Each school will be provided with an annual allowance, which will be used by the Principal to reimburse Teachers who use their automobiles as a result of their involvement in extracurricular activities. This allowance shall be calculated in the following manner:

i) Total number of full-time equivalent students as at October 31 x 2.30 annual allowance

ii) No school shall receive less than $450 as an annual allowance.

What Activities Are Covered?

Funds dispersed through Article 8.02 are used to reimburse permanent teachers for the use of their personal vehicles while involved in extracurricular activities. The list of activities included in this are wide and varied, which makes it difficult to provide a definitive list to which members can turn. Some activities are easier to identify as qualifying, while other activities may be debatable.

As a guiding principle, extracurricular activities are not part of your regular curriculum. This can include attending the school BBQ, coaching teams, running a club etc. If, however, you were running an activity for your class which required running around to collect supplies, that type of activity would not qualify. Likewise, activities which are Board driven would not qualify, and should more appropriately be reimbursed through a Board mileage claim.

As a best practice, we offer the following suggestion: Get together at lunch as a staff and go through the calendar to figure our what activities would be included and then have each teacher add activities to their own personal forms as you go through each month. This would help to eliminate any animosity between teachers given that you are all on the same page. The expectation is that the honour system is used so it’s important that all teachers are included in the discussions to avoid conflicts as much as possible.

Some Scenarios

• It is important to avoid making a decision to just use the money for a staff function or school event. If a staff wants to do this, each teacher should be given their portion of the funds and then if they choose, they can donate the money back.

• If you coached a team and all your games were at your home school so you did not have to drive, this would NOT be covered. However, if there was a late game and you went home and back, then it would be covered.

• If you picked up snacks for the school snack program, this would NOT be covered. It should be covered under board mileage.

• If you were holding a popcorn sale to raise money for a class trip and used your car to pick up popcorn, this would NOT be covered. It should be covered under board mileage.

• If you were doing a craft with your class and went to the store to purchase supplies, this would NOT be covered.

• ·If you coached a team and there was a game on Saturday, mileage from home to the game and back home would be covered.

• The donation of money to the CYO or any other charity should not be the result of a majority vote or the wishes of the majority. It is a choice each recipient makes. The preferred method would be for the school to issue the cheques to each eligible individual who could choose to donate the money. That way teachers would not feel pressured and they would receive a tax receipt.

On June 15, we gathered as colleagues and friends to mark the auspicious career milestones of those reaching 25 years of service with OECTA, and to celebrate our retirees of the past number of years. It was truly an event to remember. The Retirement Celebration Committee is already looking forward to planning next year's event. Stay tuned for details in the coming school year.

To our 25 Years Service Award recipients who were unable to attend the event. We are working out a plan to distribute your gift to you. Given the time constraints found at the end of the school year, the delivery of the gifts will not occur until September at the earliest. More information about this will come in the new school year.

As this year draws to an end, we look ahead to the planning of next year. All Committee Chairpersons who wish to increase their respective committee's budget are asked to submit their proposed budget by Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in order for the budget process to run its course, which begins in the summer. If you could highlight specific categories by expense, that would be helpful to the budget deliberations.

Before we break for summer holidays, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all interested OECTA members to the Finance Committee Meeting on Wednesday, August 31, 2022. Further details will be sent out at a later date once the number of attendees are confirmed.