Minutes December 7, 2015

LPCI SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING

In Attendance:
M. Schummer, G. Wyett, L. Gray, S. Paetkau, J. Bragg, W. Sheremata, D. Carson, D. Scherbinsky,
J. Rother, D. Bergeron, K. Hancock, K. Caughlin, J. Jaffary, K. Neville-Smith, A. Mukherjee, B.
Turnball, A. Simo-Brown

Staff in Attendance:
L. Jovanovic, K. Mitchell, M Fischer, E. Platt

Handouts
LPCI budget allocation, LCPI potential speakers list, Course Selection Online instructions,
Pathways, OSS prerequisite chart and options, Credit counselling summary

Welcome by Co-Chairs (M. Schummer, S. Paetkau)
Introduction of current council members

Minutes from November 2 meeting
Not available so approval deferred to January meeting

Approval of Agenda
G. Wyett, D. Bergeron

Student Update (Jameson, Josh, Ezra)

  1. Remembrance Day Nov 11th
  2. Bullying Awareness by Equity Committee (Nov 16-20) which included taking photos and a Hashtag competition.
  3. Charity Week- $3,000 (and matched by TDSB Cares) was raised for the Syrian Refugees. Classes set up booths and sold things for $1 or $2. School Assembly to reinforce Charity week
  4. United Artists for a Cause. Congratulations for performances well done go to our musical, creative, artistic students who performed their talents. $2300 raised for charity. (230 tickets sold)
  5. Grade 8 visit and info night successful. This year, students spoke gave the grade 8’s a tour of the school and lots of positive feedback from the visiting students.
  6. Grade 12 Grad photos- have you scheduled it? Don’t miss out!
  7. December 10th- Winter music festival at 7 pm. Tickets still on sale.
  8. School ends for Christmas break December 18th.

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa. Enjoy a safe and happy holiday.

Principal Update (L. Jovanovic)

  1. Thanked the students for presenting the update and covering off most of her points!
  2. Grade 8 visit-300 grade 8 students came during the day; organized by the guidance councillors, and much was executed by the students. “Continuous Improvement” as our motto. The presentation and tour by students was well received. Short Guidance presentation and ACL teachers had a display, handbook and info on curriculum. Hospitality class provided food. Next year we’ll do something similar.
  3. Teachers were asked for a wish list. These were submitted:
    1. Technology – request for 10 Chrome Notebooks -$3000
    2. DECA (Mr. Lau) request for marketing materials -includes things like licensing fee, registrations….. $1,000
    3. Whiteboards to replace chalk boards. This created a discussion on on-going costs for markers for whiteboards, wrong markers being used, dust of chalk, hard to clean in portables….. $220 each… for every 4×8? board, approx. 4 per classroom totalling about $1000 
    4. $2,000 to replace novels in English class
    5. Green Team request $2,000 for variety of green initiatives, such as water bottles, bench, sitting circle
  4. Graduation
    • E. Platt and M. Fischer presented the situation about the Grade 12 graduation venue. There will be about 330 Grade 12 graduates this year and next requiring over 1000 seats for students and 2 parents/student. Our auditorium only holds 700. Options they considered prior to making their decision were: a) one ticket/ students b) split into 2 ceremonies c)rent a tent 4) hold off -site. The graduation committee considered that the full class of students wants to be together, weather and cost. It recommended option b) split into 2 ceremonies and give students the opportunity to attend both.
    • While parents recognized that their recommendation met the criteria, some recommended the committee talk with M. Sirois at Glenview about holding it at Montecasino, a banquet hall at Wilson and Dufferin that holds the required numbers and is used by Glenview. Most LPCI students come from Glenview and this venue and cost were acceptable. A couple parents suggested the committee get feedback from Grade 12 students. They listened to the parents, but were not asking for our input and the teachers/committee had already made their decision.

Co-Chair update. (M Schummer and S. Paetkau)

G Wyett provided an update of parent donations raised to date. In total 85 parents donated online $4845 & cheques/cash $2680. Within these amounts, most donations were general, many classroom/extracurricular directed; $600 was earmarked for auditorium and $545 to chromebooks/smartboards. After putting aside $345 for the teacher appreciation breakfast, we have $7180 to give to the school.

It was noted that in addition to this year requests, we had a list last year totalling over $120,000.

L. Jovanovic indicated that technology is a top priority and we had estimated that $30k would be needed for 3 class carts of chrome books (one for each of the three floors) and 10 smart boards that have been requested by the math department. This is why we had specifically identified this item in the School Council donation request to parents in September. There was a discussion of how few parents donated, the amount this year is usual, and the importance of supporting the teachers requests that would benefit the most students. We will send out another donation request in the new year targeting specific needs and also invited parents to help with fundraising.

Vote was taken on D Carson’s motion and passed to direct funds raised to a) $3,000 for chromebooks b) $1,000 for DECA c) $880 allowing for 4 whiteboards for the portable classrooms and evaluating if they are the right solution. (7 classes have smartboards, but too expensive to consider as alternative to whiteboards) d) $2000 for novels (through the board) e) $300 for Green Team and suggest to do some fundraising

Discussion of speakers was held after the Guidance presentation. J. Bragg had compiled a list of potential speakers with topic summaries. Our Parent Reaching Out Grant of $1000 is for postsecondary and career planning. Our November speaker Barb Swanson on post secondary planning coat $350. Emil Boychuk of The Association of Career Educators has been tentatively booked for “Exponential Changes in the Labour Market and Future Careers” on January 25th at a cost of $150. We had also hoped to have a Career Fair for students with parents speaking about their careers. After discussion with Guidance and the Principal, we think it will be difficult to get students out in the evening. We also only had one parent volunteer with our School Council survey in September. So it was recommended that we have a usual business meeting on January 25 followed by the presentation by Emil Boychuk and canvas parents again to speak about careers and try offering talks before school or at lunch to gauge interest by students. This recommendation was approved.

There is about $1000 in the School Council general budget for additional speakers. After discussion about the speakers on the list, it was agreed that we try to book Michelle Keeley for the “Teenage Tango” for a meeting in the spring. J. Rother suggested we bring in someone to talk about drugs people are using including Fentynal from Community Policing, CAMH or elsewhere. J Bragg offered to investigate.

Guidance Presentation on Course Selection and MyBlueprint

Guidance councillors Kim Mitchell and Mark Fischer presented Course Selection & Career Planning Demos. MyBlueprint can be accessed January 22- Feb 5 for course selection. Changes can be made afterwards working through Guidance. Students should have a MyBlueprint account and hopefully remember their password.

The modules on Goals, Resume, Strengths, Learning style, Interests, Career Opportunities are available throughout the year and will be incorporated into students core curriculum. The goal going forward is that this year’s students in Grade 9-11 update MyBlueprint twice per year . We will be providing time in Grade 9 Phys Ed, Grade 10 Civics and Careers, and Grade 11 English so that students will have a good sense of what they need to do.

The computer lab was available to try hands on access to MyBlueprint with Guidance.

Meeting was adjourned

LPCI School Council Meeting: Monday Jan 25, 2016 6:30pm.
Presentation by Association of Career Educators on Exponential Changes in Labour Market and Future Careers

Ward 8 Forums: January 18 7pm Glen Park on Aboriginal education

March 29 Mental health; May 16 Library resources

March 29 Mental health; May 16 Library resources