By Jennifer Saltman
When Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Supervisor Merv Beckstead stepped down from his position late last month, he more or less fulfilled his mandate. Now, it’s up to his replacement to handle diplomatic damage control.
In August 2002, Education Minister Elizabeth Witmer appointed Beckstead as board supervisor to “help the board manage its financial affairs.”
After the board filed a deficit budget of $23 million last year, which violated the provincial Education Act, forensic accountant Al Rosen was brought in to investigate the board’s finances.
Beckstead was appointed as a result.
He was supposed to prepare and implement a plan to return the school board to a balanced financial position by Nov. 25, 2002. In January 2003, he followed through with the preparation of a plan and released a three-year economic recovery plan for the board. Then, he resigned.
If realized, Beckstead’s plan would primarily ensure that new schools are built in areas where they are needed most. Other suggestions include the development of a plan to manage fiscal surpluses and implementing a system to better manage employee absences.
But now, Kyle Murray, Beckstead’s replacement, is left to implement this plan, as well as deal with the ruffled feathers Beckstead caused last year when he cut $3.7 million from special education.
About 45 special education teachers lost their jobs and eight education-assistant positions were left unfilled as a result. It was a decision that hurt many parents and students and one the trustees refused to support.
Although the cuts were reversed in December after a judge ruled that Beckstead didn’t have the authority to make them in the first place, the action characterized his time as board supervisor.
Another one of Beckstead’s responsibilities was to keep parents, board trustees, staff, and members of the public informed about what is happening. Murray says this is a priority for him.
Although Murray’s primary function is to implement the recovery plan Beckstead left behind, he will likely be spending quite some time patching up the relationship between trustees, parents and himself — the board supervisor.
Surely, implementing the plan cannot be accomplished if trustees resent him so much they reverse his decisions once he is gone and their power is restored.
Most trustees and watchdog groups like Our Schools, Our Communities, say a board supervisor is not even needed at all because new funding from the province will eliminate the board’s deficit. Still, the fact remains that the trustees’ decisions are what put the board in debt in the first place.
It seems the board does need a supervisor — but one who is willing to listen to his trustees and everyone involved in the education process.
While Beckstead came on the job with 40 years of experience in municipal government and a background in accounting, he had no previous education experience. Murray, on the other hand, is a management and education consultant with extensive experience in the educational sector as a former director of education and treasurer at the Carleton Board of Education.
Murray will be acting as supervisor until the beginning of the 2003-04 school year next September. His success depends on his damage control skills.