Staff of Aspen View Schools will no doubt be dismayed to read that positions are about to be cut in the face of declining student enrolments.
Mind you, we’re not sure when those staff members are going to be able to read about the upcoming cuts; walk into just about any school in the division and you’re not likely to find many staff members who have time to read the newspaper.
It begs the question: if enrolments have declined to the point where staff cuts are necessary, why are teachers and educational assistants as busy as they are?
Just a few years ago, Aspen View adopted a class size initiative, mandated by Alberta Education, that limits the average number of students per class, particularly within the younger grades. Aspen View has managed to hit those targets only because it’s been able to use class sizes in small, rural schools to bring its average down; class sizes in larger schools like those in Athabasca are still quite alarming.
And yet, staff cuts are coming? How does that make sense?
And to add to the confusion, the two schools in the division with the largest and most predictable enrolments — Edwin Parr Composite and Landing Trail Intermediate — have the largest individual deficits, each over $125,000 in the red. How on earth did they get into that situation, and how on earth are they going to dig themselves out of their respective holes, now that Aspen View superintendent Brian LeMessurier says they must — with no help from the division anymore.
Education funding is multi-layered and highly complicated, involving everything from teacher salaries to student transportation to keeping the heat and lights on in the schools. Terminology like “centrally administered funding” and “school utilization ratios” can easily distract from what school’s all about: educating our young people.
LeMessurier pledged last week that Aspen View would develop a multi-year plan that would lead to decisions made “in the best interests of students.”
He can expected to be held to that pledge.
