Trustees who took a $45,000 trip to Italy in July to buy artwork for a new Brantford high school say they regret doing it and will repay all their expenses.
“The board of trustees wishes to express regret regarding the events related to the trip to Italy this summer,” Rick Petrella, chair of the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic school board, said in a statement to The Expositor Thursday morning. “We recognize the optics and actions of this trip were not favourable and, although it was undertaken in good faith to promote our Catholic identity and to do something special for our two new schools, we acknowledge that it was not the best course of action.
“We take responsibility and ownership for this and are committed to addressing and remedying the situation. Each trustee, including myself, who participated in the trip has agreed to repay all the expenses incurred to the board. I want to personally assure everyone that such incidents will not occur again.”
This comes after public backlash and a day after Education Minister Jill Dunlop called for an investigation into the trip and the purchase of about $100,000 worth of religious artwork for the chapel at St. Padre Pio secondary school under construction on Powerline Road in Brantford. A single piece of art was also purchased for a new Catholic elementary school under construction in Caledonia.
In a statement, Dunlop said the board “not only failed students and parents but the community with a serious lack of fiscal responsibility and judgment.”
School boards are expected to be “responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, whether in a deficit or surplus situation,” she said.
In an interview with The Expositor last week, Petrella said he wanted to clear up misconceptions about the trip.
“We are transparent,” he said. “We have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Petrella said installation of the religious art pieces, which include life-sized, hand-painted wooden statues of St. Padre Pio and the Virgin Mary, a large crucifix and sculptures depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross, are part of the plan to make the new secondary school a “flagship” for the board.
In his statement on Thursday, he said trustees are “exploring other non-board funding options” to help offset the cost of the art.
Petrella said that after hearing concerns of parents, students and staff, “we recognize the need to further invest in our system” and the board has decided to allocate additional funds “to support student needs.” He said those include enhancing health and safety training for teaching and support staff, providing additional staffing for “safe and healthy school programs,” and making improvements to school breakfast programs.
Petrella said the board will also be reviewing its expense policies “to ensure they align with the Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive.”
The trip to Italy came about a month before the board approved changes to its trustee expense policy. A report to the board in June prepared by director of education Mike McDonald said the changes were suggested by Petrella. Among the changes were a bump from economy/coach class to business class for air travel outside North America if the destination is more than six hours away, allowance of charges above the standard hotel room rate, elimination of maximum rates for meals, and allowance of claims for alcohol in some cases.
Several of the changes to the expense policy shifted approval from the board treasurer to the board chair.
Petrella travelled to South Tyrol, an area known for producing religious art, along with fellow Brantford trustees Dan Dignard and Bill Chopp, and Mark Watson who represents the Haldimand area. Norfolk trustees Dennis Blake and Carol Luciani didn’t go on the trip.
“Everyone who went was directly involved,” he said in the earlier interview. “It wasn’t a vacation.”
Petrella said the board looked at buying artwork “off the shelf” in Canada but could find nothing suitable. He said some of the initial contact with Italian artists was done electronically but “there was no way the board would hand over a penny without seeing it in person.”
He said the board’s positive financial standing – its $180-million operating budget for 2024-25 includes a surplus of $33 million – was a factor in making the decision to purchase the “one-of-a-kind” artworks.
Petrella said the large surplus largely resulted from the board “taking a very conservative approach to enrolment projections,” and building a budget around those numbers. Actual enrolment has been higher than those projections each year since 2018.
The spending of other school boards, including the cash-strapped Thames Valley District school board in London, has recently come under scrutiny. That board spent nearly $40,000 to send 18 administrators on a three-day retreat in August at the Toronto Blue Jays stadium hotel amid a $7.6-million budget deficit that has prompted deep cuts, including to funding for student field trips.