Kentville business owner says AVRCE policy prevents sales of school supplies
R.D. Chisholm president wants teachers, schools to be given choice to shop local
A Kentville business owner is speaking out about what he believes is an unfair policy preventing teachers from purchasing class sets of school supplies locally.
R.D. Chisholm Ltd. president Eric Lockhart said they have traditionally sold sets of school supplies to Grade Primary through Grade 3 classes. This way, all the children in the class have the same crayons or pencils to use, for example.
Lockhart said this has been the practice for some 20 years. However, he was informed recently that teachers were no longer permitted by the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education (AVRCE) to purchase school supplies from his business in this manner. They had to go through a tender process.
“We want to get the word out that when you send your fee this year, you’re not shopping local like you used to be,” Lockhart said.
He pointed out that the money for these supplies would be collected by the schools from parents with children in the class or by the parent-teacher associations (PTA). The funds are not tax dollars allocated to schools.
Lockhart doesn’t believe that the AVRCE should be able to dictate where this money is spent, and he would like to see a policy change.
He said that although the procurement issue has come to a head only recently, it’s a battle that has been in the works for some time. One teacher told him they couldn’t purchase a class set of supplies from R.D. Chisholm this year at risk of losing their job.
Lockhart said R.D. Chisholm would take a significant hit from the loss of business, which represents $60,000 to $70,000 worth of school supplies each year. He wants teachers and schools to at least be given the choice to buy from him or go through the tender process.
Lockhart said R.D. Chisholm is a small business and although there are items that could probably be purchased for less through the tender process, they are competitive on price.
However, it’s the service they provide to teachers and schools that really sets them apart. They deliver the supplies right to the school, if not the classroom.
If a teacher were to call and say they were going to have two more students than they thought they would when they placed their order, Lockhart said his business would provide two more sets of supplies.
In other instances, teachers haven’t been hired until the school year was ready to begin and have needed a class set of supplies right away.
The business has always been able to provide them with enough supplies to get started and usually could deliver on the full class set within 10 days.
“You’re not going to get that from the tender process,” Lockhart said. “They don’t take service into account whatsoever.”
As clarified by the
AVRCE, any money that is in a school’s control must be spent following the applicable policies and acts, including funds collected by schools and PTA’s from families for school supplies.
In a June 23 email, Regional Executive Director of Education Dave Jones said they value the relationships their schools have with businesses in the community, and the importance of supporting local businesses by purchasing from them whenever possible.
“We also have a responsibility to ensure best value when spending public funds,” Jones stated in the email.
“Part of that responsibility includes following the applicable acts, regulations, agreements, and policies for tendering and purchasing.”
He said the AVRCE and its schools must follow both the AVRCE tendering and purchasing policy and the Nova Scotia Public Procurement Act. The AVRCE recently reminded schools of this requirement.
Jones said the AVRCE and its counterparts across Nova Scotia also follow a standing offer for office and classroom supplies, which they are required to follow when making larger purchases. However, schools and teachers can make occasional smaller purchases from local suppliers as needed.
Kings North MLA John
Lohr, who has been advocating on behalf of R.D. Chisholm for a change in policy, said he doesn’t think the situation is fair.
Lohr said he is very disappointed that the business is facing this issue. He believes it’s a case of the Department of Education and provincial government not supporting small businesses by cutting them out of procurement.
Lohr said that, in this instance, it is money being collected from families for school supplies, not tax dollars, being spent. He said R.D. Chisholm does a good job on service and is competitive if not better when it comes to price.
“For reasons I don’t really fully grasp, he (Lockhart) is cut out while some larger local businesses are not,”
Lohr said. “I don’t think it’s fair and it hurts his business, and I think it hurts our community when government does that, and I don’t agree with it.”
He said he considers businesses large and small to be essential to the community and the local economy, and he has respect for them all.
Lohr said small businesses not deemed essential by the government had to close during the recent COVID19 lockdown, and this really hurt small businesses in the Annapolis Valley. He said that while the school supply procurement matter is different, he sees it as “another attack on small business.”