The Cariboo Chilcotin Teacher’s Association (CCTA) is sounding the alarm bell over the current state of School District 27.
“It’s lacking consistent leadership. The district is just not cohesive anymore … it’s like they have been grasping at straws,” said CCTA President Murray Helmer.
Helmer announced Wednesday that the CCTA executive committee’s 11 members voted unanimously in support of a non-confidence motion in the Cariboo Chilcotin Board of Trustees.
Helmer said the concerns they have about the current board have been mounting in recent weeks and are three fold; that they did not provide a seamless transition of leadership in the superintendent position, that the board changed the role of the secretary treasurer to its duel leadership model, and, lastly, that the district’s Audited Financial Statement released this week indicates a budget surplus to the tune of $1.7 million — money that was intended for student programs.
“Our main concern is that we have a lot of needs not being met,” Helmer said.
School District 27 board chair Tanya Guenther was not available for a comment by press time.
Helmer said the CCTA has reached out to Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett for help while there has been no communication between trustees and the board.
Helmer said he hopes the vote will shine a light on the troubling decisions the board has made recently, such as failing to provide reasonable conditions for past acting superintendent Harj Manhas and for closing Bridge Lake Elementary School last spring when there were the funds to keep it open.
Helmer said the surplus funds came at the cost of cuts to services in special education, counselling, library, career programs and Aboriginal education.