Fresh start for Red River College

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This article was published 12/03/2015 (4029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stephanie who?

The Red River College board of governors is looking forward — though learning from the past — and scouring the country for a new president who will be under much greater scrutiny and tighter financial and firing controls, while concentrating on educating grads in skills and trades demanded by Manitoba’s economy.

So declared board of governors chairman Lloyd Schreyer in a wide-ranging interview this week.

Schreyer said he met Stephanie Forsyth, the college’s former president, only twice before his retirement as a senior provincial bureaucrat overseeing collective bargaining and $8 billion in public payrolls.

Former advanced learning minister James Allum — a Selinger loyalist who is now justice minister — asked Schreyer last June to become board chairman, an appointment that took effect Oct. 1.

Schreyer acknowledged Allum chose him deliberately, along with other new governors with financial expertise, including Michael Legary, Nita Orbeta and Dave Sauer.

“That was certainly the intent,” he said. “They were certainly looking for some greater financial expertise.

“He told me there was a review underway. Given the circumstances, the minister obviously had confidence” he was the person for the job, Schreyer said.

Within the college, “I clearly detected a different set of circumstances, a different environment, that you wouldn’t call the happy norm.

“I knew there was some controversy.”

Interim president David Rew has had a calming influence on the college, restoring both stability and civility, Schreyer said.

Schreyer won’t talk about the board during Forsyth’s tenure, won’t discuss whether those governors — some of whom are still serving — should have raised the alarm and asked tough questions about the fired executives and Forsyth’s spending and expenses.

“Anyone can be an armchair quarterback and look back,” Schreyer said. The provincial review “presents a foundation for going forward.

“Everyone was disappointed with the outcome. They wanted to turn to the positive, to the future.”

Schreyer said the board receives far more information now and reviews the president’s expenses each month. Rew and his successor will have to discuss any dismissals with Schreyer, and the entire board might get involved.

“We’re talking about speculation. I don’t anticipate anyone is going to be fired, based on my experiences so far,” he said.

Schreyer said he has not looked into any of the 16 departures and can’t say if any was justified.

Schreyer said it was a board decision to ask the police to look into how marble from the new culinary arts building ended up in the renovated kitchen of Forsyth’s former home on Wellington Crescent. That is the only matter Red River referred to police, Schreyer emphasized.

The marble was not part of the provincial review, he said: “We had to realize that we weren’t investigators.”

Schreyer said Red River must offer attractive compensation if it’s to get the best candidates, but is reviewing other colleges and universities and looking throughout the public sector in Manitoba, to ensure the new president’s salary and expenses are normal and consistent. “It’s not going to be freewheeling.

“We have the benefit of looking back and not repeating the things that were questionable in the past,” Schreyer said.

Schreyer said the college will soon have a short list, should pick a president by June,and hopes to have that person start in September.

Forsyth’s predecessor, Jeff Zabudsky, had focused on skilled trades and the development of aerospace, heavy equipment, construction, transportation and industry as the college’s goals, while Forsyth said in her first interview after becoming president the environment and indigenous education were her priorities.

Schreyer would again not talk about Forsyth, but said the new president would be clear on what jobs the province needs grads to fill.

“They need a lot of skilled trades. This is a provincial institution — we’re providing the grads,” Schreyer said. “Skilled trades are extremely important in the province’s economy. It’s a fundamentally important education institution in the province. There’s a shortage of skilled trades — Red River may be the most important school in the province,” he said.

Schreyer said he does not have any problem with board of governors members having 70 per cent attendance at the monthly board meetings. “Not all board business is conducted on that one day each month,” he said. “Our attendance has been reasonable.”

With a long list of committee meetings — whose business and attendance are not available online — as well as with attending college events and activities, said Schreyer, “Board members put in 10 to 25 hours per week.”

He said he’s been to 35 meetings since Oct. 1.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca