Parents’ group wants provincial intervention
Organization lacks confidence in school board after it posts three deficits in 11 years
Parents at New Westminster secondary school have expressed non- confidence in the board of education following its third deficit in recent years and appealed to the province for immediate intervention.
“We need the big guns to come in now,” said Mary Ann McKenzie, chair of the school’s parent advisory council ( PAC). “This is serious.”
But in a statement Friday, Education Minister Don McRae said he is certain the board, with help from an outside consultant, will mop up the red ink. The ministry will work with the district on options for eliminating the deficit while minimizing the impact on students, he added.
In June, district managers said they were ending the 2011- 12 year with a small surplus, but two months later secretary- treasurer Brian Sommerfeldt discovered that the surplus had vanished and was replaced by a $ 2.8- million deficit, which included about $ 500,000 still owing from the previous year.
Three deficits in 11 years suggest something is broken, McKenzie said in an interview. Her PAC, which is non- political, decided to show leadership with the motion, she said, adding she believes the sentiments expressed in the motion are shared by many New Westminster parents.
She stressed that her PAC doesn’t want the board fired, as happened recently in Cowichan Valley when trustees refused to balance their budget. But they want intervention by the ministry or the provincial auditor general to fix the financial problems.
The District Parent Advisory Council, an umbrella group for school PACs, plans to discuss the issue at a meeting Monday.
Board chairman James Janzen said he understands why parents are angry and disappointed, adding: “We share that.” But he said provincial intervention is unnecessary because the board is getting help from consultant Joan Axford, a former secretary- treasurer in Saanich school district.
She is expected to complete a preliminary report within the next couple of weeks, he added.
The preamble to the PAC’s non- confidence motion says many of the trustees and senior administrators have been in positions of responsibility for more than one of the three deficits, yet weren’t able to anticipate this latest one.
“Be it resolved that the New Westminster secondary school parent advisory council is compelled to express its complete lack of confidence in the ability of the current board of education and senior administration ... to competently manage the financial affairs of the district.”
The board has hired Axford as its latest consultant. In 2008, it brought in Dave Yuen, a former secretary- treasurer from Vancouver district, to review its spending and make recommendations.