School board fired by education minister

The board of trustees for P.E.I.'s Eastern School District was dismissed Tuesday by Education Minister Doug Currie.

Currie appointed Patsy MacLean to take on the duties of the board of trustees until the current mandate expires. MacLean is a former deputy attorney general for the province, and has also served in senior management of the province's health care system.

"It is clear that the acrimony among trustees has taken precedence over the interests of the school system," Currie said in a news release.

The board has been called dysfunctional by one of its own trustees, and criticized by the P.E.I. Home and School Association, school principals and senior staff at the district. Late in the fall session of the legislature Currie passed legislation giving him the power to fire the board. He gave the trustees until Feb. 15 to start working better together.

On Tuesday Currie lowered the axe.

The school trustees met in a committee of the whole meetingFeb. 16. Following that meeting, members of the Eastern School Board executive met with Currie and senior departmental staff.

"The message I received was the board is unable to function properly and this has resulted in an inability to move important policy forward," Currie said.

The board's troubles began back in 2009, when it was a debating a report recommending the closure of 11 schools due to declining enrolments. Eight schools were eventually closed, but the divisions that formed during those debates froze action at the board level. Plans for a rezoning of the district for the 2010-11 school year went nowhere.

The board met twice in the fall, but then chair Bob Clow suspended meetings. The board met again Feb. 1, whipping through 17-item agenda in 25 minutes. Clow said at the time the board had come a long way towards getting back to business.

"I hope this is a sign that we're able to get over that little hump we had," he said.

The legislation gives Currie the power to appoint a single official to take on the duties of the school board.

The next school board elections are planned for June 2012.