Entire Halifax school board fired

December 19, 2006
Canadian Press

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s education minister fired every member of the Halifax Regional School Board today, saying constant infighting had rendered the board ineffective.

Karen Casey said the 13-member board – the province’s largest – would be dissolved and replaced by one man: former bureaucrat Howard Windsor.

“I am disappointed it has come to this, but it has become necessary to exercise my authority under Section 68 of the Education Act,” Casey said in a release.

“This board has failed to follow the directives to act in a professional manner.”

Casey said Windsor will run the board until municipal elections are held in October 2008. The board oversees schools that serve 55,000 students.

The mass firing was needed because the board’s members simply can’t get along, Casey said.

“I am disturbed by the board’s continued inability to respect one another and I am frustrated that they seem unable to get back to the business of educating students,” she said.

Board meetings during the past year have been marked by shouting matches and internal squabbling.

In February, then-Education Minister Jamie Muir threatened to fire board members unless they stopped feuding.

A week before Muir issued his ultimatum, a board meeting was cancelled because too many board members walked out to support a member who had been removed for missing too many meetings.

It was the second time in less than a month that board members killed a meeting by walking out.

Board members have also been embroiled in disputes over seating arrangements and allegations of racism.

From The Toronto Star