....and the replacement for school boards would be?

In 2002 when an auditor’s report ripped this school board, for being “misguided and dysfunctional”, and placed the blame for the continual dysfunction squarely on the shoulders of board staff and trustees, trustee Kathleen Wynne responded with “I am enraged.” “We were elected to do a job and what we’ve done is provide public education in Toronto. The report is an assault on what we were elected to do.” Wynne said that “if the auditor’s recommendations were carried out, the board would lose swimming pools, caretakers, secretaries and literacy programs.” (Dysfunction - Toronto Sun Aug. 31st, 2002)  Same page inserted article has current trustee Cathy Dandy ramping up protests of her Toronto Parent Network - inherited I believe from Wynne pre-trustee days. That Karma’s a bitch working in overdrive these days.


“With trustees like these, who needs ‘em” by Linda Williamson (Sept. 2003) “The province isn’t interested in finding a solution that doesn’t cut money out of the Toronto board,” protested Kathleen Wynne, a declared candidate for the provincial Liberal party in the next election.” ” Into all of this came Rosen, with the courage to declare that the emperor has no clothes - and the tools to prove it. He exposed what had been obvious and unchecked for years - the trustees created the crisis themselves. Some refused to acknowledge any responsibility to taxpayers and viewed education as a way to take social and political action. They persisted in larding extras into the system, without a thought for who would pay.” Twelve years later and it would seem this board not only didn’t learn lessons from the past the built on to the dysfunction. No sign of the board’s usual P4E supporters to be found. Jumping a sinking ship - there’s that Karma thing again.

These clowns are a sideshow, to deflect us from the dreadful academic outcomes and lack of spending controls. 

41% of TDSB grade 6 kids are failing at math.  23% can’t read at the minimal level.  Provincial funding for the TDSB for 2014-2015 will be just over $3 Billion, up about $75 Million from last year. 

Trustees have not demonstrated leadership on education issues or governance on financial issues.  Likely they can’t read a balance sheet.  But they understand about taking free trips to Whistler and not putting a chocolate bar on their expense reports.  Blech.

Split up the board into manageable bite-size pieces - maybe 4-5 schools maximum.  Eliminate property boundaries and let parents decide which board to send their kids to.  Let failing schools and boards close when parents stop supporting them, and invite neighbourhood groups to set up new school boards if they can find students.  Put education back in the hands of the community and the parents.

Here on Vancouver Island, the government fired a local school board when they passed a deficit budget a few years ago.  You can imagine the uproar it caused when big bad government stepped in and removed the VERY PEOPLE who were appointed fiscal accountability for the school district.  Didn’t make the mood any better when they had a government appointed individual to step in and clean up the mess.

A year later, Mike McKay (appointee) not only cleaned up the mess, he actually brought forth budgets to allow much required classes for the students of the District, stopped the process of parents cherry picking schools for their kids and providing FREE bussing so they could get to their schools of choice (here in BC all parents pay for bussing, with the exception it seemed, of the Cowichan Valley School District), and parents wanted him to carry on in the same capacity after his term expired, because he had done such an efficient job.

So to answer Doug’s question,a capable, efficient governemtn appointee at the Board level is a choice here which should be explored.  I attended a meeting this weekend and spoke with with the District PAC Chair of this area.  She reiterated that the parents of this area wanted McKay to stay on, and were incredibly impressed with his professionalism and expertise when it came to running a school board effectively.

My take on TDSB. (I was a trustee on precursor TBE)

It is too big by far. People vote to close schools they have never seen.

It is dysfunctional due to politics but not the usual left-right stuff but petty pathetic trustee vs admin stuff due to immaturity all around.

It should be broken in 2 along Eglinton Ave into North and South.

Boards are now so impotent due to provincial takeover of taxation, curriculum,  testing, negotiations, .... that there is now wonder they fight over idiotic issues.

I prefer a return to pre 1996 boards with real power and influence but failing that put them out of their misery.

A good start would be to pass all building maintenance payroll and similar functions to the cities and counties.

Tell the trustees they can only discuss and decide educational issues.

TOO FUNNY

In cleaning out some old paperwork I came across this clipping.  Sorry, didn’t write the name of the Newspaper, just page C A 15, Sunday, May 31, 1992

ODDSPOT

BEAVER FALLS, Pa — Two students at Blackhawk high school got in trouble for quoting Mark Twain over the school’s public-address system.

Jessica McCartney, 17, and Heidi Schanck, 18, served in-school suspension for reading this quote:

“First, God created idiots. That was just practice. Then he created school boards.”

The pair were suspended for showing disrespect by reading the quote during announcements. 

[ Would be interesting to know if these two brave souls went on to greater political prominence than these 15 minutes of fame ! ]

It’s not like the pre-amalgamated Toronto School Board wasn’t clear of problems and entitlements Doug Little.  Those lavish salaries for trustees (which you share that you were then) were a HUGE issue back then and one that lead to the need to a serious cut in salaries for trustees by the Harris government.

