A $28 cookie and other Toronto school trustee expenses questioned

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Trustees at Canada's largest school board racked up thousands of dollars in questionable claims by flying to Israel, charging for hotel stays in Toronto and submitting receipts for a $250 parking violation and a $28 cookie.

A detailed internal audit of the discretionary expenses of Toronto District School Board trustees, obtained by CTV Toronto through freedom-of-information legislation, showed dubious spending of taxpayer money at the cash-strapped board.

TDSB trustees are given $27,000 for discretionary expenses, and any money left goes toward the bottom line. The detailed expenses from 2010 to 2014 come on a heels of a Provincial Auditor's report that found some trustee expense claims were potentially ineligible.

Among the questionable spending, long-time trustee Gerri Gershon charged more than $3,700 for a trip to Israel and the audit stated it was unclear how it related to her duties as a trustee.

Trustee John Hastings, meanwhile, submitted a $205 expense for a charter flight for an oil sands tour in Fort McMurray, Alta., in 2012, while he was attending a conference in Whistler, B.C.

Both trustees explained their expenses to the auditors.

Ms. Gershon said one of her middle schools was in the centre of a difficult controversy involving Muslim prayer sessions, and in the fall of 2011 she joined an interfaith delegation to Israel. "It very much had to do with my role as a TDSB Trustee. Not only was this professional development of the highest order for me but it was also was [sic] a tangible demonstration to the people of Toronto that a secular school board could also be a tolerant school board. … I tweeted the entire trip and began a project upon my return," she wrote.

Mr. Hastings said his visit to the oil sands was directly related to planning a high-school course. He said he even visited a school in Calgary to see how the course could work.

The audit also found that at least four trustees who reside in Toronto attended a conference at a hotel in the city and charged hotel and dinner bills for overnight stays. Ms. Gershon was among them, and said she was not aware that it was against procedures and the expense was approved by the school board.

Trustees were questioned in the internal audit for racking up high cellphone bills, significantly more than than the standard TDSB monthly phone plan, and for charging the board for cameras and Internet services.

Trustee Sheila Ward expensed more than $500 in cellphone charges from November to December 2010. Further, she claimed $841.94 for phone and Internet services from February to May, 2011, and it was difficult to determine if all those expenses related to school board activities. The document stated that she did not provide a response to the audit findings.

Irene Atkinson, another long-time trustee, claimed a $250 parking violation, the audit noted.

Ms. Atkinson said she did not know parking violations would not be reimbursed. "In this case," she stated in the documents, "I had no choice, I was attending a standing committee meeting and there was nowhere else to park except over by the garbage containers."

The audit also found that former chair Chris Bolton charged $28 plus taxes and a service charge for a "giant cookie" in January, 2013, while attending a meeting at a Toronto hotel. "No idea about the gian [sic] cookie; I didn't have any and did not see it," he explained in an e-mail to the auditors.

Mr. Bolton abruptly resigned in June, five months before his term was to expire.

New chair Mari Rutka said some of the expenses were justified. "These are discretionary budgets. Yes they have to be, they should be, within the practices that are allowable," she said in an interview on Monday. "But within that amount, if somebody is trying to educate themselves in order to better understand and grapple with an issue that we're facing, then I think we should ask, 'Does that not have value?'"

Ms. Rutka said trustees requested the internal audit because the board wanted to address problems.

The TDSB has a new expense policy in place with stricter regulations, she said. "It was very fuzzy before. I can tell you for sure that it has tightened up a lot since then," she said. "For me, being accountable is extremely important."