LPCI School Council Meeting on ZOOM
Next Meeting: Monday, April 19th @ 7:00pm on Zoom
Attendees: Liz Hansen (Chair), Aiman Flahat (Principal), Victoria Johnson-Lee (NEW VP), Alex Stamp (Head of Drama), Kirsten Glenister, Karen Barasch, Alex Sabharwal, Anne Marie Armstrong, Ian Aukema, Robin Conliffe, Erika Boone, John Hiddema, Marina Chernyak, Jennifer Tse, 52 total virtual attendees
Key Dates:
- Tuesday, February 2nd @ 7:00pm SPEAKER “ADHD Highlights: What You Need to Know About ADHD” Heidi Bernhardt, founder of CADDAC, the Center for ADHD Awareness, Canada. Presented by the Gifted Advisory Committee of Northern Secondary School (Email to obtain the meeting link, which will be sent out on the afternoon of the presentation)
- Wednesday, March 3rd 3:30-7:30pm – SickKids Hospital pop-up Covid-19 pickup and drop off Testing @ Ledbury Park School, 95 Falkirk St. (in the gymnasium). ** This is a correction from the meeting and consistent with the email from the school on March 1st. It is not testing on March 3rd as mentioned, but is a pickup and drop off of saliva kits. Pickup is March 2nd.
- Who: Students, staff and families from schools around the area.
- Pickup (March 2nd) Drop off (March 3rd)
- 3:30-4:30pm Last Name A – G
- 4:30-5:30 Last name H – M
- 5:30 – 6:30pm Last names N – S
- 6:30 – 7:30 Last Names T – Z
- March 5th Yearbook Photo Deadline! Use HJ eShare App, with school code Lawrencepark. Or www.hjeshare.com
- March 9th, 7pm SPEAKER – “Understanding Your Teen & Building Better Relationships”,
The Wellness Committee is excited to host this great event by Nicole Cairns, Director of Health & Wellness, Linbrook School & Thorpe Benefits
To get the link:
Copy this link into a browser to Join Zoom Meeting https://sap-se.zoom.us/j/93392009945
OR Call: 647-374-4685 meeting id: 93392009945
OR email to request the Calendar Entry
- Student Council Update – John Williams, Alyssa D’Souza
- On February 15th, LP’s Got Talent was aired via YouTube and was a great success, lots of participation, students voted, lots of views, votes collected through Google Form’ 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners were announced and awarded with LP Wear
- Donations to Daily Bread Food Bank – currently at $1,700.00! Donation page is still up and open for donations.
- LP Wear – distribution was last week and went very well; SC members emailed students who had placed orders and were provided with designated date to come to school cafeteria to collect their orders, all successfully and safely collected their LP orders; about 30 students didn’t respond or collect – these items will be delivered to classrooms; fully virtual learning students will be invited next week to come to school (outdoor pick-up) at 1pm after the school day to pick up their items – safety is top priority and will be in place throughout distribution
- Pink Shirt Day – Assembly was held last week; “Huddle Up” guest speaker Fabion Foote of The Toronto Argonauts (associated with Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment) with bullying-prevention segment.
- Current Events & Activities at LP:
- LPAC is currently planning Student Olympics
- Relay races, general challenges, Spring Fling
- Equity Council – planning to run “Voices for Change Standing Together” May 2021, online
- Business Council – 2nd Stock Market challenge – posted on Social Media
- Buddies – have done many online challenges – currently running online Cooking challenge
- Wellness – working on wellness tree idea and incorporating data from recent mental health survey
- Drama – NTS competition in May
- Yearbook – Grade photos (Grade 9-12) for in-school students due March 5th, Grade 12 quotes due March 2nd, Quotes due March 15th for online students (via Google form that was sent out to Grade 12s) – use App (HJE E-share) to upload photos
- Sibling photos? Alyssa to provide update to Liz
- Note about Grade 9-12 selfies in The Eye for this week
- Black History Month
- Daily events including informative posts from LPCI Equity and Panthers IG accounts
- Movie nights related by Black history
- In-Class initiatives took place throughout the month of February
- Alex Stamp – Head of Drama
- Drama groups are available 5 days a week after school
- Tues 3:30pm Junior Drama Club with Google Classroom Code for any Grade; Improv Games; currently 30 members with 15 on rotation
- Sr. Drama Club – Monologues by Black playwrights for Black History Month, script reads (Clue the movie this week)
- NTS – National Theatre School – 2 one-act plays being rehearsed on Mondays (Mind Games), Fridays radio drama (The Golden Age – student-written)
- April – Main Stage Production will be on Zoom this year; The Little Mermaid (original version, not Disney version); video version will be shared with feeder schools – to be shared with JW, JRR, etc.
