By Sam Macdonald, Estevan Mercury
The members of the board of education for the Holy Family School Division discussed the process of implementing a provincial purchase card provided by the Bank of Montreal, at their monthly board meeting held at Sacred Heart School/École Sacré Coeur on Feb. 8.
“At the provincial level, and ministry level, they are looking at efficiencies all over the place, and one of the proposed efficiencies coming out of the education sector plan is that we should consider using one common purchase card for the province,” said Gwen Keith, director of education for Holy Family.
A province-wide purchase card would supplant numerous cards currently being used in the division. Keith said the board has been researching the implications of implementing a provincial purchase card, and how those implications would be felt at all levels in the education system.
Much of what the board spoke about pertained to recent information on the matter members received from the education sector plan, prior to their meeting at Sacred Heart School/École Sacré Coeur.
“We hope to take a motion to the board in our March meeting, to look at option of a provincial purchase card,” said Keith. “The sector plan and the team working in that particular area of efficiency has named a card to have a look at, and we have to look at all the steps needed in place, to execute that plan in our school division.”
Keith noted that the planning work on how to set up a provincial purchase card for the division is set to be done at the management level. “We are waiting for more details. I haven’t got the implementation ready for us in the school division.”
According to Keith, the board is in the midst of “the waiting game,” concerning the province’s upcoming plans for transformational change in the education system. “We don’t know exactly what action the ministry is taking, yet. We’ve been told by one source that the transformational change will come by at the least on March 22, when the provincial budget comes out. That might change depending on what progress the government has made by then.”
Keith noted that the Holy Family board has a position, and are currently is waiting for further information, to help in planning the next steps it will take. “We’re strategic in what we’re doing. We can only process the information we have, and look at what we can do with that.”
