Decisions and Discussions at School District #53 Board of Trustees Wednesday

1.  Enrolment Report – down 34 in district September to November – the highest decline in high schools and YouLearn centres

2.  Achievement Report – Reading skills high in Grade 4 testing. Aboriginal students doing better than provincial average and the gap is narrowing in skill levels. Completion rate however for all students is dropping from 73 to 70 percent

3.  Facilities and Capital – Government of BC is giving District $146 208 for a new school bus that has been declared a capital asset by bylaw passed at meeting

4.   Cutbacks – Trustees quite concerned about a request from Ministry of Education to cut anotehr $120 thousand from the operating budget over a two year period to fund increases in support staff pension adjustments and benefits.

5.  Elections – Marieze Tarr of Osoyoos re-elected as chair for a second year along with vice chair Sam Hancheroff of Okanagan Falls.

6.  Interesting cost cutting measure discussed – monitoring the use of paper products in schools – Kelowna saved $100 thousand by watching each employee in their use of paper and photocopying methods. If the same programme is instituted it could save SD #53 about 8 thousand dollars annually.