School Advisory Council / Chairperson: Rachael Tabor
c/o Dartmouth High School
95 Victoria Road
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B3A 1V2
DHS SAC Minutes- January 11, 2010 @ 7pm
Present: Rachael Tabor, Eartha Monard, John Regan, Cynthia Plant Hansen, , Heather Elms-Wood, Mike Page, Emma MacIntosh, Michael Chiasson, Julia Gaspar, Fred Gaspar, Linda Rowe
Regrets: Nathan Foss, Mike Cosgrove, Ivan Skeete, Maureen Banfield, Mary Lynn Kersey, Nellie Clyke
1. Rachael called the meeting to order at 7pm.
2. Introductions were made for all present.
3. Minutes were approved as written for December 7, 2009
4. Business Arising from Minutes
Letter re: Exam Exemptions
Cynthia asked for input concerning the draft letter regarding the exemption letter that was sent home from the school informing the community about the withdrawal of exemptions for the year. Linda asked about the timing issues involved, Cynthia explained that the question behind the draft letter was why the exemption decision was not made before September. Linda suggested that the letter reflect that the question was raised by the SAC student representatives. Mike C. stated that he was happy that the letter did not question the decision, only the timing. Cynthia will amend the letter to reflect the above suggestion, and she moved that the SAC accept the letter as amended. PASSED
Dartmouth Commons Masterplan
Mike P. reported that the completed Dartmouth Commons Master Plan has yet to be presented to the HRM council, which should happen early in the New Year. There was some discussion and concern regarding road closure issues. Mike will continue to watch these issues and update the SAC.
5. Principal's Report:
Eartha reported that she had spoken with Ron Hyman, and that HRSB did not wish to spend the $800,000 by end March simply to spend it, they are advertising for a project manager on January 19th, and then will tender for a design team. DOE has assured us that the $800,000 will not disappear after March 31st.
MADD will be doing two presentations at DHS on April 26th, one in English and one in French, as a consequence of a tragic accident earlier this summer.
HRSB is on Twitter, it can be found at www.twitter.com/HRSB_Official
Staffing has been a continual process this year. Our VP is out for three weeks, as well as others for illnesses and maternity. It has been difficult to find French immersion teachers, Eartha said she has reallocated some assignments in order to make the French immersion courses work for second semester. As well, Mike Chiasson is now the science department head, and Trish MacIntosh has taken over student services.
January 29th will be our first semester Assessment Day. The second semester will start on February 1st.
Of the 28 eligible students for the Credit Recovery program, some students opted to repeat the course in question and there were a few that were not interested at this time. Eartha was pleased to report that the 16 who recovered their credit made the program a continual
success.
The band trip dates are May 12th to the 16th.
Our Drama 11 class will be doing a performance on Thursday night at 7pm.
SAC professional development is coming up on Tuesday, February 2, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. It will focus on the role of the SAC in the School Improvement Planning Process. Eartha will email details to Rachael.
One of our students, Erin Bowridge will be attending the NSSLC conference March 6th to the 20th in Mexico. Julia explained the working of this group to the SAC.
PFI continues, the committee is continuing to work with HRSB on our School Self Assessment Framework.
Eartha explained the 2009-2010 “Getting to Great” survey process, this year we will be providing incentives to try to increase the participation rates by student, parents and teachers.
6. Student Council Report: Julia reported the following:
Student Council’s last meeting was Thursday morning, the charity of the month, Feed NS food drive was very successful, with $ 1700 worth of donations, with the food donated through the CBC food drive.
A successful dodgeball tournament was held before Christmas, it was run by the grade 12s.
The Leadership class will be running a study room, providing smoothies and extra help.
The January charity of the month will have student council representatives volunteering at Margaret House.
February will see Change Bandits Fundraising.
The Breakfast Program now runs three days per week, and has recently received a professional grade conveyor toaster. Jill Ross, our family studies teacher has been making muffins for the program as well.
Pastor Beals has been coming to the school to connect with our students, as well two of our teachers, Dean Lee and Ivan Skeete, have started a cultural awareness youth group at DHS.
Meeting was adjourned at 755pm. Next meeting will be March 1, 2010 at 7pm