Rural Education Task Force takes draft report public claiming TVDSB is trying to silence its findings

The Thames Valley District School Board’s (TVDSB) Rural Education Task Force (RETF) is taking its findings to local municipal council agendas this week with hopes the public will get to see their two years' worth of work.

The RETF claims they are being silenced by TVDSB despite being appointed to dig into key issues in rural education since the summer of 2019.

A spat between the TVDSB and the RETF went public this week when RETF member and Zorra Township Mayor Marcus Ryan expressed his concerns on social media, and posted a letter from the TVDSB to Oxford County council on Twitter.

"The Board created the task force and we've consulted with hundreds and hundreds of residents who've told us what they think about rural education in the Thames Valley District School Board, and I think it's a good report," says Ryan, the Oxford County representative on the RETF.

"For whatever reason, at the 11th hour Board staff withdrew their support and canceled meetings and we were unable to complete the report by the deadline."

The last meeting with TVDSB trustees is March 22, 2022, and the RETF mandate will end at the end of the month.

The Thames Valley District School Board at 1250 Dundas St. in London, Ont.(Brent Lale / CTV News)"So here we are publishing it on county agendas to try and get it out there so residents can see the work they paid for," says Ryan.

A copy of the draft report has been posted on the county website and that upset TVDSB staff who sent to the CAO of Oxford and Middlesex Counties.

"We sent a letter out because an incomplete draft report from the rural Task Force showed up and it was prematurely released before even the Board of Trustees had viewed the report," says Lori-Ann Pizzalato, TVDSB chair.

"We don't want to confuse the public and saying this report came from Thames Valley trustees and was approved by Thames Valley because we haven't even seen it."

The Board says all trustees must see the report first, to make sure there are no budget, legal, or human rights implications and that it didn’t contravene the education act.

The trustees would then approve or vote down the recommendations.

Ryan claims they’ve already had it vetted by lawyers.

Marcus Ryan, Zorra Township Mayor and member of the TVDSB Rural Education Task Force is taking a draft report of findings to local council this week.(Brent Lale / CTV News)"I'm confident that when trustees read this report, they're going to say this is good work, we should do this," says Ryan.

The Board says they want a completed version on March 22, which satisfies the Trustees, TVDSB staff and the RETF.

"What trustees are expecting is the final draft report on March 22," says Pizzalato.

"If there are issues with the committee, there's a process where the process would be the committee chair would come to the board of trustees saying that we could not complete the draft report and we need more time or we need more resources. If they find that there's not enough time for them to do that, they can ask to extend their mandates."

The letter by TVDSB to Oxford County CAO stated posting it publicly was an 'egregious breach' and told them to ‘remove the draft report from the agenda'.

It states a failure to do so would constitute a betrayal of the statutory and jurisdictional authority and mandate of the Board.

Despite the strongly worded letter, the draft report will remain publicly on county council agendas.

"It seems like certainly Board staff would rather it not even be seen never mind support it," says Ryan.

"They're actively trying to stop the meetings from happening, cancelling meetings and instructing Board staff not to attend the meetings."

So they’ve taken extreme measures by going to local council to approve the draft report.

"I would love the taskforce to present it to them on the 22nd," says Ryan.

"What I would like to happen is that Oxford county council and Middlesex and Elgin, pass a resolution in support of it this week, write letters of recommendation to the board and then on the 22nd that the board would consider the report and adopt it."