The Prairie Spirit Board of Education is pleading for additional funding from the provincial government after approving earlier this month what they are calling the most challenging budget the school division has ever faced.

Larry Pavloff, chair of the Prairie Spirit Board of Education, said they approved the 2014-15 “status quo” school division budget because they don’t want to negatively impact any more students or staff despite a decrease in funding. He said the board is proud of student achievement at Prairie Spirit that places kids above the provincial average and they want to keep the good work that is going on continuing, but in order to do that the division needs resources.

“We are using reserve funds to balance our budget, but we want that to be a one year (thing) because it’s not sustainable to use reserve funds for operations,” said Pavloff. “This year to offset our shortfall in the budget we have to take $2.5 million of reserve funds and put that to operational costs, so adjust spending in other operational areas to achieve that balanced budget.”

In a media release issued by the Prairie Spirit School Division, it is stated the division is in a deficit position of $2.9 million with a status quo budget that includes operating expenses of over $111 million for the school division’s 45 schools and over 10,000 students in 28 communities surrounding the City of Saskatoon including Hanley. It further states the provincial government did provide additional funds to Prairie Spirit in the new budget, but this funding increase does not cover annual increases in operational expenses such as salary increments, new agreements and utility costs.

Pavloff said this is the ninth consecutive year of enrolment growth in the school division and they are projecting at least 130 more students next year. He said their focus is on supporting student learning and supporting adult learning such as staff having the opportunity and time to increase their knowledge, but this is in jeopardy if their funding does not allow them to continue with these programs.

“An analysis of the provincial funding allocated to our school division of Prairie Spirit reveals that on per-student funding we are decreased by $45 per student when compared to last year,” said Pavloff. “It is important to note that last year our per-student funding was decreased as well, so the funding model has consistently decreased funding to Prairie Spirit for our operational costs.”

He added there was also a recent spring directive from the Ministry of Education requiring all school divisions to find further efficiencies in their general operating budget in addition to the other spending reductions the division already made. Pavloff said Prairie Spirit’s efficiency reduction was more than $400,000 and they are expecting further provincial funding cuts in the 2015-16 school year forcing them to determine where changes can be made in the future to balance their budget.

To read more please see the June 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

This year Dundurn School’s triathlon contained an extra element of fun: mud.
It’s what covered many of the 180 kids by the time they completed Dundurn School’s sixth annual triathlon held June 20 at Blackstrap Provincial Park.
They had to splash, spin and dash through a steady downpour. Although there were some shivers at the start, before they got going, after they had warmed up with the exertion most were happy, enjoying an after-competition hotdog, watermelon and Booster Juice.
“Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, it was muddy,” says Will Gogel, Grade 6 student, as he patiently answers an obvious question. He is covered in mud.
“I wiped out 20 times,” he says.
Answering another question, he say he’s not going into the nearby lake like hoards of other students to wash his mud encrusted clothes and skin.
It’s obvious that his mom, who stands next to him, has other plans.
The triathlon was a welcome event this spring. It was great to see that steady rain that has put a damper on most outdoor sports and caused the cancellation of countless baseball, soccer and football games enhanced Dundurn School’s major sporting event.
Besides nearly 200 participants, it takes countless volunteers, about 100 of them, to ensure it is fun, successful and safe.
It was a community effort with school staff, friends, family, Hanley Composite School’s Grade 9s, Blackstrap’s First Responders and members from CFB Dundurn all pitching in for the cause.
At the start kids waited under large tents set up by the military to shelter them from the elements.
It was easy to motivate children, despite the pouring rain.
Before giving the command for the Grade 1s to start the triathlon, Kirsten Lester, emcee and Dundurn School’s vice principal, encouraged the kids from grades one to six gathered on the main beach.
“Who wants to get wet today?” she asked. The question was rhetoric because thanks to the steady rain, getting wet was unavoidable.
“Who wants to get muddy today?” Lester continued and earned an outpouring of loud cheers.
“Who wants to do extra laundry tonight?” she asked. All the moms groaned.
Then Dundurn School’s triathlon got underway with a splash, a spin and a dash.

To read more please see the June 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The Government of Saskatchewan has struck a permanent Rail Transportation Initiative committee with a goal of tackling the grain movement backlog problem.

Arm River-Watrous MLA Greg Brkich, legislative secretary for the Rail Transportation Initiative, said the committee is going to be gathering information on what is causing the movement of grain backlog over the next couple months in order to gain an understanding of what the main issues are. He said the committee is also going to develop a long-range plan, so Saskatchewan farmers do not continue to run into these same grain movement problems in future years.

Brkich said the committee, which is led by Economy Minister Bill Boyd and includes government members such as Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart and Highways and Infrastructure Minister Nancy Heppner, is going to be looking at meeting with grain companies and the two rail companies to ensure there is a good movement of grain. He said they would also be meeting with members of the federal government to make sure any future legislation that is passed on the federal end works for farmers.

