And while student population falls across the province, the number of administrators keeps going up.
How about the cegep director who expensed a guided tour of the Grand Canyon and also claimed reimbursement for a meal in a museum that didn't have a restaurant? (It was actually for money spent on presents in the gift shop.) Did she lose her job? LINK f
Recently, the Minister of Education had to step in when plans for a spanking new $13 million head office for the Commission scolaire des Patriotes were revealed, plans that included hiring of a company to water the plants. The head of the commission, continues to insist that the board needs more office space, even in light of falling enrollment
Such is the sense of entitlement, that when the minister turned down the proposal summarily, the furious, head honcho of the commission, Normande Lemieux, demanded a meeting to explain her position. Thankfully the minister told her to take a hike. Link fr
Yoga classes, meditation sessions, workshops of all assorted manner are all de riguer for school boards administrators, all on the public dime and all done on company time.
To date, I've read about these abuses, smugly assuming that it is a problem found only on the francophone side of the education system.
How arrogantly stupid I was... Shame on me!
A story in the Journal de Montreal, had me gagging on my morning coffee. I'm a cynic by nature and not much surprises me, but the abusive disregard of the public trust as described in the article had me seeing red.
It seems that a bunch of school directors from anglophone schools went to a swanky hotel in the Dominican Republic to ostensibly improve their leadership skills, all on the dime of their respective school boards. All of this of course in the dead of winter.
Why the Dominican Republic? To study the fine education system down there and to learn how the schools cope with limited resources.
Sorry, I have to scream...
AGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
According to the organizer of this pork barrel vacation, a certain Lynnn Butler-Kisber, the trip to the stunning beach front hotel in the middle of winter is not really a vacation. "They went there to work"
Of course, she admitted that during the free time participants were most certainly free to partake of the hotel's fine facilities and access to the ocean.
By the way, the conference locale is no Motel 6, take a look a the promotional video of the place, it's a palace!
Next time these administrators feel the need to study schools operating in adverse conditions, perhaps they might plan a trip to the Gaza Strip or North Korea. Although the hotel situation may not be as favourable, it'll certainly be a great learning experience.
In reaction to the story, school board spokespersons are all hiding and with good reason.
Anybody who tells us that this was an 'educational experience' must think we are morons.
Anybody who defends this abuse deserves to be fired.
By the way, each of the participants should be T4ed for the pleasure part of the trip.
How are we anglos going to react to this unforgivable insult to our intelligence and the disgusting abuse of public funds, by our very own people frittering away the school taxes that we pay?
While there appears to be no accountability in the French school boards, is there any in the English ones?
I fear we are one and the same. Losers.
