At a special SD68 Board meeting last night, trustees approved financial statements for 2013-14. Mr. Cory Vanderhorst, of MNP Accountants, said that the audit of the district books resulted in an “unqualified opinion” (which means that in the auditors judgement the financial records & statements are fairly & appropriately presented). Secretary-Treasurer Phil Turin said that the school district ended the year with a larger surplus than had been anticipated, due largely to the strike action in May/June. The surplus in the $120.2MM operating budget was $7.8MM, with $3.7MM being restricted for specific purposes in the 2014-15 school year. Mr. Turin advised the Board that it should be prudent with the remaining $4.2 million unrestricted surplus, noting that there are still many unknowns about the district’s future financial situation, in particular what costs might arise from the resolution of the current strike action and future enrolments. ===================================== FACILITIES PROJECTS – At the Business Committee meeting on Wednesday evening, updates were provided on the progress of Facilities Department projects over the summer. — Wellington Seismic – The work on the Wellington Seismic project is proceeding in stages, to allow the school to continue to operate while the project is underway. Energy and Capital Projects Manager Chad Dalrymple told the Business Committee that work is currently underway on Blocks G and F, with the work expected to be complete on those two blocks by June 2015. As soon as those two blocks are completed, Block A will be demolished and a new entrance to the school built. Work on the Music Building and the site is expected to start after school is out in June 2015, with the project totally completed by January 2016. Major work that was carried out this summer included the use of a giant crane to remove the roof and supports in Block F. — Cedar Conversion – Facilities Planning Supervisor Brent Spohn outlined the site and playfield work that was done during the summer as part of the conversion of Cedar Secondary into an elementary school. The work includes a drained, irrigated and fenced playfield with a 250 metre running path around the perimeter; intermediate and primary playgrounds; and gravel paths to the playgrounds. He said that the work is on time and on budget. The playfield has now been seeded, and the project is expected to be complete by the end of October. — Summer Facilities Projects – Director of Planning and Operations Pete Sabo said that picketing during the summer affected a number of planned maintenance projects. He said that at the start of the summer, the NDTA picketed various schools, but because the pickets were not consistent and the Maintenance Yard was not picketed, some progress was made on projects while other sites and projects were shut down completely. Later in the summer, the Maintenance Yard was picketed, shutting down all projects. Mr. Sabo said the Facilities Department is working with the Learning Services Department to develop a priority list for the order in which projects will be completed once the strike is resolved. Mr. Sabo said that a major issue is the situation with projects that were to be funded by the Annual Facilities Grant. Under the terms of the Employee Support Grant, CUPE staff are being paid, but because of picket lines most are unable to report for work. One of the impacts is that the district is spending its Annual Facilities Grant for about 10 FTE, without any work on the AFG projects being accomplished. For custodial work, given that staff marshal at school sites, and pickets were variable, progress was made with summer cleaning and most schools are ready for start-up from a cleaning perspective. Elementary schools more complete than secondary schools. However, the state of schools is not at the typical standard for cleaning and a number of tasks were not completed. Once the strike is resolved, it is expected that there will be a day or two with few students , allowing custodians to address the areas in most need. ==================================================== CEDAR – The Business Committee reviewed a letter from Stephanie Higginson, a Cedar parent, asking the Board to consider alternatives to the project to convert the closed Cedar Secondary building into an elementary school. Trustees asked a number of questions of staff regarding the current plan and staff outlined why the plan approved last year [remains the most suitable plan]** for Cedar schools. The committee did not recommend any changes to the plan. ** [remains the most suitable plan]? - How does it make more sense to spend $3MM to half-convert the newest high school in the district into a half-full elementary? So ... where are those reasons for what makes it less expensive & educationally more viable than utilizing Woodbank Primary? (noting that Woodbank is already (a) purpose-built as an elementary school, (b) has much larger play fields that are dont need ANY repair, (c) only needs a few portable buildings moved to accommodate an increase in enrolment & (d) is in a much safer location on less-busy, residential roadways and not main thoroughfares.)
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 22:54:56 +0000
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