Thames Valley District school board executives are facing criticism after roughly 18 senior staff members stayed at the former SkyDome hotel in downtown Toronto amid a $7.6-million budget deficit.
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While board leaders are defending the August trip, union officials are wondering why the planning session couldn’t have been done here, rather than in the heart of Canada’s biggest city.
“If austerity and cost-cutting are integral parts of the strategic plan, then it’s incumbent on senior administration to lead by example,” said Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley local of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.
Rooms at the hotel – now formally known as the Marriott City Center Hotel, located inside the baseball stadium – range from $374 to $1,199 per night, according to hotel staff. School board officials say they booked “in bulk” and it’s unclear what they paid.
The retreat took place Aug. 19-21, board officials confirmed, with senior executives staying in suites that included views of the field. The Toronto Blue Jays played at the stadium on all three dates, against Cincinnati.
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The board, the fourth largest in Ontario, approved in June a $1.2-billion budget for the 2024-25 school year with a $7.6-million shortfall. The board is taking several measures, including eliminating 124 jobs and slashing funding for school trips and textbooks as it seeks to tame a deficit once projected to be $30 million.
Education director Mark Fisher said the retreat is “an industry standard” for all Ontario school boards.
“For the last 16 years Thames Valley senior administration has done strategic planning in advance for preparation of the school year, which we did again this year,” Fisher said. “Virtually every school board in the province does the same thing. . . in anticipation of many of the new initiatives that are being brought in this year.”
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Fisher said the rooms were ordered in bulk at a discounted rate and there were no special requests for upgraded rooms.
“There were no luxury hotel rooms,” Fisher said. “I went to the hotel room that I was assigned to – there was no requirement, no specifications, no (special) request.”
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Fisher said there was no reason for the conference to be held in Toronto, other than that is always how it’s been done.
“It’s always been off-site,” he said. “It’s never been in the district.”
Last year the pre-September retreat was held in Jordan, a community in the wine region of Niagara, he said.
Mary Henry is president of CUPE Local 4222, which represents 1,600 board employees including secretaries, educational assistants and early childhood educators. She raised questions about the retreat, noting she fears some schools won’t have paper towels or toilet paper “because they have no budget.”
Added Henry: “The No. 1 focus should be on the schools for the students in order to operate, and not retreats.”
@HeatheratLFP
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