Education Crisis in Ontario: Trustees stay on boards even after issues arise

by Debbie L. Kasman in


There is a crisis occurring in education in Ontario. Two different Reviews of two very high profile school boards – the Toronto DSB and the York Region DSB – pointed to a culture of fear, silence and retribution in the education system. Both also pointed to a dysfunction and deficit of leadership capacity on the administrative and elected sides of the organizations. Margaret Wilson’s review called for a roll-back of trustee power. Suzanne Herbert and Patrick Case called for meaningful professional development in relation to trustee responsibilities and governance training so trustees would better understand and fulfil their responsibility of providing elected leadership. They found that far too many trustees “failed to demonstrate a basic understanding of their role and responsibilities as elected leaders.” In spite of these high profile government interventions, the problems continue. We’ve now reached a crisis point in Ontario.

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