School District 52 officials hosted their final Board meeting for the current school year, once again gathering remotely through a video platform to address their agenda for the June 9th session.
In a rather brief review of the meeting, the School District has noted the adoption of the 2020-21 Annual Budget, a revised version which reflects the spending reductions approved by the Board back in May.
Also included in the final version of the Budget was the funding, salary and benefit costs associated with the ratification of the provincial collective agreement with teachers.
The total budget amount is now set at $32,411,255
The budget approval comes after the District made $478,000 in Spending reductions at their May 12th Board meeting.
You can review more background on the budget themes, from our previous notes here.
Also adopted on Tuesday evening was the 2021-2022 Capital Plan, with SD52 officials noting that the highest priority for the use of capital funds is the replacement of the Prince Rupert Middle School.
The School District offered no further background on Tuesday as to how that process is proceeding, with the last relay of information on the PRMS plans coming in early May.
The Capital Plan includes a number projects for facilities and services across the District, among the items listed Tuesday were:
Seismic Projects
Prince Rupert Middle School
Conrad Street Elementary School
Replacement Project
District Support Services Building
Carbon Neutral Capital Program Project
Roosevelt DDC Upgrade
School Enhancement Projects
Washroom and Plumbing Upgrades
CHSS Unit Ventilator Replacement
Bus Replacement Program
Bus for Port Ed / Metlakatla Service
Playground Equipment Program Project
École Roosevelt Park Community School
The District notes that the Ministry is expected to announce its funding intentions in March of 2021
School Trustees also received a glimpse into how the Return to School process has unfolded, with Conrad School officials providing the snap shot from the school on the east side of Prince Rupert.
Conrad Street Elementary School Principal Kerri Levelton and Vice-Principal Tania
Murray provided an overview of re-start of the school system, with elementary
students able to attend school half-time. In response to the current pandemic, specific processes for entering the school, washing hands and moving around the school have been developed in consultation with the school joint occupational health and safety committee. Role modeling of social distancing is an ongoing priority.
Many families have elected to keep their children at home, and the principals showed a website being used by one of their teachers for remote learning.
In reply to that report, School Board Chair James Horne noted the anticipation of the Board for a wider return of students in the fall.
“The Board was excited to hear how much students loved being back in their school – and how much the teachers loved being with their students.We look forward to the day when all of our students return to school full time.”
You can review the SD52 information release here.
Not included in the talking points from the District from their Tuesday meeting and something that will no doubt be a disappointment for parents or guardians as well as staff members of the District, is any mention towards the rather significant events of last week which saw the departure of SD52 Superintendent Irene LaPierre.
As we recounted at the time, the School District in a short information release from June 2nd announced that Dr. LaPierre and the District had parted ways, though few details were provided at the time as to what led to the decision, what the "different direction" mentioned may be, or how the future plans for the District may unfold.
As last week ended the School District had brought Sandy Jones back in from retirement for the short term to conduct the day to day operations, with Ms. Jones having already made a few staffing changes upon taking on her duties once again.
Considering how Tuesday was the last SD52 Board meeting until September 15th, a bit more background on the decision to make the change, as well as what timeline the District may have for a full time replacement would have been a helpful way to inform residents of the District as SD52 prepares to transition into their summer mode.
The other thing that seems to come out of the SD52 information releases of late, is perhaps a need for a wider approach to delivering their policy decisions and planning themes.
The School District should consider taking a page from Prince Rupert City Council and introducing a live stream and archive page for their District meetings, allowing for a full overview of the public discussions and decision making from the public segment of their duties.
That may help to fill in some of the gaps in information when it comes to their monthly wrap up notices.
For more items of interest from SD 52 see our archive page here.
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