Trustee Moyer on defensive

By Hedy Korbee

Scarborough Southwest’s controversial public school trustee, Elizabeth Moyer, is facing an impressive group of challengers in her bid for reelection to the Toronto District School Board on October 27.

At a Ward 18 all-candidates meeting October 9 at Birchmount Community Centre, Moyer faced off against six contenders with considerable experience in the school system and the broader community.

The challengers included retired principal Don Stuart, with 35 years experience in the school system, Parthi Kandavel, a third-generation teacher, former Scarborough Board of Education Chair Gaye Dale, Tim Heffernan, a retired teacher with 38 years experience, Michael Opoku, a community organizer who works as a registrar at the Ontario Superior Court and Azim Dewan, Vice Chairman of the Scarborough Regional Parent Council.

Moyer censured for sexual harassment

The debate was restrained but Moyer was on the defensive more than once as she explained aspects of her 13-year record at the TDSB to the small crowd of assembled voters.

When asked about the fact that she was officially censured by the TDSB in May 2014 after an outside report found that she sexually harassed two senior staff members, Moyer told the audience that the board spent $100,000 on the report to embarrass her.

According to Moyer, the intent of the report was retaliation because she raised questions about the board’s finances with the Ontario Minister of Education.

Elizabeth Moyer

“This was a plan,” Moyer said. “It was a distraction to get off of the real issue here which is that the board is not doing fiscally responsible work.”

Moyer denies nepotism in hiring of daughters

Moyer also dismissed claims that she used her influence in 2012 to get both her daughters summer jobs under the “Focus on Youth” program, which was designed to help young people who are “at risk”.

Although Moyer has previously been quoted as saying she approached TDSB staff about jobs for her daughters, she told the all candidates meeting that she used no influence and the allegation was unfounded.

Moyer also claimed that “they changed the at risk part” of the program in 2013, implying that being disadvantaged was not a criteria in the summer of 2012 when her daughters worked for the program.

None of this sat well with candidate Tim Heffernan who retired this year after teaching high school for 25 years and has been active with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers” Federation.

Tim Heffernan

“That story doesn’t correspond to what I read in The Star or in fact from the board minutes, where there was an internal investigation into the charge of nepotism, influence peddling, whatever you want to call it, and you were found guilty,” said Heffernan.  “There was no punishment but that was the case.  So I think there is a case to answer for. I don’t think you can claim that you were exonerated.”

Questionable expenses

Trustee Moyer was also named in a Toronto Star article published last month, detailing questionable expenditures by TDSB trustees based on an internal board  audit.  The Star alleges that Moyer did not have proper documentation for purchases at Starbucks and fast food restaurants, as well as TTC tokens and chocolate bars.

In an interview with Birch Cliff News after the meeting, Moyer said the fast food purchases were made during regular early morning meetings on the weekends, which were necessary because she didn’t want people at her house.

Parthi Kandavel

Pathi Kandavel told the meeting there needs to be for more accountability for trustees.

“We all discussed the financial irresponsibility of the trustee expense scandal.  It really is a no brainer to have every trustee make their expenses public every month,” said Kandavel.

Candidates urge fiscal responsibility

Throughout the meeting, there were frequent references to the “$143 pencil sharpener”, a symbol for many of out-of-control spending by the TDSB ever since the Toronto Star first reported on exorbitant maintenance costs.

Don Stuart

Candidate Don Stuart said he “got off the couch” and decided to run for trustee to improve fiscal responsibility at the board and said he was up to the task, in part because of years of experience as principal at Cedarbrae Collegiate.

“I had a budget of $350,000 and I had to be accountable every year and make it balance.  I had 1,500 students and 100 staff. I had parents knocking on the door and I had to figure out how to deal with the money, work with the people and solve the problems with the kids,” Stuart said.

Gaye Dale

Gaye Dale, former chair of the Scarborough Board of Education, (pre-amalgamation) has promised to be an advocate at the board “to watch and make sure every dollar is carefully spent and we avoid unnecessary spending”.

In addition to being on the former Scarborough Board, Dayle has worked as a teacher and educational assistant and also has a lifetime achievement award from the Home and School Association of Ontario.

Azim Dewan (no website) also promised to better manage taxpayer dollars and said the first thing he would do is meet with parents because his extensive involement with the school system started at the parent council level.

Michael Opoku

Michael Opoku, a community and youth leader,  promised he would hold the TDSB accountable, adding that he doesn’t know where savings can be found right now but promised he “will know once he gets there.”

Parthi Kandavel said costs could be saved if management positions at the board were eliminated.

Tim Heffernan said he’s not looking for cuts to the TDSB, but rather more spending, arguing that the public education system is “dramatically, drastically underfunded”.  He cited CW Jefferys where it’s been a struggle to fix sinks in the chemistry lab and compared it to Bishop Strachan, a private school that has raised $20 million as part of its current fundraising goal.

Efficacy of EQAO

At the meeting, hosted by the East Beach Community Association, the candidates were also asked questions about the demise of cursive writing (most said bring it back) and funding for arts programs (most in favour).

The candidates were also asked about the value of standardized testing through the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) and there were mixed opinions.

Parthi Kandavel currently teaches at an independent non-profit school, Sathya Sai  School, which is ranked in the top 1% of Ontario schools by the Fraser Institute’s interpretation of EQAO results.

He said there are problems with the test but they provide a valuable snapshot and can be used to improve the quality of teaching, adding: “Of our 22 elementary schools in southwest Scarborough, 16 are below average. Nine out of 22 are in the bottom of all 3,000 schools in Ontario.”

Heffernan said he’s dead set against EQAO testing, arguing that the only people who use them are real estate agents.

“You can weigh a pig 20 times,” Heffernan said. “It tells you how much the pig weighs, it doesn’t tell you how healthy it is.”

Heffernan went on to state that most children at Sathya Sai School come from rich families, but Kandeval emphatically denied that, saying “many work in a pizza shop”.  What’s important said Kandeval is the “partnership between teacher and home”.

Merging of Public and Catholic boards

Interestingly, every candidate agreed in principle that the Public and Catholic  boards should be merged, which some claim could save more than 1.5 billion dollars in administrative costs.

If the boards were ever to merge, incumbent Elizabeth Moyer said Scarborough should become it’s own board.

“Before we amalgamated there was a discussion,” said Moyer.  “We are 1/4th of the geographic space of the city and we represent at least a quarter. We only have five votes at the TDSB,” Moyer said.  (Ed. note: 5 out of 22)

My ward alone, Ward 18, is bigger than 85% of the school boards in Canada,” Moyer went on to say.  “We’re so big that I’m being sucked down by people who aren’t dealing with their own issues on their own.

Election Day is October 27, 2014. Find out when and where to vote by clicking here.