District Name Change One of Rural Education Committee’s 14 Recommendations
Prince George, B.C. – From a district name change to the hiring of a rural principal of education, the Ad Hoc Committee on Rural Education will present its report and recommendations to the Prince George School Board tonight.
First formed back in March, 2015, the committee conducted five, two-hour community consultation meetings late last year which included input from students, parents, teachers, administration, representatives of the school district and members of the public.
The 14 recommendations in the report are as follows:
– allow billeting of School District 57 secondary teams in district schools
– pursue the formation of societies to alleviate concerns re: transportation for extra-curricular events
– have human resources work with rural communities to hire for schools and community
– have facility services staff communicate with rural school administrators and coordinate the work of maintenance personnel in the most efficient manner possible
– for the purposes of sustainability, formulate tentative budgets for rural schools on a three-year horizon, using demographic prediction software
– move quickly to upgrade connectivity and improved computer services to rural schools
– expand video-conference capacity to better accommodate the needs of rural students and staff
– promote the meeting of the Superintendent of Schools and Board representatives with district and village councils twice each year
– hire a District Principal of Rural Education, situated in a rural community to address issues
– form a rural schools advisory committee to make recommendations to Senior Administration – assign one Assistant Superintendent to supervise schools in Mackenzie and Robson Valley
– engage in a process to change the name of the district form School District 57 to one that better reflects the large geographic area of the district
– communicate annually with rural principals, vice-principals and staff to ensure an understanding of funding currently available
Committee chair and Trustee Bob Harris told 250News last November that the committee was formed in order to address concerns the board has held since being elected.
“We had an opportunity to travel fairly extensively during the course of the (2014) election and all of us have had some experience in rural setting and we know what some of the challenges are as individuals,” says Harris.
“And we know that the needs are great. We’re just trying to ameliorate those differences.”
Comments
Yes, because we all know that changing the name will solve everything. I know there are people out there who think money grows on trees, I’m just surprised any thinking person would allow them to join a committee.
I don’t understand the first recommendation: “allow billeting of School District 57 secondary teams in district schools”. Is this about letting sports teams spend the night in schools?
The name of the school district is completely irrelevant to me, and changing it will address none of the fundamental problems facing rural schools.
It would be far more helpful if the school district would at least commit to consistently delivering the basic suite of courses at the secondary level in rural schools. The main reason that the secondary school in Mackenzie is only at 50% capacity while the elementary school is over 100% capacity is because families flee the town when the high school can’t adequately prepare their children for post-secondary education.
Also, trustee Harris says that they are “trying to ameliorate those differences” between urban and rural schools, yet during tonight’s meeting they will also be discussing instituting an annual fee for children using school buses. This will disproportionally affect rural students yet again. Way to ameliorate those differences Mr. Harris!
I don’t see how a fee for using school buses can be justified. What ever happened to the principle of free public education?
Posted on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 @ 9:07 AM by billposer with a score of 7
I don’t see how a fee for using school buses can be justified. What ever happened to the principle of free public education?
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They’d have to re-open all those shuttered schools if they plan to start charging an additional fee for the bus. A lot of people bought property near those schools so that they wouldn’t have to take the bus.
billposer, the education is free the transportation, teachers, schools and books all cost money
The government of Canada signed the U.N. declaration of universal human rights but does not abide by it .
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
School bus fees? Let’s not forget that busing our kids is a huge business first . The kids are secondary to that purpose . The business could be incredibly efficient by going electric but it’s a closed loop with incredible power to remain the same . Their fuel bill has halved in the last year . Will the new bill reflect that reality . I think not .
Ataloss@Do you know what percentage of the school bus bill goes to fuel?
Ataloss, tell me who is going to pay for the school bus system to go all electric?
Are you going to fund it out of your amazing investment portfolio?
I think not, and I don’t think that ANY private operator that currently provides transportation services through out the province is going to rush out to purchase a whole new fleet of Electric buses when they have a perfectly good fleet of conventional buses with lots of operating life left in them!
Are you expecting that perhaps government will subsidize such purchases?
Or is this just another of your anti fossil fuel rants??
I figured many would not know much about the school bus system we have here.
This school district is one of the few in BC that contract out the bussing to private companies. Many are still under the school districts jurisdiction. In many other districts the bus drivers also double as school maintenance staff and are all paid as school district employees – we are on of the few areas that are not.
This school district has one of the highest klm to run bus routes in the province.
The bus company pays for the diesel fuel built into the contract and I would hate to see what it has be with the diesel much higher than it should be in this province.
The private schools pay for their own bussing and if I am not mistaken is around $600-per family.
And as for electric – not very dependable in the cold north if you ask me….
Forgot to mention it is one of the only contracts in BC where the buses run during all weather. They do not have “snow days” when the schools shut down and are one of the only areas the buses carry chains on all buses and use them.
I do not know of another district that does.
The drivers also get paid less than a school district driver by a long shot with no benefits to boot.
My son rode the bus and I have met quite a few of the drivers. I think we are lucky to have them.
No bill I am not privy to the books . As for electrics not working in the north ? That’s rediculas . Electrics would be perfect . You pickup the kids in the morning . Take them to school . Plug the bus in . Pick up the driver . Then bring the drive back after school, drive the kids home . Then plug in at the community staging point . Or let sense prevail by setting up smaller schools within communities to meet the needs of the kids and not have the centralized factory school system . There by giving the kids the time back stolen from them enduring hours a day on buses . Some one should add that up . The kids are the ones pay the biggest share in my opinion and you can’t ever give that time back . Sorry kids , I know the system is idiotic . Specially in this wired world .
Going back 35 years, teams/school groups, packed their gear to sleep in a gymnasium in the community they were travelling to. Cost efficient!! We have buildings in our district unused on weekends which would alleviate much of the cost of travel teams. Just my thought! Let’s go back to where costs to schools and parents were much more efficient!!
Ask the kids if they would like WiFi on the buses .
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