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Catholic school board trustee wants to reduce travel expenses

As some Ontario school boards are set to be audited, H-SCDSB trustee John Caputo suggests Algoma District trustees should attend some meetings virtually
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Trustees John Bruno and Sandra Turco were picked to serve as vice-chair and chair of the H-SCDSB, Nov. 13, 2024.

A Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board trustee wants the board to take a closer look at trustee spending.

H-SCDSB trustee John Caputo says he would like to see trustees based in Algoma District communities spend less on travelling to committee meetings in the Sault and opt to attend them virtually.

“It’s the committee meetings that are starting to cost us a bit more depending on how many committees they’re on, where they live and how they get here,” Caputo told reporters after Wednesday’s regular board meeting.

Regular board meetings are held monthly at the board’s office located at 100 Ontario Ave. in the Sault.

There are several other meetings held for committees within the board such as the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC).

“I’d like to see us utilize more virtual meetings instead of travelling to committee meetings because we’ve spent money on our broadband and internet so we should take advantage of that technology and have virtual meetings over face to face meetings,” Caputo said.

Trustee Gary Trembinski told the board that committee meetings - sometimes just one hour in duration - don’t warrant hours of travel and associated expenses to and from the Sault for trustees who live in the outlying Algoma District.

“If we could curtail that and bring that amount of money down, that money can be geared toward special education tools or library books, things like that,” Caputo said.

Cutting down on travel expenses would be a wise move, Caputo said.

"There've been a number of boards across the province whose discretionary spending has been in question. I’m not going to give any examples but the Ministry is sort of fed up with this discretionary spending abuse and they’re going to be starting to audit. I feel that it’s our responsibility to look into it prior to being told to. I’d rather be proactive than reactive so that we can come up with a better plan on how we’re going to spend our money,” Caputo said.

Fil Lettieri, H-SCDSB director of education, will be meeting Thursday with the Ministry of Education regarding discretionary spending.

In keeping with Board Policy 2007 (Trustee Expense), Justin Pino, H-SCDSB superintendent of business presented a list of trustees’ annual expenditures at Wednesday's meeting.

The policy states that the expenditures are to be reported to the board annually between September and  November.

Below are the total annual expenses incurred for travel (hotel, meals, mileage/airfare and conference registration) and cell phone reimbursement (applicable for the position of board chair). Trustee honorariums are excluded. These figures are for fiscal year 2023-24 (Sept. 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024).

Board of Trustees

  • Carol Amadio, Sault Ste. Marie $4,933.15 
  • John Bruno, Sault Ste. Marie $4,954.22 
  • John Caputo, Sault Ste. Marie $3,960.66 
  • Kerri Commanda, Indigenous Trustee $306.87 
  • Tony D'Agostino, Sault Ste. Marie $779.68 
  • Lindsay Liske, McKerrow $11,047.23 
  • Carol MacEachern, Hornepayne $4,063.27 
  • Kathleen Rosilius, Elliot Lake $6,729.00 
  • Gary Trembinski, Sault Ste. Marie $5,872.65 
  • Sandra Turco, Sault Ste. Marie $4,773.23 

Total Board of Trustees $47,419.96 

Student Trustees 

  • Kenzie Garson, Sault Ste. Marie $2,340.26 
  • Owen Middleton, Sault Ste. Marie $2,472.47 
  • Mya Jensen, Sault Ste. Marie $1,893.38 
  • Alexander Orazietti, Sault Ste. Marie $828.20 

Total Student Trustees $7,534.31 

Total Trustee Expenses $54,954.27

In other developments from Wednesday’s board meeting, trustee Sandra Turco emerged as new board chair while it was determined trustee John Bruno will return as vice-chair for another year.

Turco and Bruno accepted nominations for the position of chair while trustee Lindsay Liske declined nomination.    

An equal number of votes were cast by trustees for Turco and Bruno, the decision coming down to picking straws.

Bruno and trustee Tony D’Agostino were nominated for vice-chair while trustee Gary Trembinski declined nomination.

An equal number of votes were cast by trustees for Bruno and D’Agostino, that decision also settled by picking straws.

H-SCDSB director Lettieri also made reference to a Nov. 7 virtual board meeting that was cut short after only 22 minutes.

Trustees gathered online at that meeting to discuss and vote on proposed changes to 13 procedure bylaws to the board’s Policy 1000.

Trustee Turco stated that rules require the board chair, vice-chair, at least one other trustee and the director of education be present in the H-SCDSB boardroom for virtual meetings.

Former chair Trembinski, though present at the virtual meeting, was not at the board office.

Lettieri was also present at the virtual meeting but viewed it from Toronto.

“I was not aware of the one electronic problem that we have and we have to deem this meeting as illegal then,” Trembinski said.

“As a secretary of the board this oversight is my responsibility and so I take this opportunity to apologize to those in attendance that the meeting ended as it had,” Lettieri said at Wednesday’s regular board meeting.



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Darren Taylor

About the Author: Darren Taylor

Darren Taylor is a news reporter and photographer in Sault Ste Marie.
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