Urgent Request from the Bingo Team

The bingo is tomorrow night! The roster is almost filled up, but we need 3 more (and a few people on the reserve list would be good). Thank you to those who have signed up so far.

If you have been thinking about signing up please do it now.

http://www.volunteersignup.org/TCMW8

Maybe you can sign up other family members (over 18) to help out. Please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested in helping out.

Thank you for volunteering!

The Wilma Hansen School Parent Association (WHSPA)  Bingo Team.

From the CBE

Budget update for all parents

"Our organization is grappling with the impact of the provincial budget announced on March 7. As we have reported to you before, the provincial budget means our system will have the same revenue next year as we had this year. This happens when we expect to welcome 3,000 more students and our costs will be increasing. It is the tip of a very difficult iceberg.

For more than a month, we have been crunching numbers, evaluating services and reviewing options to achieve our objectives. Student success and safety are our top priorities. The approach we are taking to the budget focuses on maximizing the budget directed to classrooms while balancing the budget.

On Tuesday, we will present the budget assumptions report to the Board of Trustees. It will be available online today. This report sets out the decisions, uncertainties and strategies that we propose to achieve the objectives set out in the Three-Year Education Plan.

Before the report is published, there are some messages I would like to emphasize in advance.

To put students, classrooms and schools first, we have looked everywhere in our system to be more efficient and make cuts.

CBE School Sponsors Followup

It appears all the trustees except two (Sheila Taylor and our Trustee Carol Bazinet) would rather not ask our opinion about corporate branding in our schools.  As I posted earlier this week, some rule changes were made that will pave the way for sponsorship money coming to the board:

The CBE recently changed two of its administrative regulations and would allow, under certain conditions, spaces such as classrooms to be named after companies that donate to the school board. - source.

Sheila Taylor wanted the Board to look at commissioning a survey to see how parents feel about the changes. Pat Cochrane (Trustee Chair) says that this isn't the right time for such a survey and that it may be something to look at in the future.

Sponsorship in the Schools?

The CBE's board of trustees meet tonight and a consideration will be raised by Sheila Taylor regarding corporate sponsorship in schools.  Click here to see the proposal. She will ask the board to consider commissioning a survey to parents to see how we feel about it.  The comment boards on all the stories about this are polarized, many suggesting an horrific look at a future filled with tobacco ads in the gym and fast food logos in the cafeteria while many are taking the approach that commercials are ubiquitous anyway so we might as well get some profit from it.

I can't see the harm in asking parents what they think and the survey results may inform the trustee's decisions in the near future. Understanding what their constituents think about possibly contentious issues is always a good thing.

My personal feeling is that if its done discreetly and uses sponsorship that reflects our community values - why not? Its better than milking parents with increasing school fees. How is it different from asking our kids to go door to door selling coupon books or pizza or chocolate bars: same stuff, different pile...

What do you think?  You okay with classroom sponsors?  Would calling the shop class, the "GE Room" or labeling the foods and fashion studies the "Sylvania Centre" be alright with you?  Leave a comment below...

CBE Fee Structure Input... Again

Although the CBE has obtained parental input from many sources in the past few months about the new fee structure, they have given everyone another opportunity to make themselves heard.  Please see below for the details on tomorrow night's meeting.

 All parents are invited to attend the system parent meeting on May 31. At this meeting parents can discuss possible fee structures for 2012-13 and have a final opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas before decisions are made regarding 2012-13 school fees. We look forward to hearing from as many parents as possible.

If you have not RSVP’d yet and plan to attend this meeting, please RSVP by ... phoning 403-817-7951.

May 31 7-9 p.m.

Cafeteria, Western Canada High School

641 - 17 Avenue S.W.

CAPSC recently held a meeting to discuss this issue as well and this link will lead you to the summary of that discussion.  As well, the Key Communicator from the Haultain Memorial School Council blogged this yesterday - an excellent summary.

CAPSC Notice

Please join the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils for our last meeting of the school year.  Our meeting will be held this Wednesday May 16th 7:00pm AE Cross School library.  We welcome all to attend and would like to encourage our members to bring along other parents from your schools.

- This month we welcome Lois Robb president of the Staff Association

- Jenny Regal, current president of the ATA Local 38, will be speaking

- Following the presentations we will be presenting questions to our membership regarding school fees.  The executive would like to gather recommendations from school council representatives that can be shared with senior administration at the CBE to improve dialogue and help minimize complaints.

The Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils is an incorporated not-for-profit association that provides relevant and ongoing information and support to parents and school councils in the Calgary Board of Education. Our monthly meetings offer a forum for discussion of important education issues amongst parents and with key education stakeholders such as trustees, CBE administration and Alberta Education.  Check out our website at www.capsc.ca and make sure to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.  Please feel free to forward this information to any interested parents.

Leanne Long
Communications Coordinator
Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils

Parents Protest Fee Hike

A few weeks ago, parents of kids in the CBE were asked to fill out a questionnaire about school fees to give the CBE an idea of how we felt and what would be fair.

One of the questions pertained to bus fees for students in alternative programs. Another asked about lunch fees for kids who can walk to school and those who are forced to take the bus.  Presumably the answers to these questions helped inform the decisions that were made by the CBE about the fees.  The new structure has raised the ire of some parents who will be paying almost double the cost for a bus ride and lunch supervision:

"Under the new model, fees are scheduled to jump to $430 next school year for students bused to alternative programs. Those in regular programs will pay just $215, but all bused students will now be charged an additional lunch supervision fee." - source.

Naomi Johnson, Chief Superintendent at the CBE has heard the complaints and is holding 5 more community input meetings to address all concerns. The dates: May 14, May 22, May 23, May 28, and May 31.  All meeting details here.  

What do you think?  Should families who opt for alternative programs (like Montessori, an all girls school, or the science school at Langevin for example) get subsidized busing so their kids can take advantage of a program offered outside of their jurisdiction? Or should they foot the bill for the choice they make?