigation, it’s questionable and immoral. Your decision to allow this does not promote accountability, adhere to high ethical standards, instill trust, or enhance public confidence.
In March, Education Minister Stephen Lecce ordered the Peel District School Board to retain the services of an external parliamentarian/governance expert because the Reviewers found no evidence that individual trustees have an adequate understanding of, and appreciation for, the role they play as governors of the school board. The expert must remain in place until such time as the ministry approves a progress report from the expert. The Board must also create a position to carry out the responsibilities of the parliamentarian and to provide professional governance advisory services and support to the Board permanently.
It appears you need a permanent parliamentarian expert, too.
Your decisions to allow Ms. Millar to remain in her role after being found guilty of harassment and to allow Ms. Millar to “milk” the system during a pandemic are mind-boggling. They are a clear indication that you do not have an adequate understanding of, and appreciation for, the role you play as governors, either.
Enough is enough.
Minister Lecce, it’s time for the Ontario government to completely eliminate the role of school board trustee.
Sincerely,
Debbie L. Kasman
M. Ed, Policy Studies, OISE/University of Toronto, Education Re-imagined, Analyst & Researcher, Author & Speaker
[Editor’s Note: On May 3, Durham DSB Trustees voted behind closed doors to terminate the contract of Integrity Commissioner Sandhya Kohli who was also serving as the appointed integrity commissioner for the York Region DSB, the Peel DSB and the Thames Valley DSB.
At a Virtual Special Board Meeting on May 4, Durham DSB Trustees publicly confirmed the termination of Kohli’s contract as of April 29 (one day after receiving my Open Letter).
On May 13, 2020 the Peel DSB announced it had ended its contract with Integrity Commissioner Sandhya Kohli. Page 17 of the Peel DSB Review states the Reviewers felt “compelled to highlight and reiterate” that there are “clear inconsistencies between the Trustee Code of Conduct, governance issues, provisions of the Peel’s Human Rights Policy, and Kohli’s report.
Page 24 of the Review shows that trustees did not “appear to understand the Integrity Commissioner’s role and scope of responsibility,” or the implications of her recent report. The Reviewers’ wrote, “Basic governance support and advice should have been provided to the Board of Trustees to enable them to make informed decisions, and the failure to do so…exacerbated an already troubling issue.”
On page 40 of the Review, the Reviewers recommended that Peel DSB “immediately retain the services of, and assign future code of conduct complaints which involve human rights issues to, an Integrity Commissioner who has demonstrated experience in, and knowledge of, human rights principles and the application of the Ontario Human Rights Code.”
On Thursday May 14, York Region DSB Chair Juanita Nathan wrote in an email, “Sandhya Kohli continues to be retained by the York Region District School Board as its Integrity Commissioner. I am unable to comment further on a confidential contractual matter.”
Later in the day, on May 14, former York Region DSB Chair Corrie McBain announced her resignation effective June 30, 2020. In her resignation letter, Ms. McBain wrote that she has reached a point where she has done all that she is able to advance the priorities of the Board. She also wrote she believes a trustee should hold their seat only as long as they are improving the Board and are able “to genuinely uphold the decisions of the Board” stating, “Ethical leadership matters.”
On May 19, 2020 Sandhya Kohli gave a statement to the Toronto Star saying she was “met with repercussions” from trustees at the Peel DSB.
On May 19, 2020, I wrote to Minister Lecce about the shared Integrity Commissioner and copied Thames Valley DSB on my letter.
On May 27, 2020, Thames Valley DSB made the following announcement: “Thames Valley will end its agreement with a lawyer hired to act as Integrity Commissioner until the role is formally reflected in the Board’s by-laws. Lawyer Sandhya Kohli was hired June 14, 2019 to assist with the Board’s Western Middlesex Area Attendance Review process. Thames Valley will welcome applications once the position of Integrity Commissioner has been ratified by the Board and posted for hiring.”
On May 25, 2020 Robert Cerjanec, a Communications and Public Relations Executive Officer with the Durham DSB, confirmed via email the Board “understands that the Ministry is working on our request and a facilitator has not yet been appointed at this time. In the meantime, the Board continues to move forward in a positive direction and looks forward to working with the facilitator when one is assigned.”
On June 10, 2020, Robert Cerjanec, confirmed via email that a facilitator still hadn’t been assigned.
On September 21, 2020, DurhamRegion.com reported they had obtained confidential reports that show DDSB Integrity Commissioner Sandyha Kohli had sent board chair Chris Braney and the DDSB’s legal counsel a “strongly worded” email on April 21, 2020 warning that trustees were attempting to “muzzle” her and obstruct her investigations.
In a confidential report issued April 28, Kohli concluded that DDSB trustees had contravened sections of the code of conduct that deal with reprisals and obstruction; however, the report was never made public. Kohli was fired by the DDSB on April 29, 2020.
Trustee Ashley Noble said in an interview that DDSB trustees singled her out to “intimidate” her for speaking out about it. Ms. Noble announced her resignation following the October 19 board meeting citing “overwhelming disappointment” with the board, deep concerns with the lack of transparency the board has given the public, and saying in her resignation letter that she is “no longer able to morally uphold the decisions of the board.”
On Wednesday, November 11, 2020, Toronto Catholic DSB Trustees found long-time Scarborough trustee Michael Del Grande in breach of the Code of Conduct and voted to sanction him after he connected bestiality and pedophilia to LGBTQ rights at a meeting last year. Trustees came to this decision after a tense 7-hour meeting and after concluding previously that Del Grande did not breach the code of conduct.
Toronto Catholic DSB Trustees had also refused to release a copy of the investigative report to the public. They eventually did release the report to the complaintants and to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, but only after increasing pressure from the complainants, the public and Minister Lecce.
Former Premier Kathleen Wynne spoke at the Board meeting. She pushed for the release of the report as well and for sanctions against Trustee Del Grande stating that students are not exempt from the Human Rights Code and trustees shouldn’t be, either, and that trustees had chosen to protect one of their own instead of upholding critical human rights values.
The board took nearly two hours to approve its agenda and the meeting was marked by much procedural wrangling and points of order. This demonstrates the same profound lack of understanding we are seeing from trustees in other school boards across the province.
To understand the magnitude of the problem, watch: The Trouble With School Board Trustees.
CC: Premier Doug Ford
Minister of Education Stephen Lecce
MPP Merit Styles, Official Opposition Education Critic
MPP Mitzie Hunter, Scarborough – Guildwood
MPP Lorne Coe, Chief Government Whip
Nancy Naylor, Deputy Minister of Education
Patrick Case, Assistant Deputy Minister, Education Equity Secretariat
Rusty Hick, Ontario Public School Boards’ Association
Cathy Abraham, Ontario Public School Boards’ Association
Laurie French, Canadian School Boards’ Association
Andrea McAuley, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Georgette Davis, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Heather Mundy, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Jamila Maliha, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Jim Markovski, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Margaret Lazarus, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Mohamed Hamid, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Norah Marsh, Associate Director, Durham District School Board
Christine Nancekivell, Chief Facilities Officer, Durham District School Board
Kathy Gooding, Chief Human Resource Officer, Durham District School Board
David Rule, Chief Technology Officer, Durham District School Board
Stephen Nevills, Superintendent, Durham District School Board
Kristin Rushowy, Toronto Star
Shree Paradkar, Toronto Star
Jillian Follert, DurhamRegion.com
Travis Dhanraj, Global News
Mike Crawley, CBC
Caroline Alphonso, Globe and Mail
Steve Paikin, The Agenda, TVO