First 'fourth trip' since cap approved
Catholic trustees ignore yearly limit; four out-of-country trips for St. Pat's
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, December 4, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
St. Patrick High School students got the green light to begin fundraising for two overseas trips in 2017 - bringing that year's total number of school trips to four - despite a previous board's guideline limiting the number of annual trips to three.
Two trips were approved by the board last year: a tour of battlefields in France, Belgium and England - planned for April - and a July trip to Australia.
At a mid-November board meeting, Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS) superintendent Claudia Parker, told trustees that two groups of students had requested approval for trips to Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and southern Europe - Spain, France and Italy.
She told trustees the previous board had set a limit due to complaints about fundraising fatigue.
"Several years ago the board put a motion in place - due to the city feeling tapped out in regards to fundraising and feeling we were coming at them all the time in regards to fundraising - that there should be a maximum of three international trips a year approved," said Parker, adding she couldn't remember exactly when a motion setting the limit was passed.
"This is the first time we've faced where there's a fourth one," she said.
Chairperson Simon Taylor said he remembered the limit being put in place as a guideline, rather than a set-in-stone rule. He said trustees could vote to approve both trips if they wished.
After some discussion and searching through the paper work, vice-chair Miles Welsh found the relevant passage laying out the three-trip limit.
Parker said the board could have her review both trips and select one for 2017 and bump the other to the next year.
"That way we wouldn't be telling one group that they can't go," she said.
Welsh put forward a motion asking the superintendent to review both trips and pick one.
"I went through both these trips, the information that was provided and they both have a great deal of merit," he said. "Really, I don't think it's the board's role to decide which one is better. I just know that historically in terms of fundraising, we've used the guideline of three trips a year.
So although we can approve as many as we like ... I would suggest we just do one, but the superintendent should have final say on which trip is brought forward."
Trustee Steven Voytilla said he felt students should have enough time to raise funds for both trips.
"I actually think because this is so far advanced in 2017 I think it probably is sufficient time to fundraise adequately for all of the trips in the timeframe we have," he said.
"They can do it. I think both offer different educational opportunities and both trips will be valuable.
"I think both of them will be an excellent experience. I would vote against the motion."
Welsh's motion was voted down and trustee John Dalton put the motion on the floor to approve both trips. Taylor broke the tie between Dalton, Voytilla and trustee Tina Shauerte - who were in favour - and those against: Welsh, Lau-a, and trustee Erin Currie.
