Splits on school board make for a long night of deliberations

"The bottom line is we're cutting, and we need to do this today so we can move on. It's unfair to our staff who just want to know if they are laid off or not."--School District 52 Trustee Russel Wiens, expressing the school boards need to bring closure to the budget issue.

.

It took more than three hours of debate at the final school board meeting for the year, and when all the discussion was finished the School District 52 board had come up with the number thirty eight.

That will be the number of School District employees facing layoffs this year after the Board finally came to an agreement on an amended 2008-09 budget.

In addition to having to make do with less employees, the District next fall will be looking a reductions to a number of areas of the day to day operations of the schools from maintenance to legal fees all part of a 20 per cent reduction to the overall budget.

Both of Prince Rupert’s local newspapers had details of the cost cutting measures that made for hot debate over the last few months.


Thirty-eight facing layoffs following new school budget
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Page five

More than three hours after beginning the final School District 52 Board Meeting of the year, trustees unanimously passed an amended 2008-09 budget that cuts support staff by 20 per cent, teachers by 8.4 per cent, and principal/vice principal administration time by 19 per cent.

After giving final reading to the bylaws to close Seal Cove and Kanata schools on March 12, last night all six trustees present were faced with another hard decision; adopting a budget for 2008-09 that includes layoffs for 38 people, 20 per cent reduction to school budgets, $35,000 less in maintenance supplies and the loss of $60,000 in legal service and protection. Each trustee had the chance to speak numerous times, asking senior staff and each other how they could possibly make things any better given the enormous shortfall facing the district in the upcoming year.

"This isn't what I sold the community when I walked into two schools and told a gymnasium full of kids that 'it will be OK,'" said chair Tina Last. "I can't go into those gyms tomorrow and say that, because I don't think it's going to be OK and I don't think [this budget] is going to help anybody."

Prior to last night's meeting, the board had met during four recent Advisory Budget Meetings where they heard a great deal of concern from the community around dropping so many of the traditional and essential components that make up K-12 education.

Stakeholders who attended the ABC meetings and put forward their thoughts may find solace in knowing the District Resource Centre will still be staffed at 0.5 FTE, enabling the district collection to stay intact, but without $12,000 in photocopier costs. The idea of having senior students conduct noon-hour supervision duties at secondary schools was scrapped, and International Union of Operating Engineers will continue to fill that role.

One other job was saved during the meeting when trustees Brian Johnson and Louisa Sanchez brought up their concern with eliminating a lab assistant from both the high schools, as they professed to be hands-on learners and they knew the need for practical learning among some students in the sciences. There will also be three full teaching positions kept as contingency to help address class size and composition issues in the fall if they arise, and with the added changes and school savings Secretary Treasurer Kim Morris said current projections indicate there could be roughly $364,000 to carry over for next year.

Trustee Barry McDonald was not present for the decision, which began in a three-three tie with Bart Kuntz, Russel Wiens and Janet Mirau voting in favour of adopting the same budget that was finally passed by everyone, minus the inclusion of the lab assistant position. Wiens said he was comfortable with the changes to the Alternative Education program that will see it moved from the Friendship House back to the high schools until February 2009, and eventually expanded to grades 8 through 12 in another location under the leadership of Steve Riley, principal of Roosevelt Park. Before the budget was finally approved, outgoing Director of Instruction Bill Ford said that a decision was necessary, otherwise high school timetables would not be completed in time and there would not be adequate time to add additional staff if necessary.

"I know this is a difficult decision. I don't see how having another meeting is going to make this any easier," said Wiens.

"The bottom line is we're cutting, and we need to do this today so we can move on. It's unfair to our staff who just want to know if they are laid off or not."

Trustees pass budget after much debate
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
June 10, 2008

The Prince Rupert School District passed the 2008/2009 budget at a meeting on the night of June 10, but it wasn't passed without a few amendments and a lot of vibrant debate.
Secretary/treasurer Kim Morris presented a budget that included some changes from the original proposal based on input from the public at the Budget Advisory Committee meetings, including re-instating both IUOE supervision during lunch at the secondary schools and a .5 FTE teachers at both high schools.

The budget dipped into the $800,000 in projected savings from closing Seal Cove and Kanata schools, but trustees also voted to reinstate a.5 FTE staff member to operate the district resource centre, which had been pegged for closure. However, when it came time to vote, the amended budget was defeated as the six present trustees found themselves in a 3-3 deadlock - trustees Tina Last, Brian Johnson and Louisa Sanchez opposing the budget and trustees Janet Mirau, Russell Wiens and Bart Kuntz voting in favour.

After more debate and a 10 minute recess, the budget was passed after trustees decided to reinstate a 1.0 FTE lab assistant position to be split between the two high schools.

All told the budget uses approximately $364,000 of the more than $800,000 of projected savings, leaving approximately $436,000. However, Morris noted that those savings are projected and could be more or less than the $800,000 figure.

Look for more on this story in the June 18 issue of The Northern View.