Frequently Asked Questions – of School Trustees and SD Administration

Q. Why can’t the School Board Office in Oliver be sold to generate revenue to apply to the deficit?
A. The school board office is on crown land and the disposal proceeds would be retained by crown.

Q. The savings from eliminating the sexual health contract district wide would be approximately
$50,000- $60,000 – is this correct?
A. The sexual health contract has been eliminated effective June 30, 2016 at a savings of $20,000.

Q. What would be the process to establish a 4-day week and would it save $500,000 per year?
A. The school calendar legislation outlines the required consultation process and the school district
must comply with the legislation. The dollar savings due to a 4-day week have not been calculated at
this time, however, School District No. 51 has indicated an annual savings of $212,000 with a majority
of the savings coming from custodial and student transportation.

Q. How many senior administrators do we have?
A. The district’s senior administration team includes the superintendent, a half-time secretary treasurer
and a half-time director of facilities. The assistant superintendent position was eliminated in the
spring of 2015.

Q. How many principals and vice-principals are in the district?
A. The district has 9 school principal and 6 vice principal positions. The principal and vice principal
positions have a total teaching allocation of just over 5 full time equivalent teaching staff. This means
that even if 5 principal or vice principal positions were eliminated; the district would have to hire 5
teachers at a cost of $465,000 to cover the principal teaching time. There is also one principal of
Student Services who has responsibilities for special education services.

Q. How will the new timetable at OSS impact the capacity of the school?
A. The new timetable will not change the capacity of the school, nor will it increase staffing to the
school because both are based on head count number of students.

Q. The district has said that $4.765 million in facility upgrades for mechanical, electrical, structural
and plumbing would be necessary for that facility if it were to remain operational as a secondary
school, but not necessary if it were to convert to a K-9 school. Why is this?
A. The $600,000 is to renovate the school to accommodate K-9 students. The $4.765 million is for
capital systems upgrades that will be required regardless of the structure of the school if it remains
open.

Q: How does the closure of OSS resolve the financial problems?
A. The closure of a school will not resolve the financial problems but will assist in reducing the board’s
annual operating expenses for 2016/17 and in future years. There is also maintenance and repairs
cost avoidance.

Q: What is the source of the funding for this $674,000 expenditure?
A. The board would be required to fund the $674,000 from their annual facilities grant received from
the Ministry of Education.

Q. Why is there a capacity of 700 students at SOSS when it was previously 550?
A. When the school was being renovated the tech and music buildings were not included in the totals
because they did not require any renovations. Those spaces account for 175 new spaces that were
not part of the original 550 capacity. The Ministry of Education has recently reviewed the SOSS floor
plans and confirmed the number of 700.

Q. What are the network leaders and how are they funded?
A. Network leaders are teacher leaders situated in schools across the district. Their purpose is to work
with classroom teachers on innovative teaching practices to improve student achievement and
engagement. Seventy-one educators in our district are involved in ongoing work with the networks.

Q. Why isn’t the board considering the option of closing Tuc el Nuit Elementary?
A. For 2016/17, elementary schools in Oliver will have a combined enrolment of 547 students. This is
projected to decrease over the next few years provided no additional students arrive; however, it will
still be over, or close to, the 500 student enrolment mark. Having this many students in Oliver
Elementary School will result in educational challenges for students including the displacement of 5
early learning programs along with other programs such as fine arts that use a classroom. Staff did
not recommend reconfiguring SOSS to an elementary-secondary school. This would not increase
options for secondary students.

Source: School District #53