The education director for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has been fired by a provincially appointed supervisor, who said the board was in need of a “fresh start.”
Supervisor Rohit Gupta said in a Dec. 12 letter to staff that Clayton La Touche is leaving, “effective immediately.” The “difficult decision” was made in collaboration with Education Minister Paul Calandra, Gupta said.
Associate director Stacey Zucker will fill in the role of interim director of education, he said, adding that she had held the role during the last school year and offers a “wealth of experience.” Zucker has also been associate director at the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
Minister Calandra said in a statement that Gupta is guiding the school board to refocus on student achievement.
The minister has recently put six school boards, including TDSB, under provincial control following investigations into the boards, and filed legislation in May to expand the minister’s authority over school boards.
The most recent board to be put under provincial supervision, the Near North District School Board, was found by a ministry review to have “deep-rooted dysfunction and mismanagement,” the Ontario government said.
The review found there was a lack of leadership in the senior administration of the school board, that the school board was “divided, inexperienced, and unwilling or unable to carry out its responsibilities,” and that trustees showed “limited understanding” of governance principles. The government also said there were “significant concerns” about the director of education’s leadership and professional conduct, citing an “inappropriate use by a family member of a corporate credit card.”
Calandra said putting the board under supervision should “serve as a warning to any board that is failing in its responsibility to put students first.”
The minister said that school boards were being put “on notice” that the new legislation gave him the authority to “quickly assume control” over “mismanagement.”
Calandra previously said the province has seen school boards “wasting” resources on issues not connected to student achievement, such as changing school names. He cited one school board that the minister said spent more than $100,000 renaming three schools.
The education minister said he wanted to see “politics out of the schools.” Trustees are not needed to develop curriculum or give advice on global affairs, he said, but to “put money into classrooms and into our teachers so our students can succeed.”
He said he will announce further changes for board governance in the new year.
Pasma said that parents deserved to know how much “this decision will cost them,” including the amounts for La Touche’s severance pay and the new director of education’s salary.
School Board Support Offices
The province said in November it was introducing new requirements for school boards to create dedicated Student and Family Support Offices to handle unresolved concerns from parents and students.The offices will be an additional option where families can voice concerns if they feel the school is not responding appropriately.
The first support offices will be opened in January 2026 at five school boards that the province had previously put under its supervision, including the TDSB, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Thames Valley District School Board, and Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Other school boards will be required to submit their plans outlining the opening of the offices by March 31, 2026. The offices are expected to be opened by September 2026.
The offices’ mandate will be to help resolve issues after an initial meeting with a child’s teacher and principal, according to the provincial government.
