EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
Clayton La Touche is out as director of education at the Toronto District School Board less than a year into the role, after the Ford government’s supervisor said the board needed a “fresh start.”
“Now in my sixth month as supervisor of the board, I feel that the TDSB needs a fresh start as we look to set the TDSB up for success in the years ahead,” TDSB supervisor Rohit Gupta said in an email to school board staff on Friday morning. “With that in mind and after much consideration, I, together with the minister of education, have made the difficult decision to make a leadership change.”
Stacey Zucker, currently an associate director, will step into La Touche’s position as interim director. She served as interim director last year.
In a statement to TorontoToday, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the board is “refocusing on student achievement.”
“I have full confidence that the supervisor, working with the interim director, will drive that focus and ensure every decision puts students first,” Calandra added.
La Touche has a long history with the TDSB, dating back to 1994 when he started his career as a teacher. He was appointed as TDSB’s director of education early this year after a stint with the Ministry of Education.
At the time of his move, he was serving as assistant deputy minister of the ministry’s student support and field services division.
In June, Calandra announced he was appointing supervisors to oversee the TDSB, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and two other boards outside of the city. At the time, the minister said “decisive action” was needed by Queen’s Park to fix financial mismanagement at the institutions.
The supervisor appointments have been criticized as “undemocratic” by some parents, school board trustees and community advocates.
The latest takeover was of the Near North District School Board, which Calandra announced earlier this month following the passage of Bill 33, the Supporting Children and Students Act, in November — legislation that, among other things, aimed to make it easier for the education minister to take control of school boards.
The TDSB’s change in top leadership isn’t the first among boards under supervision. Just last month, Robert Plamondon, the supervisor appointed to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, announced the departure of the board’s former director of education, Pino Buffone, and the appointment of Stacey Kay as his replacement.
On Friday, opposition parties at Queen’s Park and education unions criticized the decision to fire La Touche and called for transparency from the government.
"Yet again, we see an incredibly consequential decision being made by Conservative-appointed supervisors behind closed doors,” NDP education critic Chandra Pasma said in a statement. “Parents have not been consulted and had no opportunity to participate in this important decision.”
Pasma also questioned how much the decision to fire La Touche would cost.
“How much money is now going to pay severance and the salary for a new director of education while the supervisor also collects his hefty $350,000 paycheque,” she said. “Taxpayers deserve transparency. That's the opposite of what they're getting from this government and this supervisor.”
MPP John Fraser, the Liberals’ education critic, also said the move could be “costly.”
“Taxpayers cover the severance, with no improvement in classrooms, no reduction in class sizes, and no added support for students,” Fraser said. “With little information about this decision, parents are once again left in the dark about the state of their children’s education.”
Asked about potential severance, a TDSB spokesperson said the board was unable to provide further comment.
David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, called the minister’s involvement in “HR decisions at the board level” a “governance issue.”
Saying students need fully-funded programs, Mastin called La Touche’s firing “another distraction and deflection from the government’s failure to address the real concerns in education: the need for more teachers and education workers, smaller class sizes, enhanced special education and mental health supports.”
Michelle Teixeira, president of Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) Toronto, said she was worried this might be “another political move made at students’ expense.”
"OSSTF Toronto is troubled by the sudden TDSB leadership change, especially since Supervisor Gupta was appointed by a government that continues to distract from its underfunding of public education in Ontario,” she said.
— With files from The Trillium's Charlie Pinkerton
Editor’s Note: This article was updated after publication with comments from opposition parties and unions.