“There still is a backlog, definitely not as bad as it was in spring, but a lot of farmers the last month have been concentrating on seeding, so they haven’t been moving a lot of grain,” said Brkich. “I know there are outstanding contracts that farmers will be looking to fill and I’m not exactly sure how much grain is out there, but I think there is still quite a bit to be brought in.”

As farmers finish seeding and begin trying to move grain again, Brkich said there could be a situation where another backlog is created. He said the committee is going to be monitoring what happens to see how they can ensure there is a steady flow of grain moving out of the province in a timely fashion, so farmers don’t end up losing market access and suffering lower prices for their product as a result.

“We’re looking at another bumper crop coming in and we want to make sure we can flow it to port,” he said. “The minister (Bill Boyd) is the lead on this. He’ll be setting up meetings and we’ll be working on some plans and long-range plans of how we can keep a steady flow.”

Cathy Sproule, agriculture critic for the Saskatchewan NDP, said the Opposition has not been provided with any information of what the Rail Transportation Initiative is, but they’re “hopeful” that the provincial government can make some progress with their federal counterparts to help grain producers get through this and any future crisis. She said the NDP has been “pretty vocal” about what ideas they would like to see to help resolve the grain movement backlog including, but not limited to, ensuring railways are held to account in terms of their responsibility for moving grain.

Sproule said a second initiative they would like to see is the establishment of a national or prairie body tasked with marketing coordination for farmers, so they can better move their grain. She said terminal capacity is also an issue and unless all the terminals in all the ports are used properly the grain movement backlog is going to continue to be a problem in the future.

To read more please see the June 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The new Veterans Affairs Canada volunteer branch service officer in Davidson is asking any veterans in the area who may need help to contact the local Legion.

Gord McRae, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #51, said his new role as branch service officer enables him to assist any veterans by identifying those with unmet health needs and then helping them receive any available benefits they are entitled to from VAC. McRae is able to accomplish this through helping these veterans fill out any necessary forms before referring these men and women with needs to provincial command service officers.

“I’d like to see people step forward and say I am involved with the military…and I do need help,” said McRae. The problem “is there is so many out there that do not. They have that macho thing. They don’t want to think that they need help, but they should come forward.”

McRae became a branch service officer earlier this month by attending a training session through Veterans Affairs that provided him with the needed information to assist these men and women in need. The role became important after the Department of Veterans Affairs closed eight district VAC offices across Canada earlier this year, including the one in Saskatoon, which provided face-to-face services for veterans.

The loss of person-to-person contact between veterans and their families with a qualified individual with Veterans Affairs and move to an online self-service program for veterans to try and get help highlighted McRae’s desire to attain the role of branch service officer. As a branch service officer, his training equips him to help these veterans understand the benefits they are entitled to and move them towards receiving this assistance.

“There are 70,000 veterans in Saskatchewan alone and out of the 70,000 probably one quarter of them are stepping forward and saying we need help, not so much money wise, but mentally as well,” said McRae. “We are here to help them to get on the right path.”

The Davidson School community came together last Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the end of the 2013-14 school year with their annual awards presentation.

Grade 12 students Matthias McCreary and Sarah Nykiforuk along with Grade 9 pupil Andrew Read hosted the event that acknowledged members of the various sports and culture teams, gave out fabulous door prizes and served as the presentation ceremony for the school’s athletic and academic awards.

The ceremony began with Craik RCMP constable Kevin Morrissette presenting Grade 11 student Jill Rettger with the Craik RCMP Citizenship award for the outstanding contribution she has made to Davidson School throughout the years. A power point presentation created by Jill and Paige Travers along with a cheer of members of the various sports teams beginning with football in the fall to track and field in the spring followed.

The school’s different clubs including the yearbook committee and Student Leadership Team were mentioned and acknowledged as well for the great contributions they provide the school. These presentations were interspersed with a number of door prize giveaways of posters, t-shirts, water bottles and Raider socks.

The emcees also took time during the presentation to thank the Davidson School staff for putting in all the before- and after-school hours needed to give kids the opportunity to enjoy these activities. A goodbye was also given to Kristin Dolman who is moving on from Davidson School.

The Spirit of Sport, PHD (Pride Hustle Desire), Athlete of the Year, Most Deserving Athletic and Behind the Scenes awards were then presented to the deserving students before the grades seven to 12 merit and honour awards were given out.

After the presentation the Leadership 20 class held a Gym Blast event for the grades one to six students. The Gym Blast, which was organized by Gabe Ebenal and Huck Rettger, separated the elementary school kids into four teams who then competed against each other in fun activities like leapfrog, an over/under ball passing challenge and cheer contest. Elise McJannet and Brooklyn Read served as emcees for the Gym Blast, which proved a difficult task with a gym full of rambunctious elementary students.

With Carter Shaw in charge of the music and sound, the team leaders of Quin Johnson, Liana Farrell, Kaitlyn Baldwin, Paige Travers, Kieran Boehm, Dylan Sweet and Ben Nykifouk took over the teams.

Once the contests were complete, the kids displayed the line dance moves the Leadership 20 class taught them before ending the day with an energetic “The Continental Drift” dance number.