'Clear Conflict'
Kenyon Wallace, National Post
Outspoken trustee Josh Matlow is attacking a proposal by Toronto District School Board chief Chris Spence to introduce an ombudsman who reports to the education director, and not the board.
"If the ombudsman is reporting to the very institution that he or she is being asked to oversee and which pays their salary and budget, there's a clear conflict and also, at the very least, it creates an appearance of bias," said Mr. Matlow, who is lobbying the TDSB to instead ask the province to allow school boards to fall under the jurisdiction of the provincial ombudsman, Andre Marin.
According to non-public TDSB documents obtained by the Post, Mr. Spence envisions an ombudsman outside the usual "chain of command" but who would report directly to him. "This new accountability position will report directly to the director of education and will be an objective investigator of TDSB constituents' grievances and complaints about TDSB services and programs," says a document entitled "Aligning Mission, Vision and Priorities with Organizational Structure: The Role of the TDSB Ombudsman" presented to trustees during closed-door discussions on Dec. 9 at TDSB headquarters. "The office of the ombudsman will be independent from the TDSB, impartial and its services will be both confidential and free of charge."
Requests for an interview with Mr. Spence this week were not granted. The documents outline the ombudsman's proposed mandate, complaint process and staffing requirements, and touch on specific duties, including identifying obstacles to greater parent and community involvement in school decision-making processes and recommending strategies for improving success rates of marginalized students with disproportionate academic achievement.
The documents also discuss the reporting structures of other ombudsman positions, such as those at many universities, where the position often reports to the president of the university or jointly to the president and chancellor or the head of the student union.
In contrast, the City of Toronto ombudsman reports to city council, and Ontario's ombudsman reports to the legislature. But Sheila Cary-Meagher, trustee for Beaches-East York, says it is "imperative" for any future ombudsman to report to the director to avoid dilution of the message. "When you don't report directly to the director, you get layers of people's foibles or ambitions or misunderstandings and the message changes every time it goes through a different set of ears," she said. "If the report is messed up, then the director is held accountable. The director is our employee."
The idea of an ombudsman for the board of education isn't new. School boards in four provinces and one territory -- B.C., New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and the Yukon--fall under ombudsman jurisdiction.
TDSB chairman Bruce Davis notes he first suggested the idea of an ombudsman for the board in 2005, and says the item is not on the agenda and if a formal plan to introduce an ombudsman comes forward, it would be debated in public.
Mr. Davis said it remains to be seen whether an ombudsman would be the way to resolve issues brought forward by parents and students.
