Minutes
School Council Meeting
Date: Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Briony Glassco Chaired and called the meeting to order at 6:08 pm
Present:
-Briony Glassco (Co-chair) ()
-Sue Gowans ()
-Sharon Tauber ()
-Mr. Tomlin
-Heather Sullada
-Irene Lara-Corrales ()
-Zoe Walton ()
-Rossana Sanzo ()
-Johanna Wong (co-chair) ()
-Said Khayat ()
Last meeting’s minutes – pending to be approved
December’s minutes not approved yet – Briony will send them around by e-mail to approve
Meeting Agenda for today approved.
School Principal’s report
- General Update
-Staffing for next year : The first step in this process is for the Board to give Mr. Tomlin the projections for next school year. Mr. Tomlin has already been given by the Board a projection of 338 students for next year’s school year (last year’s projection was 268). This number has increased from the current number of students currently attending Orde (310 students). It is projected that there will be 95-96 students in kindergarten, this means that there will be 5 kindergarten units (to be able to keep the 20:1 student : teacher ratio). With these projections, it is expected that we will be getting more teachers (likely 2).
-Reading recovery program will stay at Orde. Thanks and flowers were given to Sue for all her hard work to make this happen. Mr. Tomlin inform us that the program will stay as long as they fund it.
-French immersion program: For next September it is projected that only 4 students will be remaining in the French immersion program in grade 6. Parents of these students have been approached regarding options for their children, and all parents want the program to stay at Orde. Allison Pearce and Mr. Tomlin will meet with parents to discuss options to try to make the best decision for the children. Mr. Tomlin was concerned about the challenges it might represent to have a 4 student class. This is still in planning stages and it has not been resolved yet. He promised to keep the school council informed.
-Sue inquired how new staff is hired by the school. Mr. Tomlin explained that the process is started once the next year’s projections are received, since the staffing is based on the projection. Seniority of teachers is checked, and possible candidates are interviewed by Mr. Tomlin. Mr. Tomlin then decides who might be good candidates and teaching models are reviewed with parents. Then a decision is made.
- Initiatives
-Boy’s Literacy Club has been started. It meets every Wednesday. Staff will take turns looking after the activity (demonstrate reading, reading to the boys, etc.)
-Youth Talk – This has been a Board initiative and Student Council has been involved. March 3rd they will be having another session.
- Community Links
-Chinese New Year’s celebration – Mrs. Wong was thanked for hand-making 288 dumplings.
-The primary concert will take place on May 6th, the same day as the Fitness Awareness Day.
-Mr. Khayat will address Fitness Awareness Day later.
-March 10th, the Hillbilly Goat play will take place.
- Program
-EQAO assessment will take place in May for 3rd and 6th graders. Currently, Orde has been categorized as a “School in the middle” – “School on the move”. What this means is that with the EQAO assessment, students are classified into 4 levels (level 3 is the Province expectation, level 4 exceeds the expectation). Orde has students at a level 2 that need to be helped to move to level 3. This is why they call it a school on the move.
- Information Items
-Report cards will be sent home next Tuesday, March 2nd.
-Parent teacher meetings will also take place next week (March 4 and 5).
-Next School Council meeting will take place March 25.
Committee reports and idea sharing
- Hillbilly Goat play
-Rosana Sanzo presented the plan for the Hillbilly Goat play for March 10th. The flyer announcing the play was reviewed as well as the timeline for the activity. It was suggested to add in the flyer that free parking will be available for parents in the school’s playground. Heather volunteered to add some graphics to the flyer. Children will receive flyer next Monday and they will be expected to return it by Thursday. The day of the event Mr. Tomlin and the school’s caretaker will open the Orde street access to the gym for the performers. Fundraiser activities for that day were discussed (fundraising is needed for Island trip as well as for new Band instruments). Starbucks coffee will be offered for parents, Heather will contact the Starbucks assigned to Orde and volunteered to pick up the coffee the night of the event with the help of other teachers. Popcorn and juice boxes will also be sold that night. Childcare for small siblings of students was discussed, it was agreed that it might not be possible to offer care for small children; it will be reconsidered if parents inquire about it. Zoe and Heather said they would organize the design and printing of the tickets.
