For your interest:

To keep schools updated on what is happening at the Board Office, I would like to share the following information with you:

1) The Board receives its financial statement to December 30, 1998 on Tuesday January 19th at 4:00pm at the Budget and Finance meeting. Meetings of the Board are open to the public unless there is a specific item on the agenda that falls under "items to be considered in camera."

2) The Board is holding a retreat on January 22 and 23 at the Dartmouth Teacher's Center. The Board will examine committee structure and beginthe discussion of budget protocols for the upcoming budget. We would also like to give senior staff some direct ion so that they are able to begin building the 1999/2000 budget.

3) Last July, the Board appointed a superintendant search committee consisting of Carolyn McFarlane, David Driscoll, Norma Kennedy, Sandra Everett and Madeline Dillon. This committee worked with KPMG to come up with a short list for interviews. Unfortun ately, the board and candidate were not able to come to mutually acceptable terms so the search has continued. The Board has plans to interview on the weekend of February 6 with an announcement of the successful candidate occurring once negotiations are completed.

4) Two controversial issues in the past month have been school reviews and examining French Immersion for a possible program fee. School reviews are always for parents whoa have children attending a school under review. However, the Board focuses on two issues. Will the children receive a similar or superior education in the event of school closure and will there be financial savings as the result of closure? Decisions are made as a result of information gathered on those two topics.

A program fee was proposed for French Immersion. This came about at committee level because the Board has given a directive to senior staff to notbring rationalization of programs/services to the Board table if the result is an increase to our deficit. The solution that appeared to be favored by senior staff was the elimination of fees for transportation in Dartmouth resulting in an additional $60,000.00 increase.

Hopefully some discussion around this topic will enable us to expand the program of French Immersion while not adding costs.

5) Regarding supplementary funding, a letter has been sent to the Mayor and Council requesting input into discussion since it has such a dramatic impact on our budget. Two items that should be shared are
(a) When we presented to Council last summer on the issue of supplementary funding, Council was informed that senior staff had placed roughly three million dollars in an account for operational schools. This was attributed by our CFO in part to assess spa ce in the former city when compared to the provincial average.
(b) Councilors strongly suggested that senior staff remove dollars from that area. If this was not done, they stated that they would cut supplementary funding.

The Board Committee on supplementary funding consists of David Driscoll, Sandra Everett, and myself.

Respectfully submitted,

Stella Campbell