School Council Minutes
Earl of March Secondary School Council Minutes
15 November 2010
In Attendance:
Erma Caissie-Richard , John Chaffey, David Cummings, Julia Deacon, Muhammad Dhodhi, David Gladwin, Heather Graham, Karen Johnston, Monty Montgomery, Sangita Patel, Mary Anne Trenker.
Regrets: Nil.
Opening Remarks
1. The Chairman thanked Erma Caissie-Richard for arranging for the new School Council Bank Account.
Agenda
2. The agenda was approved as promulgated.
Approval of Previous Minutes
3. The minutes of the 18 October meeting were approved with one change. Paragraph 3(e) was amended to indicate that Paulette Roberge and Erma Caissie-Richard would share the responsibilities of attending the Secondary School Committee of the Ottawa Carleton Assembly of School Councils (OCASC) on behalf of Earl of March Secondary School.
Chair’s Report
4. The Chairman reported on the following items of interest.
a. OCDSB Strategic Plan / Schools for the Future. OCDSB is renewing its Strategic Plan for 2011-2015, and holding consultations for the month of November. The theme of the strategic plan is on creating schools for the future and asks three fundamental questions. What should the school of the future look like? What best practices should be continued? What school practices should be changed? The previous consultation was Friday, 12 November 2010 at Confederation Education Centre. The final consultation will be at Earl of March Secondary School on Friday 30 November 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium. All are welcome.
b. School Council Appreciation. There will be a reception hosted by OCDSB for all School Council members at 6:00 p.m., Thursday 18 November 2010 to show appreciation for their volunteerism. This reception will be held at 133 Greenbank Road and will be followed by an OCASC meeting at 7:00 p.m.
c. Third-Party Liability Insurance. Liability insurance is available through the OCDSB to School Councils. Recently though, a third-party company approached the Chair on the subject of supplemental liability insurance available to the School Council at an additional cost of $185. The Chair asked the School Council if they felt the Council should take this additional insurance. Following discussion, it was decided the matter required additional study. Report expected next meeting.
d. EOM Anniversary Meeting. There will be a planning meeting for the Earl of March Secondary School 40th Anniversary at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 23 November 2010 in the Staff Room. All are welcome. An additional update was provided and indicated the format may change to a two-day event from the currently planned three days. The anniversary reunion will be held mid-May 2011.
e. Premier’s Awards for Teaching Excellence. The Chair indicated that the process on nominations was underway for the Premier’s Awards for Teaching Excellence, and that Principal Massey would take any suggestions or nominations from Council Members.
f. School Council Speaker Series. Amanda Neilson of the Rideauwood Addiction and Family Services will present an informative evening of information on teen addiction and substance abuse on Monday, 22 November 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the EOM auditorium.
OCASC Secondary School Committee Report
5. Not available
Student Representative’s Report
6. Julia Deacon updated the School Council on the latest student activities.
a. Canned Food Drive. The EOM Canned Food Drive is well underway with 850 cans collected in the first week.
b. “Gotcha.” This is a game sponsored by the student council and played by students as a fundraiser. Students purchase pins at $2.00 and then try to obtain them from other students by sneaking up on them. The student who collects the most pins wins.
c. Earl of March Clothing. The School Council is offering a variety of clothing for purchase. This includes hoodies, T-shirts, sweat pants and long-sleeved shirts amongst other items. The items will be on sale from 15-26 November 2010 and will be delivered prior to Christmas holidays.
d. Student Coffee House. This will be an opportunity for students to demonstrate their musical talent. Sign-up will be after Christmas with dates for the function to be determined.
e. Christmas Assembly. Practice for student acts for the Christmas assembly is well underway
f. Rock-a-thon. The student Rock-a-thon was a huge success with over six thousand dollars raised for the “Right to Play,” a charity that provides sports equipment to third world countries.
g. The Inside Ride. Students have formed twenty-three teams to participate in the “Inside Ride,” a fund-raiser that involves students riding stationary bicycles.