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- Literacy nights
-Sue presented her ideas for Literacy nights. Studies around literacy have shown that the more you do, the more benefit. She wants to make a series of Literacy nights for motivation. For this, she thinks that bringing celebrities and sport stars to the events, and making these family-oriented events, kids will be more motivated towards reading. To promote this recurrent motivation, she thinks the events have to be fun and academic for the kids, and in this way promote reading. She thinks that 4 or 5 events per school year should be the target. The idea to make a partnership with the local Library was raised by Heather, but it was discusses that although the Library’s physical space is fabulous, it would be better to keep the event centered at the school. It was also proposed to bring teachers on board, Sue feels that although teacher input is welcomed, this should be kept as a Parent-lead initiative. Staff might want to call is something other than Literacy night, Heather will get teachers involved. Sue will work on getting parents involved. Action plan will be to advertise for committee members with an event by the end of this year (May?).
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- Ward 10 and PIAC
-Briony informs next Ward 10 meeting is on March 2nd.
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- Family fitness night
-Mr. Khayat informs that Family fitness night will take place on May 6th. Committee for this activity has already had their first meeting. Students, public health nurses and parents are involved. Timeline: 5 pm arrive for food, 5:30 workshops, sessions will take place, 6:30 wrap up 6:45 finish activity. Prizes will be given at the end of the activity. Searching for more community involvement. There needs to be more advertising to parents. Next week, on March 4th at the Health room, the next committee meeting will take place. The workshops, sessions that are being projected for the activity are: nutrition, reading food nutrition labels, Toronto Public Health station, Yoga lesson to take place, Tai-chi, a activity outside, dental station, a Wii station. Mr. Khayat wants help from the Parent Council to advertise the activity, to help with RSVP and to get some prizes for the activity.
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- Student council initiatives
-Zoe from Student council reported on their initiatives.
-They have started a Tutoring Club that meets every other Wednesday in the Library. The idea is to help students not only with their school work, but also with bullying or any other problems students may have.
-A talent show is being planned, it will be called “Orde Idol”. They want auditions to be held before March Break to make sure the content of the presentations is appropriate for the activity and that participants will respect time given for each presentation. Parent Volunteers are needed for this activity. They are hoping to perform at the end of year barbecue
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- End of year Barbecue
-The question was raised by Briony if we still have enough time or enough parent volunteers to plan and run an end of year Barbecue, since it is so time consuming and so much help is needed for the activity. It was agreed that a Barbecue Committee should be created as soon as possible if the activity is going to be carried out.
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- Lunar New Year report
-Mrs. Wong reported about the Lunar New Year celebration. Activity was a success. She showed some pictures of the activity. She told us about the success the dumplings had been and how she was able to show students how these were made.
Teachers’ report
- Lunar New Year celebration
-The activity was described as outstanding. It was child-centered and child-friendly. Teachers were very engaged. Stations were set up by Ms. Tsui and the mandarin teachers. Kids had a great time. Thanks given to everyone involved.
- Boys’ Literacy Club
-Club was started this week. Ms. Kim, Mr. Lewis, Ms. Greenberg and others volunteered for this activity.
- Technology Club
-Mr. Szonyi started a Technology Club.
- Arts in the school
-Anna (Ms. Intarakosit) wants to bring arts to the school. The first activity being planned is a story telling with drums.
Any other business
-Mrs. Wong shared that 2 Orde Alumni had volunteered for the Lunar New Year activity and that they had been actively involved that day. It was suggested that in order to get Orde Street Alumni involved in the school activities, the activities could be advertised in the Orde Street Alumni Facebook page, and this way they can volunteer for the activities.
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-Mrs. Wong also mentioned that the Ward 10 Summer Camp could be offered for Orde students. This is a free summer camp that provides nutritional lunch and a mix of academics and sports for students. It runs July and August. Last year it took place at Ryerson, this year it has been divided up for younger and older kids, the older kids part will take place at Central Commerce . This is an initiative by the TDSB. Information to be put in QT when available.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:53 pm