Red Deer Public Schools has a new board chair.
At their organizational meeting on June 12, the Board of Trustees elected Nicole Buchanan as its new chair and Laurette Woodward as vice chair.
Buchanan, was vice chair since last June, takes over from Bev Manning who served as chair since October 2013.
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Trustees have approved the district’s updated Three Year Education Plan.
Stu Henry, Superintendent for Red Deer Public Schools says their Three Year Education Plan, which will be submitted to Alberta Education at the end of the month, will continue its focus on literacy and numeracy, along with equity and student success and completion.
“Through some feedback that we got from our community, we’re going to shine a spotlight on a couple of areas this year,” he notes, “putting a little more work and attention to wellness, both for our students and staff members. Also looking at the character values we want to instill in our kids, not just teaching them reading and writing and math but also some key character traits.”
Henry highlights two areas of note in their mental health and wellness initiatives.
“For the last number of years we’ve had a partnership with Alberta Health Services – Mental Health where some of their workers work out of our schools,” he exclaims. “So instead of having mental health therapists that are in a scary building downtown, the families and the kids can access the help right in our buildings. We’re just seeing staggering results there with so many more kids being able to get the help that they need, so that’s been a real win.”
Henry says the district is also providing lessons in elementary school that teach the kids a proper vocabulary for mental health and resiliency strategies.
“Hopefully all those things will add up to kids who are more ‘well’ when they’re older,” says Henry.
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Henry says uncertainty continues when it comes to the district’s 2019/20 Spring Budget with School and Transportation Fees Schedule.
“The Provincial government doesn’t come down with their budget for a few months yet, so we’ve decided just to toe the line or hold the line on all costs and all expenses,” he explains. “In fact, we’re setting the revenue at zero as well. We’re just assuming that there will be no changes from last year’s budget.
“So nothing has gone up, for instance the trustees don’t have any changes in their salary, we’re not anticipating any big changes to any of the fees or the transportation fees or anything.”
Henry admits they still have concerns regarding a $475,010 deficit budget for the upcoming school year.
“We do hope that through some smart spending over the course of the year, we can get that down to zero and that we’ll end up with a balanced budget at the end of the year,” he exclaims. “But going in, it’s a scary notion that we are going to be spending more than we are bringing in and it’s certainly not something we can sustain for years and years but again, we’ve got such uncertainty with the Provincial budget that we’ll just have to play those cards when they’re dealt.”
