HALIFAX DISTRICT PTA - ANNUAL REPORT 1998-99

The Halifax District PTA is an umbrella organization that represents all schools in the former City of Halifax. It is also a forum for groups who support such activities as fine arts, music, physical education and school environmental safety. Membership dues are $20 per school PTA per year. Paid membership this year stands at about 70% of eligible organizations. The current bank balance is about $1000, and based on modest expenditures, this is considered to be a sound financial footing. The HDPTA has a constitution that reflects new electoral areas within the former City of Halifax. The HDPTA meets in the library of Oxford School at 7:30 PM, normally on the third Monday of each month. The first meeting of the year was held in September, 1998 and the last meeting of this school year will be held on Monday, June 21, 1999.

The 1998/99 executive of the HDPTA is:

Co-chairs: Dick Tilley (Tower Road School)

Cheryl Kozey (St Agnes Junior High School)

Past Chair: Ian Watt (Queen Elizabeth High School)

Secretary: Bev McDonald (Ecole Beaufort)

Treasurer: Peter Crowell (Grosvenor-Wentworth)

The three main thrusts of the Halifax District PTA continue to be Education Funding, Communications, and School Board Monitoring. Within these thrusts, considerable effort has been expended on school environmental safety, the Grade 10 honours program, and supplementary funding.

EDUCATION FUNDING

In Education Funding, the main effort was in clarifying a realistic position on supplementary funding. This was in light of certain comments made by the new Superintendent, Mr. David Reid, at our April meeting. It appeared that he wanted to spread supplementary funds across the whole school board, even if these funds are collected only in specific areas. It was agreed that this is unacceptable, and that there are really only three choices. In order of preference they are: collect and spend supplementary funding uniformly across the Board, spend supplementary funding on programs only where it is collected (and account for it properly), or get rid of supplementary funding altogether. A letter and briefings were prepared for the Halifax Municipal Council.

The Halifax District PTA also has taken a keen interest in the 1999/2000 budgetary process, and will continue to do so.

COMMUNICATIONS

In Communications, the main effort has been in providing information through the HDPTA internet site. The address is as follows:

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Education/HDPTA

The home page is frequently amended, and a strong effort is made to maintain the site up-to-date with recent minutes and notices.

To ensure a smooth turnover of correspondence from year to year, the HDPTA maintains a permanent mailing address. This is:

Halifax District Parent Teacher Association

PO Box 33042

Quinpool Road Post Office

Halifax, Nova Scotia B3L 4T6

Other communications efforts have included regular notices of HDPTA meetings, and urgent messages about critical education issues. A major effort was made to inform parents about the provincial Department of Education's decision to drop the Grade 10 honours program. Also, two meetings were held specifically on the subject of school environmental safety, one with CASLE, and the other with Mr Gerald Muise. Notices are faxed out to all Halifax District Schools, and directly to any PTA representative who has provided a separate FAX number. E-mail is used whenever possible.

SCHOOL BOARD MONITORING

As part of School Board Monitoring, an effort has been made to have at least one parent at each major School Board Meeting. The School Board now routinely sends us agenda for meetings, and provides copies of minutes for pick up before each meeting. This has ensured HDPTA input on a variety of issues. Our most successful initiatives, however, involved meetings with our School Board representatives. To this end, the HDPTA hosted meetings in January and April, 1999 with all four Board Members who represent the former city of Halifax. Each time there was an excellent turnout, and invaluable exchange of ideas. These meeting have gone a long way towards ensuring a better understanding of the educational issues in our district.

CONCLUSION

The HDPTA has had another successful year in tackling issues that affect all Parent-Teacher Associations in the former City of Halifax. However, if the same level of effort is to continue into the future, new people will have to become involved in this very valuable organization. In the near future, the Halifax District PTA will be challenged with having to resolve both its relationship with School Advisory Councils, and with the new school areas. The Halifax District PTA empowers all of us to take action on a broad range of issues that affect all of our children, but it needs your support.