A plan to charge teachers and other school staff for parking was ditched when the Vancouver School Board passed its 2015-2016 budget June 29.
Trustees unanimously passed Vision Vancouver trustee Mike Lombardi’s motion to scrap paid parking.
Teachers were to pay $15 a month plus tax for unreserved spots and $35 for reserved.
The school board approved a plan for paid parking last September to offset the costs of maintaining district parking lots.
Vision Vancouver trustee Patti Bacchus, chair of the board when the plan was approved, said paid parking was well intended.
“Based on looking at should we be using education funding to maintain parking lots. Is it environmentally progressive to provide free parking,” she said.
But Bacchus said trustees heard “loud and clear,” particularly from teachers, who “have had a particularly rough time from government” that paying for parking felt like a “final kick in the teeth.”
“I think all trustees felt that for the savings that we would find in, really, downloading the maintenance costs to the users, we would lose far more than that in morale and goodwill,” she said.
The board was able to remove projected minimum revenue of $225,000 from paid parking from its operating budget because savings were found elsewhere. The VSB won’t offer classes at Maquinna Annex in Hastings-Sunrise in September for a savings of $154,000 and the board received more money from the provincial government for senior teachers’ salaries than expected.
With the little bit of savings left, Vision Vancouver trustee Allan Wong’s motion to preserve the literacy outreach program at two of seven elementary schools passed with support from Vision trustees and NPA trustee Penny Noble. The program, which serves adults, had been eliminated in budget deliberations in April.
Bacchus again tried to convince trustees to maintain the adult education centre in the Downtown Eastside and the South Hill learning centre for youth, but her motion was defeated 5-4, with the lone Green trustee voting with the four NPA trustees against the four Vision supporters.
The board had to balance its budget in the face of a more than $8-million budget shortfall.
Special adviser
Trustees approved a report on the Minister of Education’s special adviser report June 29.
Of 49 recommendations applicable to the Vancouver School Board made by special adviser EY, formerly Ernst and Young, senior board staff report seven are considered completed, 19 are in progress and 23 will be considered this fall.
Recommendations to be explored for their costs and benefits include:
- Rationalizing capacity at each school based on long-term enrolment expectations.
- Tracking the extent to which students move from schools that haven’t been seismically upgraded to those that have.
- Implementing a mobile maintenance workforce.
- Establishing an audit committee with external members to improve financial oversight.
Gender policy
Trustees received an update June 26 on the implementation of the revised Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities policy the Vancouver School Board adopted last June.
Each school was asked to identify a single-user washroom that was accessible without going through a staff space last fall. Signs that identify a washroom for use by any student, staff person or adult and is gender-neutral are to be installed in secondary schools by Sept. 4 and in elementary schools by Oct. 30.
Additionally:
- Staff training on supporting trans and gender nonconforming students is being provided on an ongoing basis through professional development days, on-demand requests for staff workshops, school consultations and teacher mentoring.
- Books with positive representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people have been purchased for school libraries.
- A video is being developed for education purposes within the district to support awareness and understanding.
A working group on change rooms is to be established in the fall to:
- Review current practices for providing safe, private changing facilities.
- Review practices and solutions in other school districts and organizations.
- Share information gathered with the board’s PRIDE committee and seek input.
- Develop options for planning designated spaces or solutions in current buildings and to inform future designs.
@Cheryl_Rossi
