As the Ontario government contemplates eliminating or restructuring the role of a school board trustee, the chair of the Peel District School Board (PDSB) is highlighting the role of a trustee and the impact the loss will have on students.
For months Ontario’s Minister of Education Paul Calandra has signaled that he is looking to eliminate or restructure the role of a school board trustee in the province.
In the summer, the ministry placed four school boards under provincial supervision due to financial mismanagement, including the Toronto District School Board, and Toronto Catholic District School Board.
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As a result, trustees at the four boards have been stripped of their powers.
It’s a move that concerns PDSB Chair David Green who has worked as a trustee in Brampton for 23 years, and says the role is more crucial than one may realize.
“You’re elected by your community to represent them, to be the voice and advocate for them at the board table,” Green said in an interview with Now Toronto.
In addition to enforcing policies and procedures, Green emphasized that trustees are often the first point of contact when parents have concerns involving their children and education.
“I’m taking calls 24/7… when a parent calls their local trustee and they can’t find them, I’m the next person that they’re calling,” he said. “I have to take these calls and respond to these emails to ensure that the parents’ voices have been heard and satisfied.”
In addition, trustees are especially meant to be the voice for marginalized students who are often overlooked, according to Green.
“For the Black and Indigenous students, oftentimes you find that they don’t have a voice… students with special needs, they don’t have a voice at the table. These three groups, they need their trustees to be their advocate,” he said.
It’s a role that Green says can’t be taken on by just one person, having witnessed the effects after the province appointed a supervisor to oversee the school board for two years between 2020 and 2023 due to findings of systemic racism.
“We saw the damage,” he said. “When I was not at the table, parents were still calling me and saying ‘we have been trying to reach the supervisor, we can’t find a supervisor, nobody’s taking our calls.’”
Green fears that eliminating the role altogether will only harm students in the long run, and says a trustee’s role needs to be promoted more rather than shut down before it’s too late.
“We have many parents who work two and three jobs, a lot of single parents, and they depend on their trustees to make sure that the resources are in place to support their children,” he said.
