The topic and the atmosphere in the gymnasium of Blueberry Elementary School were anything but pleasant on Monday night as the board of School District 20 (Kootenay Columbia) dealt with further steps involved in passing a budget.
Attempting to hammer out a workable document from which to run the district for the next year, while trimming available funds by about a million and a half dollars, the board was unanimously in agreement on most agenda items on this evening.
There were, in fact, only three items at the heart of the proceedings:
• Second reading of an Annual Facilities Grant Bylaw – an allocation of $110 million from the Ministry of Education for this year and next. As stated in agenda attachments, school districts must provide project funding and spending plans prior to any such funds being allocated.
The board voted to give the bylaw second reading, with trustees Mickey Kinakin (RDCK Electoral Areas I and part of J) and Jen Carter (City of Castlegar and part of RDCK Area J (Robson) opposed. There was not much debate over the course of the evening, more like trustees declaring before the votes how they felt about it, and why.
• The bylaw pertaining to school reconfiguration/closure (with two of three scenarios in the first half of the question involving the closure of MacLean Elementary) was passed with a wide majority.
With the second half of the item shifting the focus north to Castlegar, the question was whether to consider making Twin Rivers Elementary kindergarten to grade 7 and closing Castlegar Primary... or combining the schools while using two physical campuses. These both passed, with Jen Carter and Mickey Kinakin opposing the Castlegar choice.
It was emphasized during the meeting that the vote did not necessarily mean the schools would close, only that the moves be considered.
• The budget bylaw itself.
Prior to the votes, Mr. Kinakin expressed frustration over the entire process, and he later clarified some of the sources of his dissatisfaction.
"What happened at this meeting that's disappointing," said the trustee, "is that the whole bunch of different issues were rolled into one, as a budget issue. The facilities grant, for instance, is outside of the budget and it determines which schools get fixed and which ones don't." Kinakin bemoaned the process as frustrating.
"Then you've got the next motions of whether we're closing or not closing a school. That's a planning-for-the-future report, that has nothing to do with the budget."Back to the agenda, first and second reading of the budget bylaw itself were easily carried.
Kootenay Teachers' representative Andy Davidoff led the way in the public comment portion, first slamming the process for its lack of agenda packages for the the public to look over. Board Chair Darrel Ganzert apologized for this oversight.
Davidoff took the board to task over whether it had done sufficient preliminary costing of certain hypothetical outcomes. Superintendent Greg Luterbach responded with a number of figures, including a statement of $88,000, mentioned in relation to savings associated with the closing of Castlegar Primary.
Davidoff made a number of other points before leaving the meeting. He took issue with some who have been critical of the amount of sick time being taken by teachers, who have suggested some of it may be inappropriate. The Kootenay Columbia Teachers' Union spokesperson expressed frustration over this, given that medical issues are something no one likes to talk about.
Several members of the public then spoke their minds, including seven-year Genelle, and now Castlegar resident Charity Barber, who worries about the future of the Blueberry pre-school, given the budget considerations.
"There's been years of children going through this program," she said, "right from newborns all the way up to when they start school." Barber cited anecdotal evidence suggesting the good job done at the pre-school. She added that she heard nothing in the coarse of a couple of budget meetings to make her feel any better about the facility's chances of survival. "They're not really giving a straight answer about whether the programs that are non-profit would be able to stay."
Darlene Schultz of Robson, a school bus driver, had concerns as well and expressed them to the board and to the 50 or so at the public meeting.
"To call the meeting tonight a debate is laughable," said Schultz. "Normally when you have a debate, people introduce a topic, there are pros and cons and after some discussion people make a decision. Unfortunately what ended up happening with this, was the Superintendent provided a list of recommendations last week. I was concerned that they (the board) were generally lazy. They trusted that the information he gave them was correct. In some cases it was, in some cases it wasn't."
Following the meeting, Board Chair Darrel Ganzert summarized what will likely lie ahead in terms of fitting within the new budget.
"We'll take a look at Rossland in its totality, Castlegar Primary, Twin Rivers... with all the options open for us," the Chair stated. "In September we'll start a process of looking at what is needed, what we have, and what the public wants. All that will take place between September and December."