EIGHT union support staff are being laid off and 13 more casual staff are losing their jobs at the North Vancouver Outdoor School near Squamish.
The layoffs are among moves the school district hopes will help the 40 year-old outdoor school break even on its programs by 2015.
The outdoor school has lost close to $1 million over the past two years - money that has had to come out of the school district's K-12 classroom funding.
The layoffs are effective June 30, but in some cases the workers' contracts are being carried through August to ensure that they still have employee benefits through the summer.
Those who have been working under the CUPE contract are being offered the option of being reassigned to jobs elsewhere in the district, retiring or accepting severance packages, said Victoria Miles, school district spokeswoman.
The North Vancouver school district owns the 420-acre North Vancouver Outdoor School site, where it has operated the outdoor school as an environmental education facility for more than four decades. It has been used by a variety of public and private groups from across the region for environmental education and outdoor leadership training.
In June 2012, outdoor school officials opened a new $5.8 million North Shore Credit Union Environmental Learning Centre.
The recent layoffs come as part of a continuing plan by the school district to turn over marketing of the outdoor school property as an eco-tourism destination to Listel Hotels, which has been managing the site in a partnership with the school district for the past two years.
John Lewis, North Vancouver schools superintendent, said as part of the plan, accommodations at the site in the Cheakamus Valley are being upgraded to appeal to adult guests. Lewis said it makes sense for a group with expertise in hospitality to manage the site.
Tina Meadows, a national representative with CUPE, said the union isn't happy about the layoffs.
"We weren't aware of the full scope of what they were doing," she said. Meadows said the union views the process as outsourcing jobs to a private company that will likely hire non-union replacements.
The school district has set a target of reducing costs by $150,000 in the next year, with a target of breaking even by 2015.
"I would say that's an aggressive target," said Lewis. "We would like to achieve it as quickly as we can."
The outdoor school currently generates revenues of about $1 million each year, but has expenses of between $1.4 and $1.5 million.
The school offers environment education programs to about 5,000 school children each year, plus about 4,500 adults.
Students from the North Vancouver school district pay the lowest fees for programs at the site, ranging from about $105 for a two-day cultural history program to $260 for a five-day program. School children from outside the district pay higher fees and adults pay the most.
It's likely that all of those fees will be increasing, although Lewis said fees for students will likely rise only between $10 and $20 per program.
Two vice-principals remain at the school, and it'll be their job to administer the plan the school district comes up with - likely to include some paid staff and some volunteers.
Miles said it's possible some of the laid-off workers will be hired back once the plan is in place.
