Saskatoon Catholic Schools begins charging lunch supervision fee

Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools is charging parents a new fee.

Starting this month, a lunchtime supervision fee applies to all children from Kindergarten to Grade 8 who stay at school during the lunch hour.

The new fee is $7 per child per month, up to a maximum of $14 per family. For Kindergarten children who only attend school for half the day, the fee is $3.50.

Supervising children over lunch is not part of a teacher’s regular duties, the division said, and paying teachers for the extra time is not covered by their collective agreement. Division spokesperson Derrick Kunz said the fees are meant to offset that unfunded expense. Prior to this school year, he added, the division simply absorbed the cost.

“Years of tight budgets have led us to the tough decision to try and recover some of, if not all of that expense,” he said.

There are options for families who can not afford the extra cost.

“We want equitable access,” Kunz said. “If a parent needs that level of care over the noon hour, they will get it. There is a process that we’ve outlined on our website about requesting an exemption for that.”

Kunz said receipts are available for the tax-deductible fees.

Both Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools and Saskatoon Public Schools are facing shortfalls for the 2022-2023 school year. The public division has been charging lunchtime supervision fees since last fall.

More information on the fees can be found on the division’s website.

–Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a misspelling in Kunz’ name.