THUNDER BAY — The chair of the Lakehead Public School Board would have liked more communication around a bill that includes measures to increase provincial oversight of school boards, make it easier for the minister of education to take control of school boards and require a police presence in schools.
“It would have been, in my opinion, better to have had a conversation about this before it reached the news,” board chair Leah Vanderwey told Newswatch in an interview. “I think it's always important that we base decisions on data.”
The Ontario government is advancing Bill 33, the Supporting Children and Students Act, which has passed its first reading and must still pass a second and third reading and before is made law.
Introduced by Education Minister Paul Calandra, the bill includes mandatory trustee training, increased oversight of board finances, enhanced reporting requirements, new powers allowing the minister to issue orders to school boards and to take control of boards that do not comply or "in certain other circumstances". It would also require school boards to work with local police forces and implement school resource officer programs.
The omnibus bill also includes amendments to the acts governing child and family services, colleges and universities and the provincial ombudsman.
Vanderwey raised concerns about regional equity and the province’s lack of response to northern needs. “We've had no conversation with the Ministry of Education,” she said. “I know that last year we did send a letter to the Ministry. Because of our transportation struggles, especially in Northwestern Ontario, where we do reach -35°C, and that doesn't happen in Southern Ontario, and also with the special education funding, we've not heard back.”
Regarding trustee training, Vanderwey said efforts are already in progress. “Trustees have been legislated to do training. So we’ve been in the midst of training this year, financial pieces, director's performance appraisals, and multi-year strategic planning,” she said, adding that the Lakehead board continues to meet its financial obligations. “We do always manage to have a balanced budget.”
Currently the board does not place officers in schools, said Vanderwey, but there is an education resource officer who works with schools and she said the board is open to dialogue.
“For us... it would be a conversation. If the Thunder Bay police felt they needed or wanted to have a conversation, we're more than open.”
Vanderwey said she had limited familiarity with Bill 33’s full details at this stage. “I don't really know a lot of information about it, to be honest. So we'll probably find out more as the bill goes through the process.”
“Trustees always have student achievement and well-being at the centre of everything that we do, across all 72 school boards in Ontario,” she said.
The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board declined to comment on the situation.
