East Toronto trustees react to firing of TDSB education director by provincially appointed supervisor
By MATTHEW STEPHENS
A local public school trustee calls the decision by the province late last year to fire Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Director of Education Clayton La Touche a “political” one that had nothing to do with improving education for students in classrooms.
In December of 2025, Ontario’s appointed supervisor Rohit Gupta fired La Touche, stating that the board “needed a fresh start.”
“Now in my sixth month as supervisor of the board, I feel that the TDSB needs a fresh start as we look to set the TDSB up for success in the years ahead,” said Gupta in an email to school board staff.
La Touche’s firing is just one significant change made to Ontario’s school system following the passing in November of last year of Ontario’s Supporting Children and Students Act (Bill 33), which has granted extended powers to the provincial Ministry of Education to intervene in the operation of local school boards.
Beaches-East York TDSB Trustee Michelle Aarts said she believes the decision to fire La Touche was a hostile takeover entrenched in political ideology.
“I believe the move by the Minister to fire Clayton LaTouche was political and had nothing to do with best practices or improving education for students in the TDSB. Mr. LaTouche is a well-respected and experienced leader who was an assistant deputy minister in education before coming to the TDSB,” Aarts told Beach Metro Community News.
“There are a handful of conservative insiders, who brag publicly about their access to the supervisor and to the minister, who are also public in their disdain for Mr. LaTouche, and public about working to get rid of him.”
According to Aarts, the decision to fire La Touche has only worsened the ability of parents to advocate for their children and get a better understanding of changes being made at the board.
“Since supervision was imposed, I have spoken to many families who cannot get answers, who are frustrated by system decisions that negatively impact their children and schools, funding cuts, and lack of resources, especially special education staff.” said Aarts. “He has purposefully silenced the families of children with disabilities, and he has cancelled public consultations on the education budget.”
Aarts said staff across the board have reported that they feel “unsupported, silenced, and that the TDSB has moved to compliance with Minister’s orders rather than responding to student needs.”
Toronto-Danforth’s TDSB Trustee Sara Ehrhardt told Beach Metro Community News that – since assuming supervision – the provincial government has neglected to take action and alleviate the chronic underfunding issues afflicting Ontario’s school system.
“I would note that while the supervisor has been given the powers of all the elected trustees, the supervisor has none of their public accountability. The Minister of Education cited financials as a reason for taking over school boards. But since taking over the TDSB there has been little to no public transparency around the actual finances.” said Ehrhardt.
She fears that the TDSB is “still being underfunded by the province,” and that understaffing continues to be an ongoing concern in local schools.
With the ministry still making important decisions behind closed doors, TDSB trustees and parents alike have been left wondering what action is being taken to improve their schools.
In a recent Beach Metro Community News story, local parent Elizabeth Garkowski told reporters that Ontario’s new legislation has included a ministry directive to have school boards block livestreams of their Special Education Advisory Committee meetings, making it more difficult for parents to get involved in the operation of their local school boards.
“Trustees have basically had all their authorities stripped from them, and so you can only escalate so far within a system that doesn’t have the resources to give you anything,” said Garkowski, a mother whose children currently attend St. Joseph Catholic School, which operates under the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB).
“As a parent with a child who has a disability, I cannot get up to North York (where the TCDSB offices are located) on a weekday. You really have no way of seeing or learning what’s going on unless you can physically get to that space.”
Aarts echoed Garkowski’s concerns, stating that the Ministry of Education has “silenced special education families and their advocates, shut down consultation and information sharing with TDSB families, and handed down policy changes based on partisan politics instead of improving education conditions and access.”
Beach Metro Community News reached out to the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) for a statement regarding Bill 33 and its impact on St. Joseph school. In response, the TCDSB said “the Board is currently under Ministry Supervision,” and advised reporters to speak with Ontario’s Ministry of Education.
The Ministry of Education has not yet responded to a request for comment from Beach Metro Community News.
Since June 2025, after several years of concern from the Auditor General of Ontario and the Ministry of Education, the TDSB has been put under provincial supervision, and an investigation has been launched into the board’s financial management, school safety, and capital planning.
According to the Government of Ontario website, between 2021-2022 to 2024-2025, TDSB management presented several cost-saving measures amounting in $24.8 million. These measures were not approved by the board trustees.
However, an excerpt from the website states that “even if all the measures had been approved, TDSB management failed to present sufficient savings measures required to eliminate the in-year deficits in these years.”
Aarts said many of the Ministry of Education’s latest decisions will end up costing the TDSB more money, despite stated plans to alleviate board’s financial burdens.
“The minister supposedly put the TDSB under supervision to address finances and ‘put more money into classrooms’ and yet to date he has racked up additional expenses and increased class sizes this fall. Firing Mr. LaTouche only 10 months into a four-year contract will now incur significant unnecessary expenses to buy out the contract,” said Aarts.
Stacey Zucker, who has been acting as an associate director at the TDSB for the last year, will be assuming La Touche’s role as interim director going forward – a decision Aarts believes will be dampened under ministry supervision.
“Ms. Zucker is an excellent senior business leader and has always been a strong advocate for students, but she deserves to be director in a system where her leadership skills and innovation can shine, not under the micromanagement of a minister who does not care to invest in or improve Ontario’s education system,” said Aarts.