Teacher’s Report
7. Steve Massey provided the following report on behalf of Scott Pemberton:
a. Student Services is expecting pin numbers for grade 12’s applying to Ontario Universities to arrive the last week of November. We will advertise their arrival through our grad email list, announcements, our white board outside student services and the school website. Students applying to colleges do not require a pin number and can start now at www.ontariocolleges.ca
b. Grade 10 and 11 students interested in applying to American universities may be interested in an information session on SATs being offered by PrepSkills. The information session will take place on Saturday, November 27th, 2010 at 10:00 am- 12:00 am, #2 Monk St. (The Glebe House), Ottawa ON.
c. Mrs. Scheepers took 24 students to the In Love and In Danger Fall Conference – this conference included guest speakers, activities and resources that foster healthy dating relationships and promote the campaign to end violence against women.
d. 25 students will be attending the play “Vimy” at the Great Canadian Theatre Company with Mrs. Scheepers on Thursday, December 9th. Attendees will include current History students and Europe 2011 trip participants.
e. A guest speaker from The Memory Project (the National Historica-Dominion Institute) will be in speaking to my History class on Thursday, November 25th. This individual has just returned from a 3rd tour in Afghanistan.
f. The Ottawa Hospital’s “On Track” program visited Mrs. Scheepers’ grade 12 Sociology students to discuss mental health – specifically first episodes of psychosis and schizophrenia. The guest panel included a nurse, counsellor and a success story (a young gentleman living with schizophrenia).
g. Remembrance Day Ceremonies were very well attended and respected. This event was a great joint effort by several staff members and over 100 students.
h. The White Ribbon Campaign will be in full force the first week of December – the goal is to have all staff and students wearing a white ribbon on December 6th and to observe a moment’s silence in the memory of the 14 women who were gunned down by Marc Lepine at the l’ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. This moment of silence will also be dedicated to all women and children who are victims of partner and domestic violence.
j. Athletics. The following repor was provided from the athletics department:
i. It was an exciting Fall for Sports….EOM went to the semi-finals in Jr. Boys Soccer and Sr. Boys Volleyball (10-0) and Sr. Girls B-Ball.. thanks to Frances D’Alessandro and Mike Sammon and Brenda Rogers. Jr. Girls B-ball went to the preliminaries and boys non-contact hockey are 2nd in their division. Our Midget Girls cross country runners went to OFSAA and ranked 18th in Ontario!! Thanks you to all the teams in the Fall for upholding the ideals of what sport is all about! We had a successful season with 9 teams completing.
ii. EoM Winter sports are in full swing with Sr. Boys and Jr. Boys Basketball, Sr. Girls Volleyball, Midget girls volleyball, Nordic Skiing, Boys Curling and Girls Curling…Good Luck!
iii. Grade 9 Spark students ran the 5km MADD race and were very successful and PROUD of themselves!!
iv. Grade 10 Fitness class ran the 5- 1- km MADD race
v. Grade 11 and 12 Fitness ran the 10 km Rattle Me Bones Race for the General Hospital
vi. IDC 4U – raised 6700.00 for for the Rock-A-Thon for Right to Play and are currently working on Inside Ride which is this Wednesday in the lower foyer raising money for kids living with cancer. Also working on a new event called the Earl Amazing Race raising goods (clothing, towels, toothbrushes…etc….) for Operation Come Home.
vii. All grade 9 P.E. classes are in Self Defence – basic idea is create awareness of one surrounding and listen to one instincts.
Principal’s Report
8. Principal Steve Massey covered the following five areas:
a. Lockdown Practice. Principal Massey relayed that lockdown practice went very well at the school. Normally, the school will practice lockdown twice per year, and six times per year for the fire drill. Students are well practiced and the last fire drill was completed in nine and one half minutes.
b. School Report Cards. School report cards will be due out Wednesday, 17 November 2010 during period four. The report cards will have a new format this year, aligning with the OCDSB “Growing Success” policy.
c. Student Volunteerism. Principal Massey told the School Council how a group of twelve Earl of March students decided on their own to go trick or treating this Halloween on behalf of the Kanata Food Bank. Between the twelve students, they were able to donate 800 cans of food.
d. OCDSB School Survey. At the time of the School Council meeting the OCDSB School Survey was scheduled for 22 November – 10 December 2010. The intent of the survey is to help the OCDSB fine tune services provided to schools within the Board. Secretarial Note: the Survey has since been delayed.
e. Food and Beverage Policy. Principal Massey showed a DVD that outlined the new food and beverage policy that will come into effect for the next academic year.
Other Business
9. Nil.
Next Meeting
10. The next meeting will be held Monday, 13 December at 7:00 pm in the School Library.
Adjournment
11. There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned by the Chair at 9:00 p.m.
Minutes prepared by David Cummings