The question of what to do with money in graduating R.D. Parker Collegiate students’ individual fundraising accounts after a scheduled trip to Europe was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic sparked an April 21 discussion longer than some entire School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) board meetings in recent memory.
A trip to Europe to attend commemorations of the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War was scheduled to take place in May and some of the students who raised money for the trip will be graduating at the end of June.
SDML co-superintendent Angele Bartlett suggested the money in graduating students’ individual fundraising accounts could be transferred to their younger siblings for future school trips, used to cover their travel expenses back to Thompson if their graduation ceremony is delayed until the next school year or donated to a charity of choice in their name, but some trustees felt that the students should receive the money they fundraised for whatever they wanted to spend it on.
“You’re talking about a group of kids now that is on their way to university, they have no chance of summer employment and they could probably use this money,” said trustee Guido Oliveira. “These kids worked for this money and I think it belongs to these kids and I think it should be given back to these kids. There should be a record of what kids worked what and what fundraising they did.”
“If you have someone from a low-income family who’s worked and worked at considerable inconvenience should that money not go back to the student for the work?” asked trustee Leslie Tucker.
SDMl secretary-treasurer Kelly Knott said that previously only out-of-pocket expenditures have been reimbursed.
“In this trip, students will be out their insurance and the enrolment fee of $400 so parents who have paid that and are out of pocket, we would pay that back out of the student accounts,” Knott said. “Generally all other funds would remain in a general travel fund similar to what we do with the music students that fundraise for many, many years through their high school careers. If they have money left in their account when they graduate Grade 12 we do not cut cheques back to the music students. It can … be bequeathed to siblings or relatives or it stays in the general music program.”
The implications of setting a precedent for future similar situations was also considered.
“I want to know how it might influence other things,” said board chair Don Macdonald. “It’s at least potentially a precedent for things like band or athletics."
The 25-minute discussion did not resolve the issue, however. Bartlett was tasked with gathering information about how the money in the individual accounts was raised and how other schools have dealt with similar situations, with trustees intending to vote on what to do with the money at their next meeting.
