Education Minister Mike Bernier held a teleconference with reporters late Tuesday afternoon to address the ongoing instability at the Vancouver School Board.
All nine trustees were fired Monday, and replaced by former Delta superintendent Dianne Turner.
Highlights from the conversation are included here, and some of Bernier’s answers have been edited for clarity.
What’s happening with the school closure process?
Bernier: We have a former board that was making decisions, really we couldn’t trust most of those decisions, which led into a lot of the processes going forward of not being able to trust the board and what they were doing.
With that, we also don’t want to take into consideration any of the past decisions that were made of by the board and the decisions they have done.
The school closure process was cancelled by the past board. What I can say to make sure there is no confusion our there… There is no school closure process right now in Vancouver. I spoke with Dianne Turner, the trustee in place, who has all the powers of the board.
Her main goal is to bring stability into Vancouver, into the school district and for the students. That’s where her focus is. Her focus is not on a school closure process, it is not on the long-range facilities plan right now. It’s about bringing stability.
She did confirm to me that school closures are not being considered any time in the foreseeable future in Vancouver.
Regarding the timelines on any potential school closures:
Bernier: Ms. Turner has the authority of the board to go through and deal with all the issues in Vancouver. One of those will have to be to submit a long-range facilities plan to myself and government. That was another thing that the past board failed to do.
There is no school closure process taking place right now in Vancouver for schools with students in them. Opposite of what the NDP might be saying, that is not the case.
The school closure process was cancelled. There is no school closure process right now in Vancouver. Those decisions will be made by the board, which is Dianne Turner, and she confirmed to me today, that that is not something she is looking at because she has too many other issues that she needs to focus her attention on now in Vancouver.
So if you are a student, if you’re a parent in Vancouver, you do not need to be worrying about school closures right now.
On whether the fired trustees will receive any severance pay or remuneration:
Bernier: Not that I know of. It’s typical to my knowledge of any other local government scenario that you don’t qualify for severance.
On the length of Dianne Turner’s tenure with the school district:
Bernier: Dianne Turner is in place for a minimum of 12 months. We will re-evaluate as it gets closer to the end of that 12 months but I do also share a lot of peoples’ concerns that a year might not be long enough because of the amount of work that needs to take place in Vancouver to bring us some stability.
On the status of the senior staff members who are on sick leave and when, and if, they will return:
Bernier: My hope is that anybody who is on sick leave gets well soon. We have had amazing staff in the Vancouver school district. I can’t comment on that because I don’t know. Those are the decisions made by the board. Dianne Turner now has the authority of the board.
On implementing the board’s budget:
Bernier: There was a lot of confusion, I believe, out there, even with myself on what was happening with the budget. That was part of the issues and the main issue for the board being removed. They did not submit a balanced budget.
I don’t think I could have trusted any of the comments I was hearing around what their plans were. In fact, the former board chair Mike Lombardi, as of [Monday] morning when I spoke with him, said that three days ago they had a $21-million deficit. As of yesterday, he was going to say that they were able to announce a surplus. That just shows me again, removing the board was absolutely the right thing to do because I was not able to take at face value any of the comments that I was hearing by the past board and the board chair.
Regarding the timelines associated for Turner to deliver a balanced budget to the education ministry:
Bernier: I don’t [have a timeline]. We have to allow some flexibility for her. We have to consider that she doesn’t have a lot of the senior staff right there, right now, to be able to lean on. I am going to allow a bit of time to get her feet wet, so to speak, and to look at the scenarios in Vancouver. I believe it’s very fair for her to have that time.
On whether Turner has the final say on school board matters, and whether she will be mandated to hold public meetings:
Bernier: She has 100 per cent control of that board, no different than if the board was completely there, no different than any other school board in the province. There [are] no sign-offs by myself. I will communicate with Ms. Turner no different than I communicate with any board in the province when they ask for help or advice.
The final decision rests with her. When it comes to public meetings, Ms. Turner will be no different than any other board and will have to follow through that process and will have to have her regular board meetings.
On the issue of seismic upgrades and how those upgrades are tied to budgetary concerns:
Bernier: I have never in Vancouver tied balancing a budget to seismic funding. That has never been the case in Vancouver and I have never, to my recollection, commented or asked for that.
In fact, if you look at even in the last year while I’ve been the minister of education, we have $200 million worth of seismic projects happening in Vancouver right now — nine different seismic projects.
On when the WorkSafe BC investigation into workplace bullying will be completed:
Bernier: I don’t [know]. It’s a completely independent investigation that we have no authority or control over. I’m eagerly awaiting what the next steps are that they are going to do.
