We had our Council and Parent Association meetings last night. A quick synopsis:
The PA:
We had a short discussion on whether or not to pursue advertising revenue on this blog - it was felt that if we were able to generate some income this way and could keep reasonable guidelines for the ads that there wouldn't be a problem with it.
Mr. Barkley asked if there was interest in t-shirts and/or hoodies with the school logo and name on them this year.
We discussed next year's choices for an artist-in-residence, those present expressed interest in continuing with a music, painting/drawing, dance, or writing. So I guess the floor is wide open - Mr. Barkley will discuss with staff as well.
The Council:
We reviewed the ASCA resolutions and had some good discussions about how we want to represent ourselves there. Here is a link to the resolutions, start on page 11.
We welcomed Mrs. Kerr who talked about the success of inline skating this year and how much the students learned. She was surprised at how fast they picked it up and at how good the instructors were.
Mr. Barkley gave his student numbers and classroom projections for next year. The preliminary numbers are hard to juggle to make as few classes as possible (to save money) and have fewer than 30 kids in each one. He has asked for input into possibilities.
The Terry Fox foundation is recognizing Haultain's long standing history of support - they will present a gift of recognition on Tuesday March 16th at 9:45, please come to the school if you can make it.
Our guest speaker, Trustee Carol Bazinet, brought some very dire information about the budget for the CBE (click here for the talking points). The process is complicated and the breakdown confusing but the bottom line is that the Ministry of Education is not giving school boards enough money to keep up with the demands of inflation, salary, special programming, and infrastructure. This will affect all aspects of education and it will affect us directly. We will see larger classrooms and fewer teachers - it can't be avoided with the lack of funding available. What can you do? Click on this link and send a letter/email to our MLA (Heather Forsythe - Calgary, Fish Creek), let her know that we feel education is a top priority for us.
Add your comments about any of the above.
I was very pleased to be able to attend this meeting last night. It was great to hear the discussion around the ASCA motions. Great to hear parents interest in and discussion around larger education issues facing this province.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to have Carol Bazinet there to give us some insight into the budget. Thanks for inviting her Shona!
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the numbers for the classrooms. Because Mr. Barkley wants fewer classes next year, will that mean split classes again? Is there a way to make it so that we don't have split classes?
ReplyDeleteYIKES! I don't WANT fewer classes, but because funding from the Alberta Government is being reduced, the CBE may have to look at larger class sizes, which means fewer classrooms. Please know that the CBE is trying to reduce the impact of the provincial budget cuts on the schools, but the cuts are so consderable, they will end up impacting all schools in some way. We will try to keep classes small, however to do so, that may mean we use blended-grade classrooms. Please know that we will try our best to do what is most advantageous for students, given the resources available (although that process is quite complex and often poses challenges and choices). Shane's last paragraph contains links to information concerning the cuts, and to send a letter of concern to your MLA. Thanks for your input, and your post on class configurations!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that info. Sorry :) didn't mean to say that you personally wanted fewer classes. It is really to bad that these budgets will have such an impact. I will check out those links. Thanks.
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