 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
YK1 School Board briefs
Up to $60,000 for part-time teacher
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 18, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Up to $60,000 will be added to the 2013/2014 Yellowknife Education District No. 1 budget so the district can hire a part-time teacher to deal with over-capacity issues at Range Lake North School.
The need for additional staff comes after a higher than expected number of students entering grades 7 and 8, resulting in classroom sizes higher than the district would like, said Yk1 superintendent Metro Huculak, during a public school board meeting Sept. 10.
The part-time teacher will assist in teaching a joint class of 28 Grade 7 and 8 students. Yk1 has 146 teachers on its payroll all together, and a total budget of $31 million.
"Extra enrolment came in certain grades instead of spread throughout the school. Otherwise, we'd have budgeted for it during the budget cycle (in June)," said Huculak.
The board of trustees voted unanimously to approve the extra teacher, although finance chair Terry Brookes did caution against what he called "incremental expenses."
"Little things can come up and add to our budget over time and we have to watch out for those," Brookes said. "We need to pinch our nickels and dimes so we have dollars later."
Board gets pat on the back
An audit by MacKay LLP Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors of Yk1's financial statements shows the school district is keeping its books in good standing, a company representative told the Yk1 board of trustees.
John Laratta, representing MacKay LLP, reported that the board's finance and ad hoc audit committees were complying with government guidelines and that the district's finances were in good shape.
"There is a minor variance from the budget, but that happens," Laratta said. "These books are pretty solid."
Laratta reported the board's revenue was down $728,000 from 2012 and chalked the decrease to a number of factors, including less funding from the territorial government, a decrease in rental income of $100,000 from last year, and the absence of funding for programs that weren't renewed in 2013.
Laratta reported that 82 per cent of the board's expenditures are "in the classroom" or directly affecting students, including teacher salaries, school programs and maintenance costs.
"From what I've seen from other boards, that's pretty high," Laratta said.
Huculak's contract extended
The contract for Yk1 superintendent Metro Huculak has been extended an extra year.
Huculak's term was supposed to end on July 31, 2014, but will now stretch to August 31, 2015. He has been the superintendent of Yk1 since June 2005. The motion to extend the contract was approved unanimously by the board of trustees Sept. 10.
Huculak (who cooks a spread of food ranging from barbequed steak to homemade perogies and cabbage rolls and blueberry pie for meetings) was all smiles after the news.
"It's great to work for them and I'm glad they have the confidence in me," he told Yellowknifer the next day.
| 
