EXPULSION APPEAL COST $36,829

Parent says she also spent nearly $10,000 battling school board over
expulsion of son for marijuana use

Fighting her son's expulsion from PCVS has cost Jean Grant close to
$10,000. The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board's decision to
expel him ended up costing taxpayers nearly four times as much.

Last week's ruling by the Superior Court of Justice awarded Grant
$3,000 in costs - to come from the school board, which lost its appeal
of a Child and Family Services Review Board decision to reinstate him.

"That $3,000, that barely covers what it cost me to fight the appeal,"
Grant said. "I'd spent more than $6,000 before that." Legal expenses
built up quickly, she said, starting from her son's expulsion in
December 2008. She required legal counsel for the review board hearing
and again for Superior Court.

The school board, meanwhile, spent at least $36,829.14 trying to keep
Grant's son out of school. The board amassed legal fees of $3,357.76
for the initial expulsion, $21,575.33 for the appeal and $11,896.05 in
divisional court.

Other costs released by the board relate to renting a room at the
Holiday Inn on George Street for the review board hearings. These
include charges from March 6 ($406.61), March 11 ($366.13) and April 3
($365.35), totalling $1,138.09.

Those figures were released to Grant after she filed a Freedom of
Information Act request; the board released the amounts, but kept the
rest of the records sealed, citing solicitor-client privilege.