Province to broaden hiring pool for education directors

New legislation removes requirement that position must be filled by teacher

The Ontario government plans to remove the requirement that a director of education — the person at the helm of a school board — must be a teacher. While some welcomed the move to broaden the hiring pool, others warned classroom experience is essential.

The change comes at a time when 14 of the province’s 72 directors have left or are leaving at some point this year — an unprecedented number that represents about 20 per cent of all public boards.

Following legislation unveiled Wednesday, the education ministry emailed boards to say that the “provision of education has become increasingly complex as the world changes. We recognize the importance of leadership in education that is representative of the province’s diverse student population.”

While the Education Act requires directors to be supervisory officers who are also qualified teachers, “this requirement has not been updated since 1997.”

The change “would allow Ontario’s school communities to choose from a wider pool of candidates with a broader skill set and who are representative of Ontario’s diverse population,” said the memo to boards.

“This approach aligns with many other broader public-sector organizations, such as hospitals and community-based social service providers. This change would not preclude school boards from hiring supervisory officers, including those qualified as teachers as a director of education.”

The issue has arisen over the years — and most recently, the Peel and Toronto boards were recently given permission to hire non-teachers as interim directors.

Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said her Kawartha Pine Ridge public board east of Toronto is also seeking a new leader, by next January.

She said the high number of director retirements is a result of demographics. (However, in Peel, former director Peter Joshua was fired after provincial investigators uncovered long-standing racism and dysfunction that had been ignored for years.)

“I truly think this is something worthy of conversation,” Abraham told the Star in a previous interview about director qualifications. “Let’s have a consultation and conversation on this and see how people are thinking about it.”

Tony Pontes, who heads the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE), said there is a “quite a large turnover this year” — the largest he’s ever seen is eight to 10 vacant positions — but said there is no shortage of candidates.

CODE provides mentoring and support to new directors and superintendents, though Pontes noted the provincial government has cut the $230,000 in funding for that.

Boards should be led by someone with teacher qualifications, he said, “because the entire focus is on education. While I’m sure many non-teachers could do an adequate job, ultimately the culture of education is based on trust. And it is based on respect for that leader. And it’s hard for that leader to have that trust and confidence of staff if they have not experienced what it’s like in a classroom.”

NDP education critic Marit Stiles, who sat on a director search committee when she was a Toronto trustee, said finding a leader “can be a challenge. But it’s a challenge anyway.”

She said she wished the government kept the teacher requirement but offered boards flexibility for “exceptional circumstances.” However, former Toronto trustee Howard Goodman recently wrote an opinion piece for the Star, saying the rules mean the “best possible leaders” can’t be hired. He urged the province to allow boards to bring in deputy education ministers, university and college presidents or deans of education faculties or even hospital CEOs.

“While I’m sure many non-teachers could do an adequate job, ultimately the culture of education is based on trust.”

TONY PONTES COUNCIL OF ONTARIO DIRECTORS OF EDUCATION