WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015
YOUR SOURCE RICHMOND-NEWS.COM
French Daycare & Preschool
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER@THERICHMONDNEWS
Sales • Lease • Management Your Richmond Specialist
Daycare & Prescho
ol Since 2005
• Non-Profit Daycare & Preschool • The primary object ive of the preschool/da ycare is to prepare children for entrance into francop hone or french immersion school programs. • Looking for new 3-4 years old students • visit us at www.mous saillons.ca
www.interlinkrealty.ca email: info@interlinkrealty.ca 604.271.3888
Call: 604.488. 4235 E-mail: les_mouss aillons@csf.bc.ca École Des Navigate urs,8580 Kilgour Pla ce Richmond BC
SNAKES ALIVE!
Grace Lutz of Richmond, left, had a boa constrictor crawling all over her face while the two boys, above, seemed quite happy to have one slither all over them during the Exotic Reptile Show on Saturday at the Richmond Nature Park. Adults and children got up close to snakes, lizards and geckos at the event hosted by the West Coast Society for the Protection and Conservation of Reptiles. Photos by Gord Goble/Special to the News ! See more pictures in The Pulse on page 12 and online at Richmond-News.com
More pain with no gain for schools District eying job cuts as B.C. government’s demand plays part in expected $4 million budget shortfall Philip Raphael
Staff Reporter praphael@richmond-news.com
In what is becoming somewhat of a right of spring, yet another round of job cuts and costs savings within the Richmond School District are lurking ominously around the corner. The district is looking at an estimated budget shortfall of $4 million, a quarter of which is being forced upon it by the Ministry of Education, as part of Richmond’s share of the $29 million in non-teaching, administrative cuts it requires from school districts across B.C. The rest of the reduction in funding is expected due to a projected decline in enrolment of around 500 students for this
coming school year — accounting for years that there is really no low-hanging fruit $2.5 million — and another $500,000 for anymore,” De Mello said. inflationary hikes for costs outside the “We’ve made painful cuts before and I’m district’s control, such sure whatever cuts we as a six per cent increase have to make again will We’ve been making cuts be painful. in BC Hydro rates, and higher MSP costs for “But those are things for so many years that that our district has employees. there really is no lowalways found a way to It all looks pretty bleak, but it’s not an hanging fruit anymore. try and deal with in a proactive manner.” unfamiliar position for - Mark De Mello With the projected the district to be in, number of fewer students, said Mark De Mello, De Mello said Richmond the district’s secretary treasurer. However, De Mello says it’s getting could need as many as 20 fewer teachers. Most of those positions, as in past hunts for increasingly harder to find required savings budget savings, comes through attrition with each year. retirements leading the way. “We’ve been making cuts for so many
SEAFOOD PLATTER
$17.95 p.p.
RACK OF LAMB CHOPS & LOBSTER Two tender grilled rack of lamb chops, 4 oz lobster tail, drawn butter, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables
(minimum 2)
Greek salad, homous, satziki, pita bread, ice shrimp cocktail, stuffed tiger prawns, kalamaria, sautéed seafood (prawns, halibut, salmon, scallops), mussels, roast potatoes, rice and seasonal vegetables. Offer valid 7 days a week with this coupon. Expires March 25,2015
604.276.8282 • 8140 LESLIE ROAD
Open for Lunch Monday-Saturday
Includes soup or salad to start Plus many more features to choose from
Please reserve now for Belly Dancing March 21th.
Dinner Everyday from 4:30pm
While that affects the number of jobs within the district, it should not impact the delivery of services, De Mello said. But 20 less teachers only covers about half of the $2.5 million in the ministry’s drop in funding. The remaining shortfall is spread out over administrative, operational and non-teaching costs. “It’s like you’ve got a $4 million block of concrete and we’re chipping away a little bit here and there, and hopefully what we end up with is a system that’s strong and stable and still doing a good job for our students,” De Mello said. Luckily, the anticipated loss of students this September is concentrated mainly in the see YUNG › page 4
FELICOS PLATTER
$17.95 p.p. (minimum 2)
$27.95
Greek salad, homous, satziki & pita bread, ice shrimp cocktail, kalamaria, chicken souvlakia, lamb souvlaki, stuffed tiger prawns, roast potatoes, rice and seasonal vegetables. Offer valid 7 days a week with this coupon. Expires March 25,2015
www.felicos.com • Full Menu On-Line