April 22, 2010 – 11:32 pm
In response (it would seem) to questions and concerns about the details of their personal expense accounts, District 42 school trustees have given first reading to two new policies.
The Trustee Professional Development and Attendance at Conferences policy and the Trustee - Provision of Resources policy are both posted to the school district website and public comment is invited until the end of April (2010).
As I have pointed out previously, some trustees are putting in for expense reimbursement at a rate of more than $5,000 annually during the 2008/2009 period - as reported within the required Statement of Financial Information (SOFI).
The [...]
February 6, 2010 – 10:24 am
Trustees shouldn’t put up barriers to information
School Watch by Katherine Wagner
The Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Times, February 05, 2010
Pitt Meadows parent Karen Georgi is puzzled: “Didn’t all the new trustees run on an open and transparent platform, with the promise that they would be open to public questions?”
Georgi, who is also PAC chair at Davie Jones Elementary, regularly attends Board of Education meetings and began asking questions about the local Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report soon after it was released in December.
“I basically asked what happened and how they could have spent so much in six months? I got [...]
December 22, 2009 – 11:59 am
How many taxpayer dollars is it reasonable and appropriate for school trustee’s to spend on personal expenses?
All elected trustees in the province receive an annual stipend (in some cases the amounts are large enough to term it pay or salary).
One-third of this stipend is tax free. While I was a school trustee (1996-2005), it was explained to us that the one-third is considered “unreceipted expenses”. In practice this was interpreted to mean any “in district” expenses including automobile costs.
Once a year, in December, school districts are required to prepare and make public a report called [...]
December 19, 2009 – 11:46 pm
Please read my School Watch column about the recently-concluded, long-extended school closure process in Maple Ridge, BC - published in the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows Times on Friday (Dec. 18th)
Process punishing to schools
A week and a half ago, I reported on the public board of education meeting and the decision by trustees to close two elementary schools.
During the same meeting, the annual SOFI report was presented to school trustees. It wasn’t posted on the school district website the next day and I finally got around to reading it last Wednesday.
This document is an interesting catalogue of salaries and expenses [...]
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