My February newsletter is up on our district website. If you wish to bypass the main page you can go straight to the newsletter by clicking here. Topics include assessment, planning and the use of upcoming non-instructional days, but the most pressing topic in the newsletter, as it is across our entire district right now, is budget.
As you will see in the newsletter, and by accessing the budget information on our district website, we have a serious challenge in moving toward 2009/10. For a variety of reasons, including funding not keeping up with costs, and enrolment decline resulting in more money being taken out of the budget than can be saved through cost reductions, we have a $3.6 million shortfall looming. That represents about 5% of our overall budget and with resources directed primarily to classrooms we are concerned about the impact that this type of reduction will have.
I encourage any of you in the communities served by our school district to engage in the processes described in the budget planning documents available via our website or on request from the office of the Secretary Treasurer.
Of course, your thoughts are welcome here as well.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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5 comments:
Wow. Thanks for the links and for the heads-up. I had a read through the various pages and documents.
At the public meetings (those would be the Bayside ones for us in April, I guess) - would that be to get input from the public, or are they to inform the public of the options? I'm not entirely clear on what these meetings hope to achieve.
What role does the district have in mind for parents? What does the district ideally see parents do to contribute?
During all of the public meetings, starting with the board meeting of March 11, there will be a chance to review options for reducing the $3.6 million that it appears we will have to cut. Having reduced on average $1 million per year for 13 years we are used to that, but not in this magnitude. After the board receives and reviews the list of options trustees will be looking for feedback. The public meeting in April will provide the best opportunity for community dialogue, but direct input to trustees can happen at any time.
As for a role for parents, once you are familiarized with the issues and the options, our district parent leaders with COPACS have suggested that you make concerns known to governmnent.
I don't know how much of this is common already -
In Holland, schools offer their classrooms and gyms after regular school hours for community oriented activities. Open University classes (ranging from language and math classes to calligraphy), University of the Third Age (seniors), community classes (cooking, computer skills, arts)... The gym gets after-hour use for community sports activities. Judo, hockey, soccer, archery, yoga, tai chi, dance, etc.
These activities aren't free - the participants pay for them and rent is paid for the space. It includes liability of materials and property, and custodian time. It allows people who are not capable, for whatever reason, of traveling to neighbouring towns where these activities might also be offered.
It's a bit of a symbiotic thing. By getting the school into the centre of the *larger* community (not just in that of the young families), there is a higher chance of finding volunteers for activities during school hours too, and in return, the children at that school also have more activities in their *immediate* area.
I don't know how insurance for this kind of thing is set up in Canada. I have seen some extra-curricular sports in the gym at Brentwood Elementary - I know that that is possible, but I've only seen children and youth use it so I am assuming that the use of school space is limited to the district's children and youth. The multi-purpose room at Brentwood Elementary, the large kitchen space... those could be used for extra-curricular classes while closing the rest of classrooms off to non-students/staff by using the double doors that separate the main building from that part of the wing.
Perhaps this has already been explored, and discarded as feasible. However, for me it does raise the question - what are the regulations and rules about non-student/staff use of school grounds and property after hours?
The question of community use, or as is the case in Holland, true community partnerships using shared resources, is one that has been explored at length in our school district. We have very strong partnerships with the Peninsula Recreation Commission and Saanich Recreation, in both cases in the form of reciprocal agreements that have our students use community facilities free of charge and the activities sponsored by those Commissions occurring in our schools free of charge. Over the years this has proven to be a break-even proposition, with very large numbers of uses by both parties. For example, we access Commonwealth or Panorama pools and in return we provide space for classes or sporting actvities sponsored by the municipalities.
We also provide extensive access of our facilities to the public through community use rentals based on a fee schedule adopted by the board every year. Fees are set at a rate that makes access both affordable andcompetitive in the marketplace -- raising the fees by much would probably move the users to other facilities, but we really only recoup enough to cover costs of heat, light, custodial, and the like.
So, I guess the short answer to your good question is that we have extensive partnerships that truly serve our children and the community at large, a synergistic relationship if you will, but that it has been and will likely continue to be revenue neutral.
Thank you for the reply, and the detailed explanation.
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