Canada’s largest school board is being warned to clean up its act or be torn apart, says a hard-hitting report by former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall.

The report on the future of the Toronto District School Board, which was supposed to be released at the end of August, was obtained by the Star after it was briefly, and mistakenly, posted online Friday.

The first of 20 recommendations urges the province to immediately send in a supervisor to work with trustees and staff to make improvements, including addressing the “culture of fear” — but gives the board one year to make significant progress or be “expeditiously” broken into two or more “independent, smaller boards.”

It is unclear if the ministry will follow the suggestions. In recent months, the Toronto board has been in a period of relative calm, with 11 new trustees and the recent departure of its divisive director, Donna Quan. In fact, an interim director is expected to be named next week.

“When it comes to supervision of the board, the report seems to be stuck in the past,” Chair Robin Pilkey said in a written statement. “While there is always room for improvement, there have been many positive changes at the TDSB with more to come. With regards to the suggestion that we break the board up — that would be a costly step backward with little benefit to students.”

Hall, in a telephone interview from Mexico where she is vacationing, said even with recent positive action by the board, “the threats to public education are real and serious and these are systematic issues that need to be taken very seriously” and that the one-year ultimatum puts pressure to finally get them addressed.

“They are not the fault of any one person or group, they go back many years, and we believe that (the board) needs some external help.”

The report, commissioned in March and submitted at the end of August but kept from the public, outlines concerns over how the board is run and how it should be run, given the never-ending string of scandals involving staff, the director and trustees — including accusations of harassment, bullying and insubordination.

Hall and other panel members heard from more than 550 people about how that has impacted public confidence and, quite possibly, student achievement.

As in past examinations of the board — including one released earlier this year by troubleshooter Margaret Wilson — the Hall report also refers to the long-standing “culture of fear” cultivated by a number of directors, senior staff and elected chairs over the years, and that the “panel believes that this culture is also impacting what is happening in schools.

“We heard serious concerns about the inequities of access to specialty programs (such as French Immersion or gifted programs) and the lack of resources in schools to support the specific needs of communities. These concerns … lead us to conclude that governance dysfunction is perpetuating inequities of opportunity and success across the board.”

While the sheer size of the board — with more than 550 schools and 250,000 students — was cited as an issue, so too were worries about the chaos and cost of a breakup.

The panel also came to believe one of the key problems is “that the lack of role clarity, accountability and strong leadership on both the elected and administrative sides of the board are causes of the dysfunction and erosion of public confidence.

“We have concluded that a significant structural change at the TDSB is required to respond to the serious concerns that the community and staff have raised over disconnection and disengagement,” Hall’s report says. “This sense of disengagement, coupled with a perception of little accountability and transparency must be addressed.”

To that end, the report recommends creating two or more smaller, “education centres,” in different areas of the city and headed by an associate director, to deal with local issues, giving superintendents a base within the neighbourhood to oversee their schools, as well as help foster closer ties with parents and the community.

It also urges that the roles of trustees and senior staff be clearly spelled out, and ongoing professional development provided, “because the blurrred lines of responsibility contribute” to the poor working environment and governance issues.

While panel members looked at options such as appointing trustees or having them elected city-wide — instead of to 22 individual wards — they also heard how elected officials can be great advocates who helped parents find resolutions to issues from a large, too often unresponsive bureaucracy.

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However, the panel does recommend trustees not overstay their welcome, limiting them to three consecutive terms, or about 12 years.

Details of Hall’s report come the same day that Quebec tabled legislation that would keep school boards, but get rid of elections and instead create councils of parents, teachers, staff and community members.

Hall said she believes there’s a desire for change at the TDSB, “but sometimes it takes more than desire. We think the challenges are deep” to properly serve “the needs of all children, in particular the most vulnerable … they can’t afford to draw resources, or energy or motivation away from meeting those needs.”