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A Catholic school board chair who went on a contentious art procurement trip to Italy says he won’t step down — but won’t run again.
“I have made a decision to complete the balance of my term and not run in 2026,” Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board chair Rick Petrella told The Spectator in a call on Wednesday.
He said he “can’t speak for the others,” but noted “no trustee has issued a resignation notice.”
Teachers’ unions and parents have called for the resignation of Petrella and fellow travelling trustees Bill Chopp, Dan Dignard and Mark Watson after news of their July trip to Europe on the taxpayer tab broke.
At a board meeting Tuesday night, Norfolk County trustee Dennis Blake — who was not on the trip — said he will put forward two motions related to it at an upcoming board meeting.
The first notice of motion suggests the board bypass the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act and release “all expense documents, including all receipts” related to the trip — unredacted — upon request.
The Spectator received travel expense summaries and trip receipts for travel, accommodations in both Italy and Germany and meals through an FOI request.
The documents revealed $50,000 in travel expenses — which the trustees have vowed to pay back — with around $73,000 in art costs for a new school, which the board said they plan to fund through donations.
Blake’s second notice of motion proposes the board discontinue use of their external law firm, Borden Ladner Gervais, for crisis management relating to the trip. He also wants itemized costs for legal fees to date by the next board meeting.
It wasn’t the first time he had brought up concerns over how much this is costing the board, Blake told The Spectator in a call Wednesday, noting he has known his fellow trustees for up to 20 years and considered them friends.
“This has definitely put a strain on that friendship,” he said. “I’d like to see this whole thing cleared up, but it doesn’t seem to be going in that direction and I don’t know the solution.”
Petrella said he can’t speak to the proposed motions because they’re before the board, but procedurally, Blake will have to get a seconder for the motion to come to the floor.
“Then a vote would have to occur, and he’d have to win a majority of trustees for that to come forward,” he said.
The board has six trustees. Vice-chair Carol Luciani, who represents Norfolk alongside Blake, was not on the trip either.
On Wednesday, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady said during question period at Queen’s Park that her office has been “inundated with calls” asking why the four trustees who went on the trip “continue to sit around the board table and make decisions with taxpayer dollars.”
“Will this government pick up the phone to call the school board and tell these four trustees their service is no longer needed?” she asked.
Pressure continues to mount on the board and the trustees, who were “running around Italy spending money like drunken sailors,” as Brady referred to them Wednesday.
In October, Minister of Education Jill Dunlop announced ministry officials would conduct a governance review of the trip.
“Could the premier please detail what that government’s review process looks like, how it’s unfolding and when taxpayers may be able to find out the findings of the review?” Brady asked on Wednesday.
It’s unclear when the public might get those answers.
“We need to understand that the school board has their own responsibility and accountability to look into how their trustees are spending, and this one is under continued investigation, and we will keep you updated,” MPP Billy Pang, parliamentary assistant to Dunlop, told her.
Clarification
This story originally stated the school board provided some trip receipts through an FOI request, as neither the board nor its chair would answer questions about the documents provided. Rick Petrella has since confirmed “all submitted receipts for reimbursement in respect to the trip were sent as part of the FOI response.” The story was updated Nov. 28, 2024 to reflect that.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report on stories about Brant County. Reach her at cpercybeauregard@torstar.ca.
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