Student fees under fire
Catholic board trustee objects to making some students pay while others do not
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, March 6, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Making some students pay fees while others don't made Catholic district trustees uncomfortable enough to defer the discussion to their April meeting.
The Catholic school board was getting set to discuss whether St. Patrick High School students should pay an additional $100 annually - to cover locker fees and extra curricular activities - at a meeting last week, when trustee Amy Simpson said she wouldn't support the idea because Indian status card holders aren't required to pay. Simpson said when the matter came before the previous board they decided they didn't want to create "separate classes" of students at their school.
"We didn't want to have some students who pay and some students who didn't and so we decided to eliminate charging fees altogether," she said. "I still feel that's an important principle and I would like to maintain that."
Claudia Parker, YCS superintendent, said administration was looking at fees as another source of revenue and had examined the policy as it presently exists at Sir John Franklin High School.
She said the YCS high school already charges a book deposit fee, but it's refunded to the students once they return the books. She said the school learned through the territorial department of education last year it couldn't charge status-card holders the book deposit fee, although the school can ask for a refund if books aren't returned.
Trustee John Dalton said he wouldn't support implementing fees either, and wanted to have time to do research before making a decision.
"I'm not particularly in favour of adding a process for one group," he said. "I'm not, in my mind, ready to approve this change without giving some more thought and having more discussions."
Simpson asked if consideration is given to whether or not all the students at the high school can afford to pay the fee.
"A student is never not provided the supplies that they need due to financial issues," said Parker. "They would just get them."
Parker said around one third of St. Pat's students are aboriginal, but that only status-card holders are exempt from paying fees. As such Metis students would not be exempt, she said.
YCS chairperson Simon Taylor asked if trustees weren't prepared to accept the issue for formal discussion. With Dalton saying he wasn't prepared and Simpson saying she was officially objecting to the fees altogether, vice-superintendent John Bowden asked for a five-minute recess in order to draft a "friendly amendment."
When the board reconvened they agreed to defeat the motion to begin the discussion - forwarded by Trustee Steven Voytilla - and referred the question back to administration for further discussion at their next meeting.
