York Region trustees have dismissed their controversial director of education, one week after a report by provincial reviewers detailed disturbing concerns about his leadership and following months of turmoil at the school board.

J. Philip Parappally is no longer at the helm of the province’s third largest board, according to an internal memo first obtained by the Star that was sent to all staff Wednesday morning.

“Trustees, together, publicly promised to make positive and immediate changes,” board Chair Loralea Carruthers said in an interview. “We wish the former director the very best. He worked at the York board for many years. But the report … made clear that the board needed to make a change.

“I said at our first meeting after the report that our obligation was to make things better for parents and our staff — and, most of all, for our kids. And we intend to do that. We will do that.”

As usual in personnel matters, details of the exit or possible severance package have been kept secret.

The Star was unable to reach Parappally for comment.

Last week, trustees had told Parappally to step down and passed a unanimous motion during an in-camera session to begin the “laborious and complex” process to dismiss him. Then, on Tuesday, trustees said they had dealt with a “personnel matter” in a private meeting that ran late into the night, leaving parents and staff wondering about the outcome.

But the memo put some of their questions to rest.

The “York Region District School Board announced (Wednesday) they will be seeking a new director of education. We wish to acknowledge Mr. Parappally’s 17 years of service with our board and wish him the very best on the next chapter of his life,” Carruthers said in the memo. “In the interest of ensuring the education of students is not affected during this time, the YRDSB has already begun its search for an interim director.”

The ministry of education will help the board in its search, but all final hiring decisions are up to trustees.

Parappally’s ouster comes in the wake of a year-long Star investigation into troubles at the York board. Minister of Education Mitzie Hunter, who appointed the two provincial reviewers to investigate, said she still expects the board to follow her 22 directives based on the many concerns highlighted in the reviewers’ report.

Those include the board’s poor handling of issues of racism and Islamophobia, questionable travel by trustees and senior staff, as well as the director’s contract, all detailed in dozens of stories in the Star.

The reviewers noted a lack of “strong and ethical leadership” by trustees and the director.

“As the minister of education, my hope is that the York Region District School Board will take action to address the directions I have issued to begin the important process of rebuilding the confidence of students, parents and staff,” Hunter said in a statement. “I remain committed to working with the leadership of the YRDSB.”

In the short term, the top job will be filled by Associate Director Leslie Johnstone, putting her in charge of the board’s 123,000 students at 200-plus schools.

Parent Charline Grant, who went public over her concerns about the board’s mishandling of racism her teenage son faced, said “the whole process — (our) human rights complaint, the investigation, the ministry’s directives and now this — is all a part of the process to fix a broken system.

“But there is still so much work to be done, and we have to make sure that all the recommendations are implemented,” she added, in particular those around equity, diversity and human rights.

Grant was the parent who former trustee Nancy Elgie referred to using the N-word in public, after a meeting. While Elgie eventually resigned amid public pressure, the provincial reviewers were deeply troubled by trustees’ refusal to deal with the incident.

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Parent Shernett Martin, executive director of the Vaughan African Canadian Association expressed “relief” at news of a leadership change.

“After years of bringing concerns from the black community in Vaughan and York Region to the YRDSB and being ignored and sidelined, we finally feel a sense of relief that a new director of education will be leading the board,” said Martin. “We want to see a new face leading this board and someone who understands the changing demographic of York Region makes us a region of ethnic diversity and religious diversity, and with that we need teachers and staff to honour and respect those differences.”

Senior staff, who asked not to be identified, said a “weight was lifted” from the organization after Wednesday’s announcement, which came as a board-wide equity symposium was underway.

In last week’s report, the reviewers’ were highly critical of Parappally, citing low morale at the board, his poor relations with some senior staff and trustees, and also complaints about his conduct with parents. They said staff they spoke to had little confidence in him, and that he’d fostered a “culture of mistrust.” Some disclosed he had asked them to spy on one another.

Hunter had directed trustees to review Parappally’s unprecedented 10-year contract — in Ontario, contracts are typically four or five years — as well as his job-for-life guarantee as a senior staffer at the end. Hunter also called for an independent, thorough performance appraisal by the end of May, as well as asking the board to create a better hiring and job performance appraisal process for the position.

Parappally’s contract states that he can be fired for cause, with no notice and no pay. The board of trustees also has the right, “in its absolute discretion, for any reason,” to let him go with a year’s salary.

Parappally, who was vaulted to the position of director in 2014 from field superintendent, still had seven years on his contract. He earned $259,000 last year.

A day after the provincial report was released, trustees voted unanimously, in private, to “dismiss him,” but sources told the Star he left the room before they could hand him his pink slip.

Senior staff told the Star they had not seen Parappally since the meeting last Wednesday and that he hadn’t responded to emails, calls or texts over the long weekend.

Johnstone, who will be at the helm of the board temporarily, caused controversy last year among principals after she and another senior staffer demanded principals intercept mail from a parent coalition sent to all school/parent councils — ordering them to send the document, “including the envelope it arrived in,” to head office.

After hearing from the Ontario Principals’ Council, which had been bombarded with questions and complaints from members, the board backed down two days later.