Pembina Hills trustees passed a motion during their Oct. 28 meeting to distribute just over $2 million in federal funding to various departments in order to cover various costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in August, the Government of Canada announced it would provide more than $2 billion to provinces and territories to help re-open schools safely amidst the pandemic.
Alberta was allocated roughly $250 million, which the provincial government opted to distribute to school divisions utilizing a per-student model.
As indicated earlier, Pembina Hills’ share of that federal money was $2,016,350. In addition to staffing costs and the purchase of cleaning supplies/PPE, the money can also be used for adaptation of learning spaces, transportation costs and health and safety training for staff.
However, the federal funding also allows Pembina Hills to avoid any staffing reductions this year following a 10.15 per cent drop in enrolment at community schools.
“Without this federal funding, staff reductions would have been required at community schools due to decreased enrolment and the added costs anticipated for support staff and cleaning and PPE and additional staff for online learning,” said secretary-treasurer Tracy Leigh.
In deciding how to distribute the money internally, Leigh acknowledged it would be difficult to calculate how much in additional costs Pembina Hills will have to incur.
In the end, she recommended that $1.2 million be allocated to the Co-op Pool to cover substitute staffing costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic for the entire year, along with $75,000 to the transportation department to cover the cost of substitute bus drivers.
Leigh also recommended that $300,000 be allocated to Vista Virtual School to bring on additional staff, while $400,000 go to the facilities department to handle the purchase of additional cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment.
Trustee Judy Lefebvre asked if Pembina Hills was utilizing a large number of substitute teachers and other support staff right now, given the spike in COVID-19 cases at local schools.
Supt. Dave Garbutt said it depends on the situation; sometimes they are utilizing subs, and sometimes they are either re-arranging schedules so that teachers who aren’t busy at a given time of day can take over another class.
If a staff member is in isolation and isn’t displaying COVID-19 symptoms, they might also be called upon to stream the class from home.
