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Minister’s Directives and Wilson Report

On January 15, 2015, the Minister of Education provided a list of directives to the TDSB in response to Margaret Wilson’s report. The Minister directed the TDSB to comply with the directives by February 13, 2015.

At a Board meeting on January 20, trustees accepted the Minister’s directives and set the following timeline:

  • January 28: Planning and Priorities Committee to receive an update from the Director of Education regarding the Minister’s directions.
  • February 4: Board meeting to consider the action plans in response to the Minister’s directions.
  • February 10: Special meeting to finalize and approve a response and associated action plans to the Minister of Education.

At the February 4 Board meeting and the February 10 special board meeting, trustees approved the following in responses to the Minister’s directives:

Governance

  • Developed a governance policy that brings clarity to the roles and responsibilities of Trustees and staff, and outlines how we can all work together to strengthen student achievement.
  • Revised the mandates or terms of reference of Board committees to ensure they run effectively and efficiently.

 

Employee Services

  • Revised all policies related to staff promotion to remove individual Trustees from decision making and selection processes.
  • Revised the Director of Education performance management policy and engage a third party governance consultant to oversee the Director’s annual performance evaluation.

 

Compensation

  • Adjusted all senior team salaries, including the Director’s salary, to comply with the directive.

Trustee Services

  • Move individual Trustee offices to a shared space at 5050 Yonge Street to ensure that the community continues to have a place to meet with their elected representatives.
  • Start the process of moving to a shared services model for Trustees and discontinue the practice of contracting constituency assistants.
  • Reduced the budget for Trustees’ discretionary office expenses to $11,780.

Capital Planning

  • Used the Board’s 10-year plan to demonstrate ongoing program and accommodation needs.
  • Submitted a detailed 3-year capital plan, and information on school utilization and Accommodation Review Committees.
  • Invited representatives from the Ministry of Education, City of Toronto and partner school boards to participate in a roundtable discussion on capital planning issues and how we can move forward together to best serve our communities.

 

Audit Committee

  • Updated the Audit Committee terms of reference to ensure better oversight of international projects and partnerships with outside organizations, increase continuity of members, and limit Trustee participation to members of the committee.
  • Provide the Audit Committee with detailed information related to the Confucius Institute, Canada International School in Vietnam, Neo City Café and Central Technical School.

Community Consultations

Community consultations have played a very important role in the process of determining how to implement the Minister’s directives. A public consultation meeting was held on January 26 where 42 deputants participated and provided feedback and perspective on the directives. A number of additional public consultations, including one in the east and one in the west, were held by trustees to hear from the community.