EDUCATION COMMITTEE

MEETING of APRIL 10, 2006

MEMBER COMMISSIONERS:Susan Bartlett-Lewis (Vice-Chair), Rona Cupak, Ruben Fazio, John Killingbeck, Rosemary Murphy, Don Rae, Patrick Whitham, and Sue Williams-Rae

ADMINISTRATION:Ken Elliott, A. Graham (recorder), Mario Mazzarelli, Bob Mills, Paula Pedrosa, Nelly Perez , Joanne Simoneau-Polenz, and Elizabeth Speyer

OTHER COMMISSIONERS:Craig Berger, Louisa Bulgarelli-Vero, Barbara Freeston, Angela Nolet, Martin Sherman, and Howard Solomon

GUESTS: Phil Clavel, Stephanie Stever, Howard Shulak, Viviane Briand, and Nancy Hain

REGRETS:Doug Flook, Joe Zemanovich (Chair), Craig Buchanan (CPC) and Harriet Greenstone (SNAC)

  1. Phil Clavel introduced 2 teachers, Stephanie Stever and Howard Shulak, from the Alternative Program. Stephanie Stever gave a presentation on the Aggression Replacement Training (A.R.T.) at Dawson Alternative or Learning Tools to Make Better Choices for Myself. This program is taught as a course on its own as well as being integrated into the other classes. There are 3 components to this program – 1 – Skill-Streaming the behavior component, - 2 – Anger Management the emotional component and -3 – Moral Reasoning the values and virtues component. Howard Shulak gave a presentation on the Vocational Prep Course. This program has a set of criteria that each student must accomplish before they are ready to go onto a vocational or an academic program. There is a network of Alternative Centers.
  2. Viviane Briand gave a presentation on Drug Education in the Board. She covered topics ranging from prevention initiatives like Adopt an Alouette, Taking Risks Peer Education Program, collaborative ententes with Pavilion Foster and Portage, etc.
  3. Nancy Hain was informing the committee about a new research project out of McGill which will be dealing with Cyber bullying – Cyber Misconduct. The goal is to raise awareness on this topic as well as trying to guide parents on teaching proper conduct when using Cyber space.
  4. The educational Services Department is going to open a Literacy Camp this summer for student in Grades 2 and 3. Students will be invited to participate. This is in the early stages of planning. There are still some logistics to work out. More information will be forthcoming.
  5. Educational Services are also exploring the feasibility of adding a Kindergarten Numeracy Program in the extra 90 minute time slot that is being added to the primary levels next year.

Date of the next meeting is May 8, 2006 at 19:15h

Respectfully submitted by Susan Bartlett-Lewis