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| Described as a "Helping Secretary-Treasurer.", Mr. Gerry Slykhuis who currently works with the Fraser-Cascade School Board in Hope serve as a financial guide for SD52 on Tuesday evening. |
School District 52 hasn't yet made any public announcement about a senior staffing change from the first week of February.
But by way of the video of their most recent discussion on budgetary themes, School District Superintendent Andrew Samoil introduced Gerry Slykhuis for the Board members on hand for the session and those in the community viewing through video.
The newest face around the Board Zoom screen a fellow who described himself as having a new title for him, that of a "Helping Secretary-Treasurer."
The helper, has some extensive experience in School District finance, including as the former Secretary-Treasurer of Chilliwack School District 33 and currently holds the same post with Fraser-Cascasde School District 78 in Hope.
In total his CV includes over 40 years of financial guidance for a number of School Districts in the province.
The introduction at the start of a special Session called to Amend the 2022-23 Budget would seem to be as close to confirmation as we are going to get, towards an internal correspondence for staff members at the School District in early February.
A short advisory that noted that as of Friday, February 3, 2023 Cameron McIntyre was no longer an employee of School District Number 52 Prince Rupert.
The District at the time noting that it had contracted a temporary Secretary-Treasurer with plans to start the recruitment process for a replacement.
The change somewhat curious in timing, coming as it does just as the District began its public consultation process on the 2023 Budget
Mr. McIntyre was the host of the January 31st Budget presentation and public engagement session, which seemingly was his last public duty for the Board.
The District of course can make the staffing decisions it believes necessary, but they also have a duty to advise parents, guardians and the public which pays the taxes that keep the schools running as to when those decisions have been made.
Particularly one would think when it comes to such a high profile area as the Secretary-Treasurer position, which for most would seem rather important towards the creation of a Budget and providing for the District's financials.
When SD52 replaces a principal, or a Superintendent they announce the move and make mention of the replacement, but in this case, the senior staffing situation has been a topic not noted publicly for a full month.
As we've noted in the past, the School District and elected Board of Education is not particularly strong when it comes to information sharing, the public School Board meetings at times more of a School Spirit session, with much in the way of noting of the achievements of students and staff, which is a positive and welcome thing to hear of.
However, clearly there are other issues that parents and guardians need to know about when it comes to education and how the District is run and those rarely make for discussion topics, or questions from the Trustees at the Board meetings.
Such themes also rarely if ever make for any kind of public information release whether through the District website or Social media stream.
The Board Meetings which have continued the COVID era process of a hybrid of in Person and Zoom options, often have such a range of audio and visual troubles that sitting through a full session takes some strong resolve of the viewer.
Something which could also serve to drive away any interest by those who would like to keep up with what the Board is up to.
As it is, the information flow of those meetings is hit and miss, weeks can go by before the meeting is placed on the video archive, if it ever is.
For instance while the School District posted the February 28th Amended Budget session to their video portal the day after it took place, the Regular Board meeting from February 21st however has yet to be included among their listings.
Those gaps in the delivery of important elements of their work should be of some concern for parents and guardians that do have an interest in Board operations.
A lot of the work of the Senior Administrators and the elected Board is to provide the parents, guardians and stakeholders in education in the community with confidence in how the District is administered.
That means providing for frequent communication on all the elements of the District whether they be good news stories, or areas that need to be addressed.
That delivery of information is not exactly the strongest nature of their work that comes through of late from the Board.
As for the work of the new "Helping the Secretary-Treasurer post", the overview of a rather impressive presentation that Mr. Slykhuis made for the Board at the February 28th Amended Budget session can be reviewed here.
More notes on Education in Prince Rupert can be reviewed here.
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