Changes in Nanaimo school district will affect community gaming grant money given from the B.C. government to parent advisory councils.
The government announced that $12 million in money will be doled out to the province’s councils for students’ extra-curricular activities, with $240,760 going to councils in Nanaimo district.
Applications were made based on last year’s school enrolment and according to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, $20 is given to each student. When a school is closed, the money is given to another council to reflect the reassignment.
With the re-opening of Cedar Community Secondary School, its council will see money being re-allocated from a number of schools. Kathie Aarsen, Cedar parent advisory council head, said $106 is coming from Woodlands Secondary, which closed in June, $1,660 from Ladysmith Secondary, $1,460 from John Barsby, $40 from Dover Bay Secondary and $160 from Nanaimo District Secondary.
Aarsen said the council hasn’t decided where to spend the money yet, but it will likely be for sports jerseys.
“Jerseys [are] one of the main things that we’re in need of right away because when the school closed, a lot of the jerseys left with the kids, as kind of a legacy gift because they didn’t think they were going to be needed,” said Aarsen.
John Barsby’s council was set to receive $15,340, but with catchment zone adjustments and the re-opening of Cedar, in addition to money from Woodlands’ closure, Leona Horvath, head of the Barsby council, said it will receive about $14,000.
Barsby’s council had a meeting to decide money allocation Monday night, after News Bulletin press time, and Horvath said sports uniforms, weights for the gym and a drama program trip to Cowichan for a festival were among the requests.
“We had about 20 requests in total, so we definitely don’t come close to what we got, for what the requests are … we’re definitely short quite a bit,” said Horvath.
Nanaimo District Secondary’s council received $20,140, Dover Bay’s $26,680 and Wellington Secondary’s $15,140.
