Oct 10 Board Meeting Highlights NEWS

PRPS Board Meeting Highlights for October 10, 2023

event Published 2023-10-11 20:26:04.818 +0000 UTC

The October 10, 2023, Board Meeting Agenda Package can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W2Vb6UImreTESpZ4D1ynSdmJHWUVKJxX/view?usp=drive_link

Parkside School Presentation

Vice-Principal Janet Kraft gave a presentation to the Board showcasing the learning taking place at Parkside Jr High School. Parkside is a grade 7-9 school with 157 students located in Redcliff. The presentation focused on the school goals of literacy and numeracy, communication, wellness, FNMI learning, citizenship, parental involvement and the expansion of elective program options. It was also shared that the school recently added a new classroom support centre where students can come to work or when they need a quiet space to themselves. A number of student projects were shared as part of the presentation including a welding and electrical project, student artwork, 3D printing creations and examples of student writing. The school recently developed a promotional booklet that is being shared with the Redcliff community about all the options courses available to students which are focused on fine arts, forging futures, sports and technology. The full report can be found in the October 10, 2023 Board Meeting Agenda package. 

Financial Report Update

Finance Controller Candice Hintz presented the Financial Report for the year ending August 31, 2023. Overall, Prairie Rose will be posting an expected deficit for the 2022-2023 year of $850,630 which is $75,976 less than originally forecasted in the revised fall budget. Part of the reduced deficit was due to total revenues for the year coming in $1,677,027 above projections. It was noted by Chief Financial Officer Ryan Boser that the division purposely planned for deficit spending to get the division’s reserves within the parameters outlined by Alberta Education. Per Alberta Education’s new standards by August 31, 2023, the Total Operating Reserves of a school division should not exceed their System Administration Grant percentage of the total operating expenses (for PRPS that number is $2,370,435). PRPS projected operating reserves as of August 31, 2023, are $2,085,868.

Enrollment Update

Chief Financial Officer Ryan Boser provided an enrollment update for the 2023-2024 school year. It was shared that based on spring projections, the school division was expecting to be down 41.0 FTE from last year. However, based on the September 30th counts, PRPS is up 74 overall compared to those projections. This is an increase of 33.0 FTE students compared to the 2022-2023 year. Primary growth for the division occurred at Irvine School and Eagle Butte High School who have all time high enrollment numbers. Total enrollment for 2023-2024 is 3,049.5 FTE students. This number does not include Coulee Collegiate or South Alberta High School students.

Human Resources Report

Deputy Superintendent Mark Heinricks presented the Human Resources Report for information. It was shared that the school division hired an additional 18 staff members this year for a total of 475 total employees. Overall PRPS class sizes, on average, remain well within the recommendations from Alberta Education:

  • Kindergarten: 11.2 (recommended value = 17)
  • Grades 1-3: 14.9 (recommended value = 17)
  • Grades 4-6: 19.7 (recommended value = 23)
  • Grades 7-9: 20.3 (recommended value = 25)
  • Grades 10-12: 19.2 (recommended value = 26)

It was shared that PRPS continues to have challenges finding staff in the rural areas for both teaching and support staff positions. A summary of allocated staffing at each PRPS school can be found in the OCtober 10, 2023, Board Meeting Agenda package.

Other Items:

  • The board approved proposed changes to Policy GP #5 – Board Committees
  • The board approved recommended changes by PRPS administration to Policy GP #14 – Trustee Honorarium & Expense Reimbursement to increase the trustee honorarium rate by 3.75% to match increases to both teachers and support staff over the past two years.
  • The board approved modifications to the June 21, 2023, Board Meeting minutes to include locally approved courses Aviation - Flight 15 (LDC1351), Aviation - Flight 25 (LDC2351) and Aviation - Flight 35 (LDC3841).