EDUCATION: Catholic trustees should resign, angry ratepayer demands
"You've disgraced your oath and yourselves... you must now find the courage to do what is best for everyone; you must resign and the board must move forward without you," said Michael Baillargeon, who last week failed in his bid to take the trustee position left vacant by Christine Nunziata.
Baillargeon told trustees he has written to Education Minister Kathleen Wynne requesting the appointment of an overseer to manage the TCDSB after a provincial report released last week concluded a "culture of entitlement" among the board's members. Enhancing Public Trust and Confidence found a 260 per cent increase in governance costs over a four year period ending in November 2007 - revealing the TCDSB spent an annual average of more than $100,000 per elected trustee, whereas the similarly-sized Dufferin-Peel Catholic board spent just $27,000 per trustee.
"You're accountable to your electors, not just as individuals, but as an elected board," Baillargeon said, noting he's also inquired with Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair as to whether criminal charges should be considered. "Your actions have damaged the reputation of the TCDSB and of Catholic education... as long as you, the present trustees of this board are in place, Catholic education will continue to suffer the indignities of this scandal."
While Ward 8 (Scarborough) trustee Oliver Carroll admitted that trustees failed both as Catholics and as members of the board, he refused to offer his resignation.
"The bottom line is that we collectively took advantage of the system, whether we individually lined our pockets doesn't matter," he said. "The majority of us failed the test by not standing up and saying something sooner... when this is all over and done with, we have a long way to go, no doubt."
Wynne has set a date of May 21 by which the board is expected to respond with a plan to deal with the 20 recommendations laid out in the provincial report, with an implementation date of June 30. Board chair Catherine LeBlanc-Miller assured Baillargeon that the board will continue to work with the Minister to finalize revisions and rebuild trust within that timeframe.
