Comment
Renewal
What does a school board do? There was a day not too long ago when the local board helped shape the curriculum— the information and materials actually taught in the classroom. No longer. Today, the curriculum is developed, stamped and syndicated centrally in the Ministry of Education in Toronto.
There was also a day when the board managed its own finances. Education taxes went directly to the local board. As such, the community had a say over how the money was spent. It held the levers to ensure schools were serving the needs of students and families in the community.
Today, your education taxes go to Toronto. The province sets class sizes, negotiates collective agreements with teachers and determines staffing levels.
If the local board has few levers over what is taught or how it is taught in the classroom, then what does a school board do? Is it relevant any longer? Did Mike Harris drain these once-proud bulwarks of any meaningful purpose?
Ernie Parsons spent more than a decade on the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board (HPEDSB) before running and being elected as a Member of the Provincial Parliament in 1999, serving Prince Edward- Hastings during the Mike Harris/Ernie Eaves era. He was elected again in 2003 under Premier Dalton McGuinty. Redistricting split his riding in 2007, so Parsons stepped aside in favour of Leona Dombrowsky.
Parsons accepted an appointment as a Justice of the Peace. Upon retiring from that role, he was appointed to the local school board in January 2023 to fill a vacancy left by trustee Kristen Parks’s resignation.
Parsons’ career has been defined by challenging local institutions that he believes lost their way in the wake of Mike Harris’s illconsidered and badly executed restructuring at the end of the last century. Chief among these was a decade-long fight for community accountability from the thennewly amalgamated hospital corporation, Quinte Health Care.
The almost-octogenarian hasn’t lost the stomach for a fight. He is now focused on restoring accountability to the local school board, establishing basic democratic principles in its governance and reforming the connection between our public schools and the children and families who rely on them. To do so, he is prepared to take the board to the studs.
“It’s not the board I left,” said Ernie Parsons to the Times last week. On April 27, he intends to table a motion to ask the province to appoint a supervisor to replace the board.
He is not permitted to say why he is doing this. He fears that explaining his motives will be viewed as a violation of the school board’s Code of Conduct. He has reason to believe he will be sanctioned and prevented from tabling his motion.
“I am forbidden to speak contrary to the official line of the board,” said Parsons. “It’s very frustrating. I am forbidden from expressing my concerns to the community we serve.”
In the absence of purpose and, therefore, public accountability, the school board has come to resemble more of a private club— where the trustees’ role is to act as an insulating barrier between the community and board staff.
In a recent dust-up, Parsons pushed for a review of busing contracts. The school bus business has consolidated in recent decades, with ownership of bus service providers shifting overseas. Parsons would like to explore service providers with closer ties.
But Parsons was blocked by the school board chair, Dr. Kari Kramp, on the grounds that it was a management issue, not a governance matter. The chair further argued that since the Tri-board busing authority answers to three school boards—one partner in the arrangement can’t unilaterally change the arrangements mid-stream.
Parsons’ motion didn’t get off the ground. It was ruled out of order before it could be debated or voted upon.
Parsons has also been criticized for defending fellow trustee Rachel Prinzen on freedom of expression grounds. Prinzen has been embroiled in a fight with her colleagues since the beginning of the term. She was twice sanctioned for Code of Conduct violations and suspended from participating in school board business. Prinzen took the school board to court to fight her 180-day suspension. While the court decided the board had acted reasonably, it reduced the board’s suspension to the 38 days served.
Parsons said he believed the board has “weaponized the Code of Conduct” to resolve what he describes as personality conflicts. He believes the board is trying to silence trustee Prinzen. Never a good look for a democratically elected body, it is worse for an educational institution where fundamental values of freedom of speech ought to be held in high esteem.
In any event, we are a long way from the classroom— a longer way from school boards shaping the success of our schools and the lives of students. If Parsons believes a supervisor must take the reins of the local school board, we should hear him out. He has earned that trust through years of steady leadership, sound judgement and a record of putting the community’s interests first.
Comments (0)