Ontario’s Minister of Education Liz Sandals has convened a panel to look at ways to improve the governance of the scandal-plagued Toronto District School Board, including whether to break up the board into smaller boards.

Sandals has appointed former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall as chair of the seven-member panel, which will consult with the public for two months and then report back on its findings by this summer.

Sandals said the panel is a response to a recommendation external reviewer Margaret Wilson made in January, when she highlighted “a culture of fear” at the board. Elected trustees were accused of interfering in everything from hiring principals to procurements, Wilson noted at the time. The report followed two external audits that uncovered problems with structural deficits and trustee expenses.

“This expert panel will undertake a consultation with the TDSB community and make recommendations on possible changes to support a more effective governance structure for the board,” Sandals told reporters Monday.

“One of the things we do need to look at is, has the board in fact gotten too big to really be effectively managed?” she said. “I’m not presuming that outcome.”

Sandals also noted “for comparative purposes” that the TDSB is the largest school board in Canada and “about twice the size of any other school board in Ontario.”

Sandals said the TDSB has complied with only some of the recommendations Wilson made in her report.

One change Sandals said she is not satisfied with is progress on fixing aging schools.

“We asked them what their program was in terms of their plan in terms of school renewal,” she said. “While they gave us a long catalogue of things that required attention, they didn’t give us a plan.”

In a statement to CTV Toronto, TDSB Chair Shaun Chen said the Board will co-operate with the governance review.

“As with all Ministry initiatives, we will work with TDSB stakeholders and communities to ensure that students are at the centre of any decisions,” Chen said. “We look forward to working through the consultation process and building public confidence around the positive changes we continue to make”

In addition to Barbara Hall, who was most recently Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the panel comprises:

Dr. Vicki Bismilla

Patrick Case

Briony Glassco

Shirley Hoy

Richard Powers

Jennifer Williams

The panel’s consultation process will involve online submissions and public meetings with individuals and organizations, including parents, trustees, senior staff and union representatives across TDSB, the government said in a release Monday.

When Wilson released her report in January, the opposition Progressive Conservatives said the Liberal government was to blame for the ongoing problems at the TDSB because it didn't provide proper oversight, while the NDP said the real problem was underfunding of the system.

The TDSB educates roughly 246,000 students at approximately 600 public schools. It has 22 trustees elected at the same time as the mayor and councillors.