Tomorrow's council meeting CANCELLED

The School Council meeting normally scheduled for tomorrow (Dec 15) has been cancelled. The Chair wishes you all the very best for the holidays!

Also, I apologize for my silence over the past couple of weeks. I will catch up with a few posts in the coming days. For the school newsletter, December calendar and other news, please watch the school's blog, http://clairlea.blogspot.com/.

Best,
Catharine

Movie night Dec 10 - Shrek 4!

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Movie Night at Clairlea -Friday Dec 10 at 7pm. Shrek 4. $2 per person!

Holiday concert poinsettia sale

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What exactly is a "progress report"?

In case you haven't noticed the change in language, next week we're receiving "progress reports" instead of "report cards."

The head of People for Education was on the radio this morning discussing the change. Listen to the interview here. A search of the Toronto District School Board website uncovered this document, which explains the difference between and the timing for progress reports and report cards.

The role of a School Council?

Fellow CBC listeners may have heard the discussion this afternoon on the appropriate role of school councils in today's schools.* This was prompted by a People for Education report on the subject. The summary below is taken from their website.

The survey results show that parents and school council members across the province are working tirelessly to support their local schools, not only for their own children, but for the good of the entire community.

But the results showed significant disconnects - between current provincial school council policy and what school councils actually now consider their most important roles.

Among the findings in the report:

• The majority of school councils list enhancing communication as their most important role, but they report they spend the most time on fundraising.
• New provincial policy mandates that every board has a Parent Involvement Committee (PIC). While two-thirds of schools reported they knew about their board's PIC, 41% didn't know how parents got to be on the committee.
• 84% of councils report that their principals always or often notify them about education policy changes; 59% say they hear about changes from their school boards, and 34% report the Ministry of Education notifies them always or often.
• 89% of schools fundraise. Of those, 53% raise money for library books, 61% for art and music, and 56% for computers, text books or classroom supplies.

The most important task now is to ensure that our parent engagement policy and practice provides support that is:

• useful
• prevents parent involvement from becoming an onerous task
• lays the groundwork for an inclusive, welcoming environment in our schools and in our education system

What do you think? What do you think school councils should focus on?

p.s. There's more detail in this Ottawa Citizen article on the report.

Happy Halloween!

Wasn't the Halloween Howl fun? Good work Ginnie & co!!

Here's a great Halloween song to get you in the spirit... thanks Mme Dungo for the link. Have fun tonight! At our house, we've already roasted pumpkin seeds and I may try my hand at these no-bake graveyard treats this afternoon. (Wish I'd found that link in time for last week's bake sale.)

A fun meeting: providing things that Clairlea needs

October is my new favourite School Council meeting. All those pizza lunches, bake sales, gift baskets, fun fairs... they all happen for a purpose, and that purpose is to be able to buy things that Clairlea needs and can't afford. At last week's meeting, we approved our spending plan for the year - or at least for the money we have in the bank as of now.

It's worth noting that at least one (maybe more?) parents offered to research and comparison-shop so that we could get the very best prices for the items we are going to buy. Thanks, Hope!

Here's what we approved: 

• A two-afternoon Media Literacy workshop for 20 students. (If this first workshop is a success, we'd like to consider offering it to more kids, possibly with a fee to cover part of the cost, which is $20 per student.) $400
• Two in-school Mystic Drumz Assembly performances for primary and junior grades, to let the students experience live music and to introduce them to various drums from around the world. $600
• Guitar cases, picks and strings for the Guitar Club - will try to find used cases if possible. $350
• New laptop for assemblies, concerts, slideshows, dances, outdoor events and graduation. Existing laptop will be made available for student use. $3,000
• Support for Diversity Day. $100
• A projector, speakers and portable screen for classroom use, so that classes can project webcasts, videos, assignments, scientific activities and other items on a computer $1,000
• Digital cameras for shared school use $1,200
• Support for a school-wide French Day $500

...so when you sent in your baked goods and loonies today, or when you're at the Halloween Howl on Friday, now you know where your money is going! All of the items listed above were requested by teachers or staff at the school. We considered all requests and would have liked to support everything. Teachers, if your item didn't get chosen, please put in a request again next year! We would like to do everything possible to get Clairlea what it needs.

I also want to mention how much effort goes into these fundraising activities. It's an enormous undertaking to organize something like today's bake sale (right Maria?) or the Fun Fair (Irit and Mary Anne are probably still recovering) or the Halloween Howl (thanks Ginnie!).

Also from last week's Council meeting:

- The principal/VP profile was approved. Thanks to everyone who provided input.
- A school board nurse presented options for parent education, and supporting teachers and parents in ensuring students are eating healthy meals and being physically active. She passed around some documents which I said I would post on the blog and I will...just as soon as I get the links.
- Our principal, Ms. Persaud, reported on the school's budget for 2010/11, noting that the special funding from last year is no longer in place (due to great improvement in student achievement) - so the school needs to be disciplined about spending and focus on priority activities, which include literacy, the learning resource centre (library), numeracy, science, IT and other priorities too numerous to list here. The 2009-10 school budget is posted here, and I'm sure the 10-11 budget will be uploaded in due course.
- Ms. Persaud also reported that the Safe and Caring School committee is continuing its good work, focusing not just on safety but also in ensuring that Clairlea is a welcoming environment for everyone. The bus loop continues to be an area of concern and volunteers are still needed. Please contact Bev Way if you can assist... maybe just one morning or afternoon a week?
- Our vice-principal, Mr. Frenette (happily & healthfully back from a medical leave) reported that parents were asked for permission for their French Immersion students to participate in a study on a standardized test for French Immersion students. A letter has been sent home. Likely only a few Clairlea students will actually be asked to participate.
- The treasurer, Ann Silver, reported that we have about $7,500 available to allocate to school projects and requests, in addition to spending approved at the September meeting, which included grade 8 graduation, yearbook, lice squad, Student Leadership Team t-shirts, and refreshments for curriculum night and other evening events at school. (See spending report above.)

That's about all I can remember. Thanks everyone!