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Ontario’s education minister has appointed a temporary supervisor for another school board: Himself.
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Paul Calandra said the Near North District School Board is incompetent and has failed students.
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The province recently passed Bill 33, which gives the education minister power to more easily place school boards under supervision.
Calandra said a ministry review of the board showed significant failures in governance and leadership.
He said the review came in response to setbacks in opening a new school in Parry Sound, Ont. that forced hundreds of elementary students to begin the year in a different school while high school students started in remote learning and are now in a “half-demolished” school.
Previously appointed supervisors at five other school boards
Calandra has already appointed supervisors at five other school boards due to what he called mismanagement.
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Calandra recently told reporters at Queen’s Park that “the ministry needs to have more authority to step into school boards that have gone off the rails — we have more than enough examples of that.”
Even if boards manage to balance their budgets, as required, “if you’re not running your board appropriately, we’re going to step in and we’re going to put you right on track,” he said.
Bill introduced in May
Bill 33 was introduced in May, in part on the heels of public outcry over a controversial art-shopping trip to Italy taken by four Brantford Catholic trustees that wound up costing the board nearly $200,000.
The bill also gives him more control over boards and trustees as needed, can allow school resource police officers back into classrooms, and requires approval for school namings and renamings.
According to July 2025 decisions posted online, the education minister-appointed Toronto District School Board supervisor Rohit Gupta has moved against a recommendation by school trustees to rename three schools.
The schools in question were Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute, Ryerson Community School and Dundas Junior Public School.
– with files from The Canadian Press
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