School District 43 trustees face a Solomon's choice of adding some services and not others as they get ready to pass a budget for the next 2016/’17 school year.
More counsellors to help kids with anxiety and mental health disorders?
More library help for middle schools where kids are having trouble doing research?
More psychologists to do assessments for kids with learning disabilities?
How about music programs, which help kids cope with stress and improve brain function?
Or speech and language pathologists to reduce waiting lists for students who can't communicate using speech?
All of these needs and more were shared at a budget meeting Tuesday, and next week, the SD43 board of education will vote on a $288.6-million budget that will include some improvements but not enough to appease many of the presenters.
Starting next September, for example, there will be an additional speech and language pathologist and another psychologist hired, more lunchtime supervisors, more administration time and additional classroom teachers — but the modest gains still won't get the district back up to where it was three years ago, trustees were told.
STILL BEHIND
"There used to be middle school music specialist teachers. It would be nice to get that back," said Kathy Fester.
There's also no extra funding to add counsellors or more time for library teachers, services that were cut and have been added back to some schools and not others.
"The effect has been devastating," said Karen Ferguson, a teacher-librarian who splits her time between two middle school libraries and teaches as well.
Books and databases for student research "go untouched," Ferguson said.
Assistant superintendent Reno Ciolfi said there are fewer teachers doing library work now after $4.5 million in library time was given to other needs three years ago but he said the equivalent of 25 full-time positions in library time has been added back to SD43 schools, about half of what there was in previous years.
LOOKING AHEAD
But some are calling for the district to take a longer view when it plans for how it will spend scarce dollars.
Coquitlam Principals' and Vice-Principals' Association president Ken Cober suggested priorities be set "into the future and planned collectively" in the event more money becomes available.
For others, it was the immediate need for services and needs going unmet that are the problem.
Counsellor Teresa Grandinetti said kids have more problems now than they did even five years ago and counsellors have more duties, resulting in stress and burnout.
Students are also contemplating suicide in greater numbers and some are harming themselves while the job of counselling has expanded to include organizing special events, leading anti-bullying initiatives and helping kids transition to life after school, Grandinetti said, noting the number of counsellors hasn't kept pace with the demand for services.
NOT ENOUGH
And where staff will be hired, the services aren't enough to get the district back where it was or deal with growing waiting lists for assessments for children with learning problems or help with communication plans for students who are speech-impaired or non-verbal.
"They're not communicating at all until someone comes out," said Anya Bayley, a speech and language pathologist.
Students said they, too, are feeling the pinch. Sarah Parker, who is with the SD43 Student Leadership Council, said students are concerned about inadequate supplies, building repairs and a need for a focus on student mental health and wellness.
Trustees can expect to take the week to mull the budget numbers and the calls for improvements before making a final vote, and possibly some tweaks to the draft budget, on Tuesday, April 26. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Winslow Centre, 1100 Winslow Ave., Coquitlam.
