York Region school trustees travelled to Finland more than once
One trustee with the York Region District School Board took her third trip to Finland in September, while another made her second trip.

thestar.com
By Noor Javed and Kristin Rushowy
Oct. 21, 2016

As schools across York Region ask parents for donations of tissue boxes and school supplies, a number of trustees and staff made trips last month to Europe for “professional development” on the taxpayer’s dime - some of them visiting international destinations for a second, even a third, time.

One trustee with the York Region District School Board took her third trip to Finland in September, while another made her second trip to the European country, according to board insiders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the travel.

In a separate trip at the end of September, the chair of the board, Anna DeBartolo, went to Holland, along with the director of education J. Philip Parappally.

“They are going multiple times to Finland, and trustees are going multiple times to the same country,” wrote long-time trustee Susan Geller, in an October email to Markham residents, obtained by the Star. “Three trustees just came back from Finland along with multiple staff. One trustee went three times one two (times) and one for the first time.”

Her email raised concerns about the recent travel of DeBartolo and Parappally to Holland, which the board insiders said was kept under wraps.

“The chair of the board and the director recently came back from Holland,” wrote Geller in the email. “I wish I could tell you what they were doing there, but we were not even informed they were going.”

The board insiders said the two travelled at the end of September, and said at least one other senior staff member went with them.

A spokesman for the board would not confirm any of the trips. DeBartolo and Parappally did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

In a reply to the Star’s questions, board spokesman Licinio Miguelo said in an email:

“In accordance with the Trustees Services policy, Trustees are allotted a certain amount of professional development within the course of their term, which they can use toward jurisdictional learning and/or other relevant opportunities. The cost of professional development for Trustees is in alignment with comparable boards in the province.”

He did not respond to questions about the director’s travel, or how many staff went on the international trips. He also did not clarify how much the trips cost taxpayers.

According to the board’s policy on “jurisdictional learning,” any staff or trustees of the board can travel outside the province to learn and “benchmark” the work of the board against other “high-performing educational jurisdictions.” Finland is thought to have one of the top education systems in the world.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter told the Star she expects “school boards and their trustees to adhere to the highest standard of care in their spending of public funds provided for the education of Ontario’s children.

“Their focus should always remain on what is best for students, and my expectation is that they have in place the necessary mechanisms that ensure transparent and effective stewardship of funds is always maintained,” she said, adding that boards must be “accountable and transparent.”

Markham parent Ricardo Mashregi said he’s shocked at the lack of transparency and respect for taxpayers’ money.

“It seems like it’s a lot of trips that are being taken by trustees, while at the beginning of the year, schools are asking students to bring in tissue boxes,” he said.

This is not the first time the board’s travel has come under scrutiny.

In 2012 the board, with DeBartolo as the chair, had its wrist slapped for excessive travel by the ministry, after a parent filed access to information requests and found that the board spent more than $130,000 on travel to Finland, New Zealand and London. At the time, the provincial minister of education, Laurel Broten, intervened and placed a six-month moratorium on international travel for York trustees.

When the travel ban was put into place, trustee Carol Chan, who represents Richmond Hill, told the local newspaper that she “was so disappointed,” as she had already purchased plane tickets to Finland, for about $1,350, at her own expense, adding that the board pays for lodging. She told the paper that she also bought, at her own expense, tickets to a hockey game involving a Canadian team.

According to insiders, Chan was one of the trustees who travelled to Finland this year for the second time and Georgina-area trustee Nancy Elgie went for the third time.

Neither responded to a request for comment for this article.

According to the trustees’ annual public disclosure of expenses, York trustees resumed international travel in 2014. That year, both Chan and Elgie went to Finland, according to the disclosure. Chan submitted $2,295 in expenses for the trip. Elgie’s total came out to $1,850.

In the summer of 2015, Chan travelled to London for “Jurisdictional Learning.”

According to the trustee policy, trustees are allocated $8,490 for the four-year term that they can use to participate in professional development activities. They are further reimbursed for conferences they go to. The chair and vice-chair get an additional allowance of $1,061 per year for development.

In her email to parents, Geller, who has been a trustee for a decade, wrote that “there is no follow up after the trip, or explanation as to why we are going.

“I wish I could tell you that these trips assist us in performing our duties, but I am not of that opinion. If they did I would go.”

In Ontario, where curriculum and policy are largely dictated by the provincial government, the position of trustee is considered part-time. Critics have questioned the value of having elected officials - who typically are not themselves educators - visit other educational systems.

Mashregi, the Markham parent, said York Region residents give a quarter of their property taxes to school boards and have the right to know how the money is spent.

“I could understand them going on these trips, and having something to show for it, but I have never even seen a report (detailing what took place on the trip),” Mashregi said. “Parents should be asking how does the benefit of going on these trips trickle down to staff, schools and students.”

Other boards said that in time of tight budgets, travelling outside of the continent is subject to scrutiny.

Robin Pilkey, chair of the Toronto District School board - Canada's largest - said when trustees travel on behalf of the board, the expenditure must first be approved by a committee before it goes to a full board meeting for a vote. She said two trustees recently travelled to Boston to present at a national school boards’ conference, and two others who are on the inner-city advisory committee went to New Jersey to study a program for needy students there.

In Toronto, trustees have a discretionary budget of $11,780 for a term, which includes professional development, said spokesman Ryan Bird. The board chair and vice chair get an additional $5,000 discretionary budget each.

Pilkey said there have been no recent requests for travel beyond North America, “but if they wanted to go...there would have to be a fantastic reason for it.”

Ministry of Education spokesperson Heather Irwin said under the freedom of information act, records such as this are publicly accessible, and noted that the Ontario ombudsman “may investigate complaints related to school boards established under the Education Act. The ombudsman may also initiate an investigation into systemic issues on their own initiative.

University of Toronto professor Charles Pascal, a former Ontario deputy minister of education, said that “any activity where public money is being spent has to have a transparent purpose that is clearly reinforcing a priority of the board.”

“If it’s ad hoc, and hasn’t gone through the process, it’s an absolute abuse and misuse of public funds,” he said.

Geller wrote in her email to parents that she recently asked for all her unspent professional development budget back, to “reallocate that to the schools I serve.”

“I would rather buy the kids something directly, then use it for a trip which I do not think helps the kids in any way,” Geller wrote.

But Geller told residents she was told that option was not available.