- Drama Club Code: 3uc43x2; Senior Drama: n5xfcn6
- Chair & Executive Reports
- Motion to approve Dec 14 Minutes – Passed by John Hiddema / Seconded by Ian Aukema
- Motion to approve Jan 18 Minutes – Passed by Karen Barasch / Seconded Kirsten Glenister
- Parent Engagement Subcommittee Chair – will be filled by Marina Chernyak
- NEW Communications Role – Marina to Co-Chair with Leigh Felesky (Gr. 10 FI parent) for remainder of 2020-21 school year
- Motion to Approve Roles – Passed by Jen Tse / Seconded by John Hiddema
- Online vote by attendees in favour: 52 participants voted yes unanimously
- 2021 Parent Grad Committee – if you’re interested, please contact Kirsten Glenister ()
Parent Question: Is there a teacher in charge of a virtual Grad? No – and we don’t know if we will have a virtual GRAD – maybe a virtual celebration – pending more info from Superintendent Andrew Howard.
Wellness Committee – Karen Barasch
- Tuesday, March 9 @ 7pm – Nicole Cairns – LP parent and Director of Health & Wellness at Linbrook School – understanding our teen and building better relationships, Zoom link has been set up and will be in The Eye for next week – feel free to share link with friends and other parents who may find this helpful; about 45 minutes with question period at the end; will be extended to neighbouring schools so they can participate
- Tomorrow night – Northern hosting email on ADHD – request link – it’s in the current issue of The Eye
- TDSB – main page – mental wellbeing link includes drop-in sessions with social workers
- Check Wellness Section of The Eye for links and info
External Mental Health Supports – Jennifer Tse, Council Secretary
- Friendship In Action – Toronto-based non-profit which has been working in TDSB schools for several years, is currently offering FREE facilitated support groups for parents, students, and teachers; for more information and to register, please Friendship in Action and scroll down to Adult Groups
- Kids Help Phone text line is available 24/7 as a FREE and anonymous mental health support; Students can text “CONNECT” to 686868; Adults can text “WELLNESS” to 741741 to be connected with a trained Crisis Responder
School’s Report – Principal Aiman Flahat
- Principal Flahat expressed sincere gratitude for council members and parent involvement
- Introduction of NEW VP Victoria Johnson-Lee, replacement for Ms. Kelly who is now at Weston Collegiate; Ms Johnson-Lee comes to us from Northern SS and is responsible for students with last names beginning with L through Z
- Continued delays with 2019-20 grad yearbooks and diplomas – waiting for direction from the Board and will keep parents updated; Principal Flahat acknowledges continued frustration for both himself and our families
- Yearbooks are on the way! Additional pages being included for grad quotes ($4,000); the school is paying for the yearbook; grad caps will be provided by the school for grad photos ($3,000); any fundraising will go to covering these costs but no pressure to contribute, as LP will be covering costs
- Equity Committee and BSA (Black Student Alliance) – students researching how to make an impact to help black-owned businesses which are struggling in Little Jamaica neighbourhood
- LP video and images appeared in a CityNews report Friday, February 25th, which erroneously accused the school of using racially-insensitive poetry to teach Grade 10 students; without fact-checking, the report was made public and after the fact, a clarification statement was added to their website indicating the course was being taught through the TDSB Virtual School, NOT an LPCI class; Aiman spent all day Friday dealing with the fallout from this incident; some classes are writing letters to the reporter involved and Aiman supports this action
- LP received an email from Toronto Public Health today – A SickKids Hospital pop-up will offer Covid-19 testing @ Ledbury Park School, 95 Falkirk St. (in the gymnasium) this Wednesday, March 3rd 3:30-7:30pm – offering testing for LPCI, Ledbury and other area schools – LPCI will send info tomorrow with details on timing for drop-ins
- LPCI currently looking at planning an awards assembly for last year’s students (current Grade 10s, 11s, 12s) at end of June – for students Grade awards (not grads) – potential date March 18th (tentative) more info to come; eligible students will receive invites to virtual event for them and their family members to attend
- OSSLT (Ontario Secondary Schools Literacy Test) – Grade 10s, 11s – full info not yet available but dates will be communicated soon; field test to be done online; must be done on school technology – not personal technology – will take place over a period of time; May through June; PD for VP Johnson-Lee and ACL English forthcoming info over next couple of weeks
- Reportedly, every classroom will have HEPA filters provided by TDSB; main office now has a filter, as well as Principal Flahat’s office
Note: (Liz Hanson) Fundraising through small business advertising – paid option being considered by Council
Motion to close meeting: John Hiddema
Seconded: Alex Sabharwal
MEETING ADJOURNED 8:20pm