A Toronto District School Board plan to restructure how school councils operate has run into organized resistance from the parents and volunteers those councils represent, adding a new front to the board's months-long public fight with the Ontario government.
At the centre of the dispute is a board proposal to set consistent rules for school councils across Toronto — including term limits for council chairs and a standardized code of conduct. The Toronto Assembly of School Councils, an umbrella group for council members, says it was not consulted before the changes were announced and wants the plan paused until parents have a genuine say.
The backlash is playing out against a much larger backdrop. The TDSB has been under provincial supervision since June, after an audit flagged a projected deficit of about $11 million, and Education Minister Paul Calandra has repeatedly criticized the board's spending — including a staff trip to Italy that trustees approved but the province's supervisor later reversed.
The governance fight turned personal this fall when the chair of the board's parent involvement advisory committee used a school council email account to send what the committee itself called a disrespectful message about the minister, prompting an apology from the chair and a fresh round of public criticism from Queen's Park.
An Oct. 8 motion that would have explored legal action against the province failed at the board table. Parent groups say community rallies in support of local school governance are being planned for this week, keeping the fight between Toronto parents, the supervised board and the province in the spotlight.