In fact, I seem to recall one Olivia Chow being one of those trustees pushing for cushy salaries…if not leading the charge.

There may not have been a culture of fear back then but it was ripe with something else entirely and which paved the way for some of what we’re seeing today.  Just as Irene Atkinson who’s been around for, what is it, 40 years.  I do believe there are a couple more who have languished.

There was nothing wrong with the salaries.  It is a full time + job if you are going to do it any justice at all.

Trustees should be paid exactly the same as city council in their area. They need to be expected to work full time.

Charter school enrollment in California is about 550,000.  That’s considerably more than TWICE the students in the TDSB.  And the waiting list is over 90,000 - that’s more than the TCDSB.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/11/26/california-charter-school-enrollment-soars-again/

In other words, we don’t need these giant school boards at all.  California shows how we can break up the TDSB and other large boards into a very large number of competing publicly-funded boards - many as small as a single school.

Journalist Konrad Yakabuski recently stated that “School boards may well be the lowest form of representative democracy that exists, a function of anemic voter turnout (making for easily manipulated results) and candidates driven more by revenge or ideology than better test scores.” I agree with him.

So in other words Tom school board bashing is just a strategy for privatization. Got it.

School boards like the TDSB are indefensible.  Even teachers hate them.  ‘School board bashing’ is a odd expression.

Education is a public good, and must be funded by the state (that means us, the taxpayers).  But that doesn’t mean education has to be delivered by an unresponsive, bureaucratic government monopoly.  It doesn’t mean that we must tolerate failing schools, archaic curriculum, and incompetent teachers.

Break the school boards down until they manage a handful of schools at most.  Regulate them, and then let them compete with each other - just as doctors compete for publicly funded patients. 

And don’t be afraid of schools shutting down when the parents get fed up.

Tom wrote “School boards like the TDSB are indefensible.  Even teachers hate them.  ‘School board bashing’ is a odd expression.”

He’s exactly correct.

“School board bashing” is another one of those tricks used by educrats to end discussion.

When it comes to the uselessness of school boards in general and the total dysfunction of both the old Toronto Board or the past and the TDSB of the present, it’s time for this province to take a serious look at an alternative to school boards. The lavishness and entitlements started with the old boys (as Doug fully admits) and continues unabated to this day.

We couldn’t afford boards when Doug earned his lavish full-time salary and we can’t afford them now. I do believe the counter to Doug’s “school board bashing” attempt at shutting down discussion is to continue as we’ve done nicely right here.

Our rural school board trustees are paid $5,000 per year for inserting Toronto’s liberal education agendas.
Who blew it into a full-time job?

Ken: one of the perks of being a trustee seems to be setting your own salary.

http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=f7e1462e-7189-4e3d-801c-58a327e2531e

two interesting news stories from Ottawa (see below)... I have NEVER received a return email or phone call from my trustee in 3 years. In addition, the board does not ever record votes and every vote I have seen when I am there is UNANIMOUS! They are zombies

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/editorial-school-trustees-should-speak

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-silence-of-the-trustees-gay-rights-case-highlights-boards-strict-media-policies

While I have met some outstanding trustees, at the end of the day, unless it relates to the almighty dollar or issues on policy, they represent their Director and not the constituents that voted them in.  The bureaucracy that so engulfs our school boards is too thick to work through.

Except for one Christian public school board trustee, no trustees in the public or Catholic school board has responded to any of my questions for 10 years.
I wonder if they can read?

In case you missed it, Malkin has been quoted in Margaret Wente’s Globe & Mail column of Dec. 2nd: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/abolish-the-school-boards/article21859859/

I would suggest that anyone who wants to deny the facts behind Margaret Wente’s Globe & Mail column is living in a dream world.  “Who speaks for the public in education” indeed.  That’s us - irrelevant, hard-working, tax-paying, non-union minions who are disregarded at every level when it involves anything related to education.  And this is the mess we send our children to every day.

The follow appears in today’s Toronto Star and is their attempt at the left’s blow back to those who see trustees and boards approaching extinction status.
However, in my opinion it a nicely told fairy tale that does more to prove why we should do away with trustees (and boards) than it makes the case for their continuance.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/12/07/why_we_need_school_board_trustees.html

I would suggest that anyone who wants to deny the facts behind Margaret Wente’s Globe & Mail column is living in a dream world.  “Who speaks for the public in education” indeed.  That’s us - irrelevant, hard-working, tax-paying, non-union minions who are disregarded at every level when it involves anything related to education.  And this is the mess we send our children to every day.
http://www.top5blog.com/list-of-some-of-the-best-and-great-mark-twain-quotes/