The New Westminster school board has three continuing education options and none of them are perfect, according to the New Westminster Teachers’ Union.
Option 1, they cancel the daytime and late-afternoon programs and only offer night courses at the new high school. Option 2, they lease space somewhere else in the city. And Option 3, they find space at a school in the city and put portables in.
Option 1 is the most cost effective but still has challenges, according to Eric Young, president of Local 40.
“Some might consider it the easiest and the cheapest because the building will be owned by the school board and it’s maximizing the space in the evening,” he said, but added that not all students can attend school at night.
“The issue is, will those daytime students come to an evening course offering?” he continued. “Can they fit the program into the high school, not knowing how things will go with a brand new move?”
A lot depends on unknowns, including what the course schedule would be.
“For daytime workers working a typical 9-to-5 job, getting to a class at 4 won’t work,” Young said.
It would also affect teachers’ schedules, he said.
“Instead of having a full-time position teaching adults at the high school, there might be more contracts that are part-time so it might affect more teachers,” Young said, but added the union has been told all the teachers would still have jobs within the district.
But the other two options are costly and mean students would have to go to a different location, when the current location at New Westminster Secondary School makes it easier for students across the border in Burnaby to attend as well.
There could also be parking issues and differences in monthly costs, according to Young.
“The other two options come with a price tag,” he said.
Beyond the space issue, the financial aspect is also a problem that needs addressing, according to a report from Bettina Ketcham, secretary-treasurer for the district.
Funding for continuing education students is $4,773 for full-time equivalency (63% of school-age FTE funding).
There are 888 students enrolled this year, according to Ketcham’s report, and on average each student takes 2.2 courses.
Of those 888 students, 55% are enrolled in daytime courses and 9% are enrolled in late-afternoon courses, which would be cut if the program moves into the new high school in September.
Many of the students are immigrants, people with English as a Second Language, according to the union, and the programs offer foundation classes such as English and Math, as well as secondary courses to help students complete course requirements to advance to post-secondary.
The entire continuing education program will be looked at next year to see whether or not it’s feasible, according to a recent school board committee report.
“Based on what I’ve heard and the feeling I’m getting is the program will survive in a new form,” Young said. “That’s everything I’ve been led to believe.”
Staff want to see the program moved into six portables on the grounds of another school (one with space), according to Ketcham’s report.
“Ideally we would prefer the program find a new home that’s just theirs and rebuild it up but there’s a lot of unknowns,” Young said, citing location and costs.
