Strait Regional School Board fired for infighting

The troubled Strait Regional School Board has been disbanded.

Nova Scotia Education Minister Karen Casey announced Monday that she is pulling the plug on the board in order "to protect the interests of students and board staff."

"This is a decision I hoped I would not have to make, but this board continues to struggle to maintain decorum and a professional working relationship among its members," Casey said in a release.

"They have failed to put their differences behind them and are still being distracted from their mandate."

Casey said she was exercising her authority under the Education Act to remove all responsibilities from the elected board members.

John Sears, a former professor and vice-president academic at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, will become a one-man board. Since February, Sears has been carrying out human resource and financial management functions at the board.

In 2007, Casey ordered the board to rewrite its code of ethics so that members must be respectful of others.

The latest controversy erupted earlier this month over an issue involving vice-chairman Mike Brown. Last week the board voted against disciplining Brown for swearing and walking out of a meeting.

The Strait board, with 12 elected members, is responsible for 25 schools and 7,830 students. School board elections will be held across Nova Scotia this fall. At that time, a new elected Strait board will resume its full responsibilities.

In 2002, the board was stripped of its powers after an audit found spending irregularities.

Casey said she will introduce legislation in the fall to outline the role of both the boards and the minister in the discipline of individual board members.

This is the second school board in Nova Scotia to be disbanded by the minister. In 2006, the Halifax Regional School Board's 13 elected members were fired for constant bickering and infighting.

The province appointed retired civil servant Howard Windsor to act as a one-man board.