Minutes November 3, 2014

LPCI School Council Meeting

In attendance:

G.Wyett, L Gray, P Sweeney, T Eakins, L Fedryk, J Jaffary, J Yacoub, M. Schummer, J Rother, S Paetkau, M Chibba, L Addis, W Sheremata, L Turkish, M Wyndham, C Kielly, S. Kosmopoulos, L Kennedy, D Carson, V Becic, D. Boughner, L. Jovanovic, M. Gurgol, R. Kelly

1. Welcome by Chair (L. Gray)
The Chair introduced P. Chang the Superintendent.

2. Review and approval of agenda– L. Addis approved minute- Seconded by G. Wyett

3. Approval of October 2014 Council meeting minutes 

  • Not available so deferred to next meeting.

4. Student update

  • Our clubs, we have had “ Because I am a Girl” club .
  • CN Tower Climb in support of United Way was held on October 18.
  • Decca Club – Regionals last week, wrote exams, Regional competition ( Business Clubs)
  • United Artists coming up Nov 27 really exciting. Big event – lots of people show up.
  • Rememberance Day is coming up. 190 students involved in the event this year (beautiful display).
  • Fall Sports are wrapping up. Winter sports tryouts are underway for example boys basketball tryouts and girls volleyball, swim club
  • Tennis boys and girls won city finalists 4th year in a row. Juniors in finals and won today. Cross country junior girls team won second year in a row.
  • Intermural dodgeball finished fall season. Grade 11 team won.
  • Dance happens end of October for Grades 11 & 12.
  • Winter musical Dec 10.
  • A second dance occurs in February/March.
  • Charity week occurs Nov 24-28. Home form reps have been elected and start planning this coming Friday.

 5. Principal’s Update

  • Students did a wonderful drive during Spirit Week.
  • October 16 – Awards Assembly (annual event) for 120 students who had received outstanding marks in 2013/14 ; Hospitality class baked 2 cakes.
  • Oct 14 – Christiane Pillion was a guest in French First Class Nation.
  • October 20th – Annual Substance grade level assembly with Keith Singer. Teachers not present so students feel comfortable making connections and asking questions. Amazing
  • Big Event – Nov 14th. Teacher profession development day on mental health and well being ( 15% of students are affected). Our goal is that every student will have someone they can go to. Teachers will work on strategies to help students. Example: Anxiety/ ADHD – send note to teachers about signs and the strategies that for use in the classroom . “Supporting Minds” document from the Ministry of Education will be used.
  • Oct 28th – Caring and Safe School meeting starts at 7:45 a.m.
  • Oct 30th – Pathways fair with post-secondary institutions for parents and students. Event well received and had great attendance. Kim Mitchell did an amazing job.
  • October 31st – Final evaluations deadline for upcoming report card.
  • November 20 are parent teacher interviews
  • November 24-28 Spirit week to raise money for charity
  • In response to concerns raised at October meeting, principal has looked into concerns about shortage of textbooks. Grade 12 math textbooks have been purchased. Students have access to books the teachers are using either in their in the classroom or on the website. Some teachers collect chapters from different textbooks and compile them into one booklet. Every student has access to a book. Kids can sign out book. If kids cannot take books home to read its because the teachers are teaching differently.
  • In response to request for a curriculum night for all grades, we are looking into planning one for 2016. We are finding out what North Toronto does.

Parent Concern:

Parent said Grade 10/11 teachers are telling kids there are not enough Shakespeare books. ACL will be invited to the next meeting to discuss english class strategies and access to books and materials.

  1. Chair Update– L Gray noted that sports announcements are very important and added Rugby 7’s got Third place at City champions last week. Our team is made of juniors not seniors. Amazing job. Rugby 15 in the Spring. Junior football team won their original game last week and heading to semi- finals. Senior football team just finished their season.- Given the limited time, L Gray introduced Superintendent P Chang.
  2. Superintendent Discussion by P. Chang– P. Chang has been Superintendent for over 21 years and is new to WR3 family of schools. He had met with L Grey and L Addis in September to learn about the LPCI over enrollment and space review. He is committed to look for solutions.- P. Chang acknowledges that information regarding over enrollment is accurate and he has concluded there is a strong case for optional attendance to be closed for 2015/16. Students who live in the area must be accommodated at the school. Under optional attendance, students outside the area are considered based on priorities such as siblings or feeder schools. Currently there are 110 students at LPCI who have been admitted under optional attendance (about 30 per year).- P Chang agreed to make and communicate a decision on the status of optional attendance at LPCI before Christmas since Grade 8 students will be attending information nights and making high school choices in January.- From the list of options in the brief prepared by LPCI parents, P Chang asked about possible movement of the French program. LPCI has about 400 French immersion students and 200 extended French students. There was ensuing discussion about using a vacant school such as Bannockburn or Sir Stanford Fleming for a large, dedicated French school. P Chang indicated he would speak to the Planning Department about this idea as well as other options and come back to discuss next steps. He indicated that the central accommodation review team under Minon Gardner looks at capacity and programs across schools and makes recommendations. Since the French program at LPCI is less than 50% of students, it requires a PART “program aea review team” to meet with the principal, conduct public meetings and go through central committees which requires at least 6-8 months. This means that a significant program change would not happen to 2016/17 at the earliest.- Both P Chang and parents discussed the implications of these options as well as other possibilities and agreed there were significant concerns. Other possibilities include extended hours and portables.- P.Chang committed to make the LPCI over enrollment issue a priority. The first step is the decision on the optional attendance status of the school before Christmas break. Next, he will explore options with the planning department and come back to LPCI to discuss.- The conversation ended on a positive note and we were very grateful to P.Chang for his commitment to work on resolving this issue.

Adjourn

The meeting adjourned at 8:35
On the evening of December 1st, Dr Marshall Korenblum will be presenting on adolescent mood disorders.

The next regular school council meeting will be held January 5th at 7:00 in the Library.