Dear Editor:
A lack of coordinated accounting practices at the Royal City Education Foundation resulted in significant funding losses for the Richard McBride school parent advisory council, as reported by past parents' advisory council co-chair and bursary committee chair, Judy French (Bursary fund troubles, Letters to the editor, The Record, March 19).
Since that accounting fiasco, the F.W. Howay parents' advisory council (PAC) received a letter soliciting payment for Royal City Education Foundation bursary funds that had already been paid and might have been paid twice except for the fact that the PAC was able to produce foundation-issued receipts as proof of payment.
It is interesting that school board chair Michael Ewen, in his recent letter to the editor (District must guard privacy, Letters to the editor, The Record, March 26) failed to comment on these, and other related PAC/education foundation issues.
More importantly, his account of the district's difficulty involving the Privacy Act is incomplete because he neglects to mention how the issue originated: based on a random government audit of the Howay PAC, inquiries were made about scholarship/bursary donations to the Royal City Education Foundation.
The intent of asking the audit-related questions was to track our donated dollars, not the students whose names were previously announced at an open, public ceremony.
In an e-mail response dated Feb. 5, in lieu of answers, Mr. Ewen stated that the Royal City Education Foundation was "an independent organization under the Societies Act" and informed the PAC that answers would be provided to them after legal counsel determined if the questions violated the Privacy Act.
Mr. Ewen's evasive course of action, used to distract focus from the real issue of education foundation accountability, raised more red flags with both the Howay PAC and the government auditors.
The fact is, not one of the Howay PAC questions required the release of a student name, and so at no time was any individual's privacy ever in jeopardy.
Further, it is unlikely that any student receiving PAC money to assist with their post-secondary tuition would consider the PAC to be a threat.
Mr. Ewen's response reflected poorly on himself and on the Royal City Education Foundation.
Moreover, by raising the Privacy Act controversy at a public school board meeting, he created a public issue where none existed.
Despite Ewen's unwarranted roadblock, the Howay PAC remains resolute to achieve compliance with the audit findings and is currently awaiting confirmation from the education foundation chair, trustee Ron Bennett, that unclaimed Howay monies will be returned from the education foundation to Howay PAC coffers.
Paul Johansen, PAC president, F.W. Howay
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2 comments:
Thank You for exposing these people for what they really are! I smell fish!
Paul Johansen have you ever considered running for trustee we need more honest people like you in positions of trust.
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