LPCI School Council Meeting
Staff Attendees: Principal Joel Gorenkoff, Ruth Kelly, Steven Bibla
Suzanne Sparrow – Staff Liaison Attendees: Erika Boone, Anne Marie Armstrong, Elaine Rapos,
Kirsten Cooke, Nicole Himel, Dorothy Carson, Ogvind Haga, Susanna Haga, Gillian Wyatt, Julia Bai, Sousan Bagherpour, Anna Richter, Andrea Malcolm, Vanessa Bond, Eugene Liu, Zikli Liu, Jacqueline Fry, Irina Kovaler, Kim Caughlin, Liz Hanson, Amