The Ford government is facing renewed criticism from all three major opposition parties after placing the Near North School Board under direct supervision—raising fears about accountability, funding shortfalls, and student outcomes
NORTH BAY — Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is raising serious concerns about the Minister of Education taking direct control over the NearNorth School Board, warning that parents may be left without answers or local representation.
Yesterday, Education Minister Paul Calandra seized control of the board, fired all the trustees and took over as the supervisor less than two weeks after the passage of a new education law, which gives the minister power to more easily place school boards under supervision.
Calandra says he will fulfill the supervisor’s job for a short period of time, noting that shortly after he was put in as education minister, it became very clear that something was wrong with both the Near North board.
See: Province seizes control of troubled Near North District School Board
And: Education Minister: Near North Board ‘poster child’ for takeover
Stiles says the Minister of Education being put in charge of the Near North Board concerns her.
“And I think it will concern parents,” she told reporters yesterday.
“Parents in the near north have been calling for, and trying to get attention to the issues there for some time now, and I think that what they’re going to be wondering now is, ‘Will the minister of education be answering their calls? Is the Minister of Education, sitting here in Toronto, going to be following up directly with them?’ Once again, people in the north have to rely on their questions being answered by some minister in an office down here in downtown Toronto, instead of getting the answers they need right there in their community.”
Calandra said yesterday, “I owe it to the community to make sure that we take some steps initially, to get things back on track, and finally, get answers as to what the heck is going on in this board. So I’m going to do that work. I will be appointing an interim director of education very soon.”
Stiles says she’s aware that the parents and community members have been raising concerns about some of the decisions made by the school board for some time.
“I just question why the Minister of Education himself is taking this on. Like all northerners, they’re going to be concerned that somebody in downtown Toronto is going to be taking this on, in addition to all of his other responsibilities. You know, they have real questions, and they’re going to have concerns, and when they raise them, they have to know whether or not the Minister is going to answer their calls.”
Stiles admits that putting the board under supervision in a situation like this might have been called for, but warns, the Minister of Education has tended to either put his “hand-picked insiders” in control of these boards.
“Now he’s giving himself the responsibility. Okay, fine, but are we going to get answers? Are those people going to get the service that they deserve?
“It’s also about local democracy. I would rather see the government take the role of trustees a little bit more seriously, encourage and inform people about the important role of trustees, so that we could ensure that we continue to have that strong local representation. I would rather see that than the government having to step in like this.
“Once again, we have the Minister of Education coming out and yelling at everybody else and telling them it’s their problem when it’s actually his own government and his ministry. He has a responsibility to address the concerns of parents and students and families who have concerns about our schools, and instead, once again, he’s taking away any opportunity for the voice of parents to be heard.
“I can’t get over this government. They continue to give education workers and boards less and less money every year, right? And then they expect them to do more and more with it. What do they think the result of that is? It means that there are less supports for our kids in the classrooms. It means that our kids are going to continue to struggle. That is what we continue to see with this government. Once again, he’s going to force boards to do more with less. How on earth does he expect kids to succeed these days? It’s outrageous.”
Liberal MPP John Fraser agrees.
“I think the minister thinks he can run every school in Ontario from his office in Queen’s Park. Look, we have governance problems. There’s no question we have governance problems here. The problem with our schools is that they are not safe places to learn or to work. Class sizes are too big. Special Education has been starved, and we have been mental health crisis. They’re not being addressed. I have not heard the minister say one thing about any of those three things, all he wants to do with these board takeovers is point the finger and go. They’re the bad people.
“The government is the funder. They haven’t been giving enough to boards, especially with special education; they’ve let class sizes grow. So you know, the chickens are coming home to roost, so he’s got to point the finger somewhere else. That’s not to say there aren’t challenges in boards, but there are other ways of handling them. You can appoint a supervisor, somebody there who allows the continued function of the board and allows people to be able to connect with the people that they elected to help them with their child in their particular school. I don’t have confidence that the minister has a full understanding of what’s happening in our classrooms.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says there are definite problems with the Near North Board.
“Our deputy leader, Matt Richter, has been pointing this out, but to suggest that somehow that’s going to be answered from Toronto, from the very minister who’s responsible for the $1,500 per student cut to education, is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
“Well, you know what? To have the minister say, I’m the guy in charge now, actually, this government is underfunding education. That’s creating the problem with so many boards across the province. It’s a bit rich to suggest that the Minister is going to solve this from Toronto”
A government review found that the director of education, Craig Myles, had been working in the unused Widdifield school three kilometres away from the head office, where facility, maintenance and sanitation staff are based.
It also found that on at least two occasions, a family member used Myles’ corporate credit card for personal use, which the director said he would reimburse.
See: Near North board ordered to rebuild public confidence and provide accountable, transparent and effective governance
Myles’ original contract in 2020 set his salary at $171,000, and in January of 2024 it was $303,800, said a government report.
