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Important Update from School Council Executive
– Special Council Meeting Canceled –

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Dear RPPS School Council Members/Parents,

This is a follow-up to our letter to the Rockcliffe Park Public School community that was posted here on April 10, 2012. If you have not read that letter, please click here. We posted updates on April 12th, 13th, and 15th – again, if you have not read those messages, please click here.

We want to provide you with an update on the efforts the School Council Executive has been making on your behalf to find resolution to the significant financial issues we have been facing as a School Council.  On Sunday, April 15th, the Executive sent a written communication to Ms. Susan MacDonald, Superintendent of Instruction, at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) in which the following key points were set out :
  • The context was concerning the recent discovery of monies missing from the School Council’s bank account.
  • Members of the Executive have met repeatedly over the course of the last week in order to get a preliminary sense of the magnitude of the problem and to begin work on developing a plan to address it. 
  • What we have discovered to date is that while a detailed review or audit of the Council’s bank account has not been completed, the Executive calculates that approximately  $70,000 is owed to third parties, including to Bettye Hyde Cooperative Nursery School and to other suppliers of goods and services to the Council and to students at RPPS. 
  • Bettye Hyde Cooperative Nursery School is requesting payment of the sum of $34,864.00 by Friday April 20, 2012, failing which it will suspend the after school Homework Club offered at RPPS effective May 4, 2012.
  • The Executive is trying to develop a plan to ensure that the services provided by Bettye Hyde Cooperative Nursery School after-school, milk and pizza programs continue uninterrupted and also address the debts owed by the Council to others.
  •  Upon learning that Bettye Hyde Cooperative Nursery School had not been paid and realizing that monies were missing from the Council’s bank account, the Executive inquired of the OCDSB whether the Board would be willing to consider a request from the Council for a loan. 
  • Since then, the Executive has had an opportunity to review the legislation, regulations and OCDSB policies and procedures that govern the creation, operation and authority of the RPPS School Council.  It has concluded that the Council may be prohibited from borrowing money and is also likely prohibited from using monies that it has received from revenues of the Rockcliffe Park Book Fair to repay monies that have been misappropriated. 
  • A meeting was requested with Board officials to discuss these matters on Monday April 16th, and it was noted that there was a Special School Council meeting scheduled for April 17, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at which the Executive was expected to present options for addressing the present situation. 
  
Regrettably, given the short notice, the OCDSB was unable to convene a meeting with the appropriate staff.  There were, however, a series of communications with officials of the OCDSB over the course of the day on Monday, April 16th
 
During these exchanges, the OCDSB was advised of the RPPS School Council Executive's request that the OCDSB assume the full responsibility for the payment of the amounts owed to third parties.  In response to this request, the School Council Executive was advised by OCDSB that a decision on the request needed to be presented at a meeting of the School Board Trustees for their consideration.  We were advised that the next meeting of the Board of Trustees where this request could be considered would be at the Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 24th.
 
Following these discussions, members of the School Council Executive attended a previously scheduled meeting with the Board of Directors of the Bettye Hyde Cooperative Nursery School.  This meeting allowed for updated information to be provided, including the request made to the OCDSB and their reply. In light of this, the Council Executive members requested that Bettye Hyde Cooperative Nursery School consider extending their deadline for payment by a week. Subsequently, the School Council Executive members were advised by Bettye Hyde Board of Directors that they had agreed to this request, and were extending their deadline for payment in full to Friday April 27th before terminating service on May 4th.

In light of these developments, School Council Executive is postponing the special meeting of RPPS School Council for all parents that was scheduled for 7pm Tuesday April 17th,  pending  a decision from the OCDSB Trustees.

 The RPPS School Council Executive will continue to communicate to the School Board the urgency of this situation and that an earlier decision by Board Trustees is desirable.

We want to reiterate our commitment to both the repayment of the debts owing and to the continuity of service.

We invite you to continue to communicate with us via e-mail and to monitor this website for additional information.

Your RPPS School Council Executive


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