Education minister orders northern Ontario school board to resolve dysfunction

TORONTO — Ontario’s education minister has ordered a North Bay area school board to take immediate steps to resolve what a report described as overwhelming dysfunction or he will take “further action.”

Paul Calandra’s warning to the Near North District School Board comes after he placed five other boards under government supervision, and he is considering broad school board governance changes, including eliminating the role of trustees.

Calandra tasked a senior ministry bureaucrat with a review following media reports and parent concerns about problems at the board, and she submitted the report last month.

The report found that there is a “deficit of leadership” from the director of education and a fractured relationship between the administration and trustees, who themselves are divided and largely lack experience and knowledge of good governance.

“Under the current leadership of the board of trustees and the director of education, I do not see a viable path forward in which this school board is governing and leading in a manner that restores public trust and confidence,” reviewer Rachel Osborne wrote.

“Given the divided and dysfunctional nature of the board, the absence of leadership from the director and the deep community distrust of the school board, I believe ministry intervention is warranted.”

Many of the binding directives Calandra has issued to the board take effect immediately or give the board a narrow timeframe to comply, between five and 15 business days.

They include a professional development plan for board members and retaining an external expert to help them conduct a performance review for the director of education — the report found the director has been involved in discussions on determining his own performance rating.

As well, director of education Craig Myles must start working from the board’s main office, instead of in an unused school three kilometres away, where facility, maintenance and sanitation staff are based.

The director’s original contract in 2020 set his salary at $171,000, and in January of 2024 it was $303,800, Osborne wrote. On at least two occasions a family member used the director’s corporate credit card for personal use, Osborne wrote. The director told the chair he would reimburse the board.

Calandra said in a statement that he issued the directives in order to restore effective governance and rebuild trust.

“I expect the board to act immediately, without delay or excuse, to correct these failures and put students first,” he wrote. “If they do not, I will not hesitate to take further action to ensure accountability and restore stability.”

The board, through a spokesperson, declined to comment. Myles himself did not respond to a request for comment.

Three trustees have resigned this year and Osborne wrote that it’s possible having new people on the board to fill those roles can help end the dysfunction. Before the resignations, the majority of trustees had no prior experience serving on a board, the report found.

“I find that in addition to the inexperience of most of the trustees, there were several trustees who could be considered ‘bad actors’ insofar as they conducted themselves in a manner that was at odds with the interests of the board and their responsibility to uphold board decisions,” Osborne wrote.

The inexperience of the board, actions of some individual trustees, and “absence of leadership” from the director contributed to some of the problems surrounding the long-delayed opening of a new school in Parry Sound that has angered parents and students, the report found.

The board began planning more than 10 years ago to close two elementary schools and the Parry Sound High School, and build a new JK-12 school.

Parents had been told since 2023 that the new school would open in September 2025, but they were informed just weeks before the start of this school year that wouldn’t happen, the report said.

Parry Sound High School students were told one week before the start of school that they would begin the school year virtually, as the partially demolished building wasn’t fit for occupancy.

The board announced they could return to school in person Sept. 15.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2025.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press