Liske vs Tridico: trustees tangle at school board meeting

Some might feel that last night's Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board meeting sounded as much like a UFC octagon encounter as a gathering of school trustees.

A heated quarrel broke out between trustees Grace Tridico and Lindsay Liske, complete with accusations of electoral grandstanding.

The verbal brawl got started when Tridico suggested trustees who go to conferences and workshops at taxpayer expense should be required to write reports about those gatherings and what they learned from them.

When Tridico first served notice of her intended motion earlir this year, she said the reports should be distributed among trustees.

But, at last night's meeting, she asked for an amendment requiring that the reports also be made available to the public.

Trustee Liske countered that Tridico's idea was just an attempt to grandstand for votes.

He said the media wouldn't be interested in reading about the goings-on at a Catholic school board conference.

"In which case they wouldn't publish it," Tridico shot back.

Trustee Laurie Aceti pointed out that the board once had a policy that trustees should write reports on conferences and workshops they attend.

"Not everyone was comfortable writing reports," Aceti said. "Not everyone was submitting them and nothing happened to the people who didn't submit reports, so it was decided not to require them any more."

Trustees don't need to write reports because they're expected to police themselves and to pass on information to the director if they feel it's relevant or necessary, said Marchy Bruni, board chair.

Bruni said he and the other trustees have been diligent and trustworthy in giving their time to attend these workshops and conferences.

"I don't think that writing a report can show accountability," Bruni said. "We're paid by the province, we should be responsible. Let's leave it at that."

Tridico asked for a recorded vote.

She voted for it, together with Trustees Kathleen Rosilius and Gerald Beerkens.

Voting against the motion were Trustees Liske, Aceti, Bruni, Elaine McDonagh and Sandra Turco, who joined the meeting via conference call.

John Caputo abstained from voting.

Regis O'Connor was absent.

Shortly after that, Tridico brought forward another motion to delay voting on trustee honorariums until the board's next meeting on October 13.

She said she wanted time to draft a motion to reduce honorariums and donate the amount of the reduction to a school breakfast and nutrition program or to any other charity that the board agrees on.

"I don't have to worry about showboating to get votes in the next election and utilize this as a forum," said Liske's before he was cut off by the sound of Bruni sharply banging his gavel several times.

Bruni admonished Liske, saying that would be quite enough of that.

Aceti said it was up to individual trustees to choose to donate a portion of or even all of their honorariums to a charity of their choice and shouldn't be a board decision.

Again Tridico called for a recorded vote.

Voting in favour of the motion to defer a vote on the draft honorarium policy were Tridico, Rosilius and Beerkens.

Voting against the motion to defer were Caputo, Liske, McDonagh, Aceti, Turco and Bruni.

Tridico said she was uncomfortable voting on her own wages especially after the Education Act was recently revised to remove public consultation on the issue of trustee honorariums.

"We are essentially voting on our own wages here and I wonder are we not in a conflict of interest while we are taking a look at our own wages," said Tridico.

The votes went the same way for the actual motion to pass the draft honorarium policy.

The Ministry of Education requires that the board pass a policy on honorariums before October 15.

That policy must dictate what maximum amounts of money each trustee can receive but boards are free to reduce the amount of their honorariums and donate the remainder to charity if they choose, said Tridico.

Liske said he would prefer that the whole issue be dealt with after the election so it couldn't be an election issue at all.

Tridico said the last time this issue was dealt with was in October 2006, before she was a Trustee, and she felt that, with the next Ministry deadline approaching, this would be a good time to deal with it.

The policy passed dictates that, effective December 1, 2010, trustees honorariums can not be more than $6,907 a year.

The board chair can receive no more than $12,407 and the vice-chair no more than $9,657 per year also effective December 1, 2010.

Board Manager of Business Chris Spina said these numbers are arrived at by a Ministry of Education dictated formula that is based on the number of students enrolled in board schools and programs.

He also said that, due to declining enrolment, trustees, the vice-chair and chair will all receive slightly less in the next term of office than the those current in office.