by GREG NIKKEL of the Weyburn Review
The Weyburn Comprehensive School board will be putting a plan in place to deal with upcoming problems with the year 2000, and its impact on school equipment of all kinds.
Ed Kolybaba, director of education, briefed the board at their Monday night meeting on the potential for problems that will have to be looked at throughout the school, with the process already begun on some levels.
The problems arise from any equipment which uses computer chips, and have date codes listed as a two-digit number instead of a four-digit number, he explained. When the calendar turns over for the year 2000, the machine won't know if the year 1900 or 2000 is being referred to, which could lead to a breakdown of equipment or problems in such areas as pensions or payroll.
Some of the problems may strike before the year 2000 (referred to as Y2K), as Saskatchewan Education has already run into some problems with superannuation payouts which have already been entered, said Kolybaba.
Some of the items which can be affected by this problem include heating systems, air quality controls, telephones, fire alarms, security systems, VCRs, intercom systems, sprinkler systems, special-education equipment, registration marks, transcripts, library systems using bar codes, payroll and accounting systems, and computers used by students and teachers.
"There's no guarantee the new equipment you buy now will be ready for the year 2000," said Kolybaba, adding that problems will also appear in software used throughout the school.
Kolybaba said the recommendation from Sask. Ed is to appoint a Y2K project co-ordinator, and an awareness program needs to be instituted for all staff, students and parents. A complete inventory of equipment needs to also be done with a priority list made of those items most at risk.
The Comp board approved a review of the school's effectiveness, an extensive research project which will be carried out with surveys and interviews throughout the school. The project's total cost will be $7,700, with about half of that amount needed to be paid up-front to get the initial part of the study underway.
There will be four components to the review, said director Kolybaba, which will determine if the Comprehensive meets 10 standards of an effective school. The review by an external party was recommended as a part of the school's strategic plan.
The four components include, firstly, an on-site observation by a team of four, viewing the school facilities; secondly, a documentary review of all information pertaining to the school; thirdly, a questionnaire which will be administered to all students, staff and parents associated with the school, to be completed during the month of November; and fourthly, interviews with a representative sample of students and parents selected randomly, and of all staff members.
Kolybaba said the money for the initial payment of $3,759 was not budgeted for this year, which caused some concern with board members before it was approved by a 5-1 vote.
Board member Dick Michel said he agreed with the need for the review, but he wanted to know where the school division stood financially before approving the extra expenditure. He noted there were a couple other extra things which came up to the board, and the budget could be out significantly.
Secretary-treasurer Gord Young said he wasn't able to provide an up-to-date financial statement as his computer's accounting program had gone down a couple days before and was still not available.
Kolybaba said there really wasn't any contingency funds available for unbudgeted items, although there is a surplus fund in the budget.
Board member Justin Brown noted that if the surplus were used for something like this, there wouldn't be any effect on tuition fees or property taxes. In the vote, Michel was the sole vote in opposition to the review.
The Comp board approved an expenditure of $18,000 for new wiring and cabling, which will enable the final phases of the school's technology plan to be put in place, including installation of a high-speed Internet line.
The expenditure (and grant from Sask. Ed) had originally been approved in 1996, but had been set aside when negotiations began for the proposed amalgamation of the Southeast Regional College with the Comp, said Kolybaba.
The government grant portion of that amount, $6,490, was just approved by the province, and arrived at the board office on Monday, said the secretary-treasurer.
Kolybaba said this grant means the school could expand its original intent to spend $10,000 to $18,000, which will be needed with the extra costs associated with the installation of a T1 high-speed Internet line by SaskTel.
With the wiring, the plan is to link the entire school together into one network, as part of the board's obligation to the Distance Education project they are a part of with the Estevan school district, said principal Ken Larson.
The local area network will enable teachers to input the daily attendance as well as course marks, both of which would save a lot of work currently being done manually by office staff, he said.
The wiring will also enable the Internet to be available in every classroom, and a central server would co-ordinate the school-wide system.
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