Toronto’s public school board hid a camera in the office of a principal suspected of misconduct, putting him under surveillance for “months” before a caretaker found the device in a clock, says the Ontario Principals’ Council in an email to all Toronto administrators.

The principal, identified by board sources as Courtney Carroll of Jack Miner Public School in Scarborough, was suspected of writing a book during office hours, sources say.

The camera was trained at Carroll’s desk, a source said, but it remains unclear what was captured on video. The principals’ council said it is concerned because the principal — whom the council did not name — changed clothes in his office while the camera was in place, and offered the room “as a private space for a staff member to breastfeed her child.”

The email went on to say the principal used his office for confidential meetings with parents and students while the hidden camera was filming.

Carroll, via email, said he could not “confirm or deny whether surveillance of this nature was used in my school,” adding that “the information you've obtained is false. I am not writing a book, either on school time or otherwise. I did write a book on my personal time that was published in 2012.”

After contacting the board with concerns, Toronto District School Board director Donna Quan “has now provided written assurances that there are currently no hidden cameras in any office of a principal/vice-principal employed by the TDSB,” council president John Hamilton said in the email.

Quan further vowed that such surveillance wasn’t conducted on other principals since “at least” 2007, the email said.

Hamilton added in the email that Quan agreed to put a moratorium on video surveillance of private offices while the board’s surveillance protocol is being reviewed.

Margaret Wilson, recently sent in by the province to examine the Toronto board, issued a scathing report on its “culture of fear” and said she heard from many employees who believed their phones and computers were being monitored.

She told the Star she heard of the hidden camera incident while speaking to representatives from various groups and was “shocked.”

“It did strike me as part of the whole climate at the board,” she said in an interview.

While used rarely — and, typically, requested by principals themselves in cases of theft, vandalism or misconduct — it is even more unusual for a board to investigate a principal using a hidden camera.

The camera used in this case did not record any sound.

According to Ontario’s sunshine list, Carroll earned $120,981 last year.

In an email to the Star, he noted the provincial and Toronto organizations representing principals “are working together with the TDSB to resolve their concerns about the use of surreptitious surveillance in schools.”

“… I am a dedicated educator who has been a loyal TDSB employee for 20 years. I do my utmost to serve my students well. If necessary, I will pursue all possible legal remedies for any damage to my reputation caused by anyone making false allegations against me.”

Carroll, a former personal trainer, is the author of ,The Financial Fitness Blueprint: A Practical Guide for Creating the Life You Want by Taking Charge of Your Money, has a couple of websites with several articles including “Kids and Money” and “Protect Your Ass-ets,” and is described on Twitter as a “real estate investor, author, educator and speaker.”

The principals’ council, in its email to all Toronto administrators, said — without naming anyone — that “the member most certainly did not commit theft or vandalism or any misconduct of a similar nature that would justify surreptitious surveillance of a private office. Whether the member engaged in any misconduct at all is in dispute.”

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Board spokesperson Ryan Bird told the Star that while he cannot discuss the specifics of any case because of privacy concerns, “the TDSB does, in extremely rare cases, use concealed cameras as part of employee services investigations.

“It’s something that’s used by other organizations, and for us it’s about finding that balance between the privacy rights of our more than 35,000 staff while doing our legal due diligence to protect not only our students and staff, but property.”

Other methods, such as monitoring computer use, could also be employed, he added.

Other boards contacted by the Star say they also use concealed cameras, albeit rarely. The Peel board estimates it has done so four times in the past five years, always under the direction of police, with the director’s approval, and that no staff are exempt. The York Region public board said the last time it used a hidden camera to investigate staff was 15 years ago.

John Yan, spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said the board has used hidden cameras to monitor personnel “in very extraordinary cases,” usually involving suspected theft.

“We have done it very, very rarely in the past,” he said. “Not in recent memory.”

Toronto labour lawyer Howard Levitt believes secretly filming an employee in their private office is “entirely illegal,” and falls under the Ontario privacy tort Intrusion Upon Seclusion, established in 2012.

“I would think it would be entirely illegal to surreptitiously videotape anyone in the workplace unless you’ve advised them you’re going to be doing that in advance,” he said.

“It’s probably more the HR impact of it, the morale-destroying impact of it, than the legal impact that should concern them. But there is a legal impact too,” he said, adding the principal could sue.

Board spokesperson Ryan Bird declined to comment on Levitt’s legal opinion.

“I don’t know that I’d respond to external comments that aren’t familiar with the situation,” he said.

Many schools have surveillance cameras, used for safety monitoring of hallways and playgrounds. As for hidden cameras, however, the Toronto public board is working to “conduct an in-depth assessment of current practices and to report to the director on how we can ensure that privacy rights are protected, while performing lawful due diligence in the protection of students, staff and property,” says an email to senior staff sent out March 23.