LPCI School Council Meeting
In attendance:
S. Kopyto, S. Paetkau, G. Wyett, D. Boughner, L. Turkish, L. Addis, M. Freel, J. Rother, C. Poole, A. Fonseca, C. Kielly, M. Wyndham-West, P. Sweeney, L. Jovanovic,
Welcome by Co-Chair (G. Wyett)
Review and approval of agenda
Motion by D. Boughner, Seconded by P. Sweeney
Motion passed
Approval of November 4, 2013 Council Meeting Minutes
Motion by D. Boughner, Seconded by G. Wyett
Motion passed.
Student Update (Peter)
– Last week was charity week, went very well, lots of participation from gr 9 and 10 students, still counting money raised, all funds will be donated to the Philippine typhoon relief efforts.
– Planning semi formal for Feb 14, 2014.
– Drug assembly – questions are being asked if it will be held again this year with Keith Singer (L. Jovanovic responded that there will be a full assembly with Keith address each grade individually), would be helpful if Springer event took place prior to semi formal to reinforce messages about appropriate behaviour.
Principal Update (L. Jovanovic)
– Remembrance Day Assembly held last week was amazing, CTV News and Global News attended and reported on it.
– PD day staff professional learning took place on technology on Fixed MindSet.
– Nov 16-22 is Bullying Awareness Week, follow-up for gr 9 after Muskoka Woods events.
– Very successful parent teacher interviews, positive evaluations, due to increased number of students every teacher cannot meet with every parent, exploring alternate ways to hold interviews including allowing a full day for interviews instead of the current half day schedule. Parents can also contact individual teachers if unable to meet during interviews and teachers will make arrangements to speak with them either in person or over the phone.
– Follow up discussion from parents about interviews:
- all teachers should have student assistants to keep interviews on track and on time
- maybe all parents don’t have to see all teachers if their kids are doing well, give priority to kids who are struggling
- but kids may have other challenges besides marks that parents need to talk to teachers about
- important for teachers to be able to fill in the gaps for the parent and vice versa
- good to have relationship between parents and teachers
- every parent should have opportunity to meet/talk to teachers
- 5 minute per interview is very short, need more time.
- maybe need a curriculum night for all grades (currently only grade 9 has a curriculum night). This would allow parents to meet their children’s teachers and for some students may alleviate the need for their parents to come in for an interview
– Concerns have been raised about the traffic in front of the school, cars parking on both sides of the street, lots of kids leaving at same time, causing congestion and traffic issues, had a police officer in to monitor to see if speed limit is too high, Officer reported it is not a speed issue but a congestion issue, police will drop by again to monitor.
– Winter musicale will be held on Dec 12.
-PD day on Fri Dec 20 for teachers and students, admin and support staff will be in school.
-Board is providing enrolment projection for next 5 years, doesn’t look like we will get portables this year, next year numbers will still be high, need to look at other alternatives like double lunches, Superintendent will be at school on Dec 19 to hear proposal, don’t know details yet, board also looking at changing boundaries, growth in numbers is coming in all 3 streams (English / French Immersion / Extended French)..
– There is a subcommittee of the School Council looking at safety and capacity of the building, looking at alternatives, looking at designation as limited vs. closed school for out of district kids, need to find short term fix and long term solutions.
– On Jan 16, school will host a Pathways fair at 7 pm, mostly designed for gr 10 and 11 students, will include information on colleges, universities, apprenticeships, gap year options for students and parents.
– Jan 8 will be Gr 8 visits to the school in the afternoon.
– Jan 9 will be Gr 8 Information night.
– At the next school council meeting, the Guidance Councillors will be here to talk about courses and pre requisites before course selection forms are due, also 2 teachers will talk about new initiatives.
– Eye on LPCI will now only be posted on the school website, it has become too difficult for the office staff to continue to send it out as an email each week.
– Staff is taking part in PD each Wednesday morning with work based on Richard Dufour’s research.
Parent Discussion:
– The students seem to need more help from Guidance in terms of career choices, letting kids know about options, what might lead them to a career.
– There is a whole wealth of resources through our parent community that we should be using (parents in as guest speakers to talk about their careers).
– Need to give students more real world examples of careers, should have speakers come in the fall before university/college applications have to be in, extension of take your kids to work day.
– Students need to know there are lots of options and it is not necessarily straight to university.
– Find ways to make guidance services more welcoming for students and parents.
– Is there a policy about the number of tests per day? Do teachers coordinate this with one another?
– Answer – It is up to students to go see their teacher and ask for tests to be delayed if they have many on one day, teacher coordination takes place for summatives but not necessarily for tests through year.
Chair update (G. Wyett)
– Social media speaker will present on Mon Dec 9 to students during the day and parent community at night.
– There is also an event at Forest Hill Collegiate on Tues Dec 10 about identity theft that LPCI parents are invited to attend.
– The School Council budget for the 2013/2014 school year was presented. It was explained that the LPCI School Council does not usually fundraise; the only source of funds for the council comes from the TDSB and the Ontario government. The proposed budget is included below:
Note: Other Revenue consists of the TDSB funds for council:
| Amount | Description |
| $1,000.00 | Annual Budget Allocation $1.25 per Student to a maximum of $1,000 |
| $500.00 | Parent Engagement Funds granted by TDSB part 1 |
| $0.00 | Parent Engagement Funds granted by TDSB part 2 – a $5,000 allocation plus $0.17/student |
| $1,000.00 | Parent Reaching Out Grant – application approved for 2013 – 2014 |
| -$151.20 | School Council Insurance paid through council funds from TDSB |
| $2,348.80 |
There is a separate foundation (the LPCI Foundation, which is a charitable organization) which receives all donations from parents. The Foundation receives direction from the School Council on how those donations should be spent. Early in 2014 the council will work with the school administration to determine how the donations raised through the foundation should be spent in the school.
Two motions were presented:
1) Motion – Proposed LPCI School Council budget for the 2013/2014 school year to be accepted as presented.
2) Motion – Money collected to date from donations for the auditorium renovation through the Foundation be released to the school to help pay for renovations (about $8000 last year and more this year although no final figure yet).
Moved – M. Freel
Seconded – D. Boughner
Motions passed.
Other Business
None.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.
The next meeting will be Jan 6, 2014.