Minutes November 6, 2017

LPCI School Council Meeting

Next Meeting – Monday December 4, 2017

Attendees: Dorothy Carson, Gillian Wyatt, Anne Marie Armstrong, Jacqueline Fry, David Cargill, Claire Murphy, Julie Sole, Emma DeVries, Petra Hamann, Amit Karia, Jacqueline Rother, Jennifer Wilmer, Laura Nield, Rindy Bradshaw, Suzanne Sparrow, Veronica Bak, Kelly Green, Liz Hanson, Erika Boone

Student Council Update – Ada Celik, Ta’Ziyah Jarrett

  • Costume ball was a great success – good feedback from students
    • Student DJ was a volunteer, so saved money
    • Arts Council – helped decorate, did a great job
  • Me to We club council had a We Scare Hunger food drive. They made a haunted hall in the basement. People brought in donations to get in.
  • Drama council did something similar, and if you brought in your Halloween costume, a donation was made
  • Drama council
    • United Artists – Dec 7th at 7pm
      • Fashion show, Music performances, all towards a good cause.
    • Feb 1,2 – Dance Show
      • Two nights based on high request. Theme is Alice in Wonderland.
    • School Play – Date TBD – April
      • Anne of Green Gables
    • Nov 10th Remembrance Day Ceremony
      • Students have been buying poppies – donations to go to the legion
      • LP Wear – went on sale today. Forms can be found on facebook and Instagram. Forms will be distributed. School cash online.
        • Big glitch and looks like $360 per child. Ruth will get fixed.
        • School will provide brochures for this spirit wear
      • Sports Update
        • Many of fall teams ending. Girls Rugby, football
        • Swim team starting – meeting Nov 6, girls volleyball second try outs, girls hockey started, basketball started
      • Parent feedback:
        • Grade 9s, & 10s were not included in the dance in the past, question was why the change this year for all grades. Ruth Kelly said part of the equity program. Grade nine’s did not go to camp, so missed the dance that takes place there.

Christina Shin, Assistant Curriculum Leader for Digital Literacy and School Wide Initiatives

  • New to LPCI
    • Teaches 3 x grade 9 Business & Tech, Grade 10 Tech Engineering and Grade 10 Communication Technology
  • Backbone of Digital literacy is Global Competencies
  • See attached presentation.
  • TDSB has put a lot of money in place to help support Goggle Classrooms. Many teachers spent a Saturday learning about it.
  • Technology – Department needs were addressed and 16 different departments received equipment to support student learning as part of this initiative.
  • School Wide Technology & Innovation
    • LPCI received a 3D printer, housed in technology area. To be used school wide.
  • LPCI Website – needs to be changed / remodeled due to Accessibility and Disability Act (AODA) – goal of having a revamped site by the end of the school year.

Chair’s Remarks – Erika Boone

Wellness Update

  • Angela P English Teacher and Kelly Green Parent Liaison
  • Angela Papanicolaou:
  • Kelly Green, Parent Representative
  • Angela = ACL School Culture and Well being, new role, for next few years
  • LPCI Wellness Council & Student Wellness Club
    • Mission = Strive to promote a caring school culture with a focus on mental health and well-being through fun and educational activities.
  • Background
    • Spent time with TDSB Mental Health Lead Heather Johnson to understand how the club came to be.
    • 2011 – Gov’t of ON announced new mental health strategy and allocated funds and resources which focused on youth and added 73 mental health leaders in the district school boards
    • 2011-12 census from students gave red flags to student well being, so TDSB put out strategic action plan.
    • TDSB Website = in 2014 TDSB published a strategic plan for developing healthy schools, healthy relationships.
    • 2 entities:
      • Wellness council – VPs, Principal, Mental health experts, school phycologist, parent rep, student reps, guidance counselors. Meet Monthly, and oversees student club.
      • Student Wellness Club – meet on weekly basis. Students meet with Angela. Drive the initiatives.
    • LPCI – good thing is there are a lot of clubs at the school, great buddy system, and they pair up with the other groups at the school – eg Me to We
    • Wellness club – dedicated to help students with their well-being. 2017-18 has grown to 50 students.
      • Have initiated many great events:
        • Pink shirt day campaign – bullying awareness with reception; sale of “be well” bracelets to fundraise; cookie-grams with kindness messaging, mindful eating cupcake competition; December ‘smiles’ bulletin board; May wellness week – a fund and educational week of activities; continuing with our mindful moment – a time dedicated each day in the classroom to reflection.
      • This year 4 initiatives:
        • Hosted wellness day early October with fun lunch hour activities – Zumba and basketball shooting competition.
        • Promoted walk or bike to school month in October
        • Offered Zumba classes at lunch hour
        • Created haunted hallway – fun stress relief activity for students
      • Reflections
        • Kids come in and talk about things that really stress them out to help others out.
      • November 13th – 5050 Yonge Street Cafeteria – Parent Partnership Committee that meets monthly. All parents welcome.

