$145K Italy trip ‘symbolic of deeper structural problems’ at Ontario school board: report
Global News
A $145,000 Italy trip by a group of Ontario school trustees is 'symbolic of deeper structural problems' within the school board, a new report finds.
A $145,000 Italy trip by a group of Ontario school trustees is “symbolic of deeper structural problems” within the school board.
That statement was made in the findings of a third-party review into the July 2024 trip by trustees of Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board (BHNCDSB), and released Wednesday as part of a group of reports into several school boards’ use of finances and resources.
The week-long $45,000 trip, which sparked intense scrutiny after reports of it surfaced in October, saw trustees buy $100,000 worth of artwork for a new high school under construction in Brantford, which is near Hamilton.
The costs incurred have since ballooned by $63,000 due to legal fees to manage the fallout, the government said Wednesday, bringing the total cost to $190,000.
“This review was prompted by intense public and media scrutiny around the four members of the board of Trustees’ trip to Italy, an event that quickly became symbolic of deeper structural problems within the BHNCDSB,” the report, authored by lawyer Aaron Shull, reads.
“While the Italy trip itself drew widespread criticism for questionable expenditures and insufficient oversight, the central finding of this review is that the board’s governance framework and practices are the core cause of the challenges facing the school board.
“In other words, the Italy trip was the symptom, structural governance practices were the cause.”
Shull’s review found what it called a “tale of two boards.” It read that the day-to-day operations of BHNCDSB were run “efficiently and positively” by an education director many interviewees praised.
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