Before I talk about graduation, just a few houskeeping notes:
1)I’d like to acknowledge and officially welcome John Blain as our Superintendent, if I haven’t already done so. John had been in this role in an acting capacity since the departure of his predecessor. I’d also like to welcome Graham Roberts as our Secretary Treasurer. Like Mr. Blain, he stepped into his role in an acting capacity and we have determined that it was time to put him in the position permanently.
2) As you know, the budget passed. I did vote against the budget, because I didn’t see the needs for cuts given the fact that we currently have a surplus. As I said at the table, my experience with government is that if you hold on to money, they will find ways to use it against you. I genuinely believe our public education system is underfunded, and we need to be advocating to restore programs, services, and positions that have been lost due to the budget cuts of the past many years. And that isn’t even taking into account the gross injustice of removing needed supports from our classrooms due to the illegal stripping of teachers’ contracts. As we heard at the budget table, those actions have cost our District $7 millions – just this year. We are still waiting for the final word from our auditor as to the exact amount of our surplus, and a motion has passed to revisit the use of that money once we know the amount. We also agreed to have a ensure we have a finale report from our Secretary Treasurer as to the state of our exact state (as close as possible) of our current finances prior to voting on the budget.
3) I was my great privilege to attend 3 retirement functions this past week. We had the Board/District sponsored event on Thursday June 18. Then on Friday, June 19, and and Sunday June 21, the NDTA and CUPE each held events, and I had the opportunity to bring greetings from our Board. As I said out both of those events, the people who work in our schools are the cornerstone of a healthy public education system.
4)Last – I want to clarify any confusion around the subject of proposed school closures. Yes, Mr. Blain did present a report suggesting the closure of 4 schools: Rutherford Elementary, Departure Bay Elementary, North Cedar Elementary and Woodlands Secondary. The perception is out there that final decisions have been made and these schools will all definitely close. That is in no way the case. The board has not agreed to go into closure consultations. We still have too many questions and concerns about the proposed plan. We are open to questions and feedback! If – and again, I’m saying if – we do deem it necessary to go into the 60 day consultation process for any of the schools, that still doesn’t mean that it is a foregone conclusion that those schools would close. We are open to ideas and input!
This post has gotten long – just over 500 words – so I will close here. I have learned a lot in my beginning months on the Board. I haven’t quite gotten the hang of keeping this blog regularly up to date, and I will work on improving in this area. Please know you can email me with questions, ideas for topics and the like at tania.brzovic@sd68.bc.ca