Chair’s Report – Erika

  • Approval of Minutes
    • Approved – First Julie, Seconder Emma
  • Ward Meeting Oct 3
    • Erika attended with Jennifer Arp. Difficulty is only 3 high schools in the area and John Polyani and Yorkdale don’t have representatives at the meeting.
    • Another ward meeting Nov 9th. Important time to have representatives due to equity task force. LPCI #1 school out of 550 for learning task index, so our school has least need. This causes problems if we try to advocate for improvement we get pushback due to advantaged area.
    • Equity Task Force – recommendations on school council website. 94 pages, but short version is on the website also. Feedback form open for comments.
  • Safe & Caring School Committee
    • Meeting was this week. Different from the wellness council. Meets 4 x / year
    • Past parent, Student, Ruth Kelly, 3-4 Teachers
    • Discussed how lost SRO (Police presence that we had last year and prior years)
    • Participates with Equity committee. Looking at focusing on Student voice and the language the students are using and improving.
    • Vaping – large number of girls in grade 10 are doing in washrooms and outside.
  • Equity Task Force – Feedback (Nov 20th)
  • Staff Appreciation Events
    • One over holiday season, one in the spring. Suggestion is to do a larger one in the winter months.
  • Email sign-up on website
  • Direct donation campaign – coming Monday November 13th.

Interest to share the great things going on at the school, like Christine Shin and Wellness Council and Committees. Those groups will be asking us for support, so good to understand the background and reason. Important to hear and see the team.

Fundraising Committee Update

  • Mark your calendars for Thursday March 1st for FUNdraiser At Safari’s, – open to all parents
  • Next Fundraising committee meeting – Monday November 27th 7:30pm – all welcome
  • Fundraiser will include a silent auction.
  • All donations are accepted – for help or items for the silent auction.
  • Funds raised will go towards the new Wellness Centre.
  • Garage Sale – coming in the spring
    • Kelly Green has run garage sales at other schools with great success
    • Please start saving items for the garage sale
    • Students will be given volunteer hours for participating

Principal Report – Ruth Kelly, Stephan Bibla

Ruth Kelly’s Report

  • Halloween Dance
    • School year is going very well. Dance went without any issues.
  • Marks – due this Wednesday from teachers. Nov 16th – report cards will be distributed.
  • Interviews – Week of Nov 23rd. Website will open 4pm Nov 16 to book interviews.
    • Nov 23rd 2 – 4pm 6 – 8 pm, each are 5 minute interviews.
  • Classrooms, South gym
  • Grade 8 visits Nov 30th
  • Information night for parents Nov 30th at night
  • November 27th Grade photos – book online. Run for 2 weeks.
  • LPAC will do toy drive. Goal is to fill the display case. Think about teenagers – gift cards are fabulous. Apple/other.

Stephan Bibla’s Report

  • Board’s 3 goals: 1) Equity 2) Achievement and 3) Wellness
    • Reason for digital literacy role.
    • Talked about university requirements mid 90’s but there are also programs with mark requirements in the 70s. Asked for parents support to take the focus off marks and make the shift to putting more emphasis on collaboration and critical thinking in the classroom. These are the skills universities want students to come equipped with.  Too much stress around marks…trying to change this.
  • Awards Assembly – honored some of top performers from all the classes. Science Dept. helped organize it. Very proud of the event and how staff did and students who encouraged fellow students.
    • Last year was in library for only the winners. Approximately 100 winners.
  • Vaping
    • Much of Ruth and Stephen’s time in the last 2 weeks has been around vaping. Devices tend to be very expensive. Some of the chemicals are harmful. Encouraging parents to have that dialogue with their children. Smoking – would get child suspended for a day. Vaping is new and the devices are being confiscated, and can only be given back to the parents since they’re underage. Many of the unknowns around vaping are worrisome and there is a misconception that there is no nicotine in them – many do.
  • Course selection
    • Recognized last year the school offers too many single classes. Many difficulties when there is only one course from a staffing perspective, timetable perspective, and trying to be all things to all people.  Careful effort is underway to reduce the ‘singleton’ classes while watching which courses are required for post secondary. Expect this will reduce scheduling problems.
    • Mark Fischer coming to December meeting to speak to Course selection.
  • Paul Davis – Wednesday Nov 8th – in Eye last week – Social Media discussion – sponsored by Bedford Park and John Wanless.