The cost associated with the threats against Hammarskjold High School is part of the Public School Board’s legal bills for the last year.
Director of Education Ian MacRae did not put a dollar figure on the Hammarskjold threats but admits they were “significant.” MacRae indicates that was mostly because of the length of time the threats took to track down then “the follow up of dealing with the people who were apprehended.”
MacRae says another major portion of the $443,209 in legal costs last year involved dealing with labour relations. He explains there are always different issues associated with labour and human resources and admits “it is expensive when you get into dealing with some of those circumstances.”
Overall, MacRae says the board is “not thrilled” with the high legal expenses which are more than in other school years but confesses it is “the cost of doing business” in a society in which more and more people are filing lawsuits.
During the 2017-2018 school year, the board’s labour costs totalled $271,417.
