Board Briefs: Catholics pay off high school

Mortgage-free

Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools (CTTCS) now owns Sacred Heart High School free and clear. When Wilfred Hotsko, CTTCS secretary-treasurer, made the announcement at the regular school board meeting March 11, trustees applauded. With SHHS paid off, it leaves the division with only approximately $275,000 in outstanding debt.

Other highlights of the treasurer's second quarter Fiscal Accountability Report was a $500,000 operating deficit for the year-to-date. Hotsko explained to the board that provincial changes to incentives for early tax payment has put the division behind where it was last year at this time. For example, he told the board, the City of Yorkton's property taxation remittances are only around $100,000 compared to approximately $700,000 in February 2012. He assured them it was only a temporary situation.

Back to the whiteboard

Two options for a 2013/2014 school calendar were met with disapproval of parents so CTTCS, in cooperation with the Good Spirit School Division (GSSD), went back to the drawing board and created a third option. Each of the original two options eliminated one of the post-Christmas holiday weeks. The new option keeps both the traditional February and Easter breaks, but adds 16 minutes to the school day.

Director of education Darrell Zaba said voting on the new option indicated more than 91 per cent of parents were in favour. He also reported his GSSD counterpart, Dwayne Reeve, was receiving similar results from public school parents.

Trustees voted to submit the tentative schedule to the Ministry of Education for approval. If it is okayed by the Province, the school board will vote to finalize the calendar at its April regular meeting.

Raise the curtain

The Catholic school division will cost-share the replacement of the stage curtains at St. Henry's School with Melville Dance Association. The total cost of the project is estimated at slightly more than $11,000 by Glauser's Drapery Gallery in Yorkton. The dance company received a $5,000 grant from Painted Hand Casino leaving $6,090 to complete the job. At its March 11 regular meeting, trustees committed $3,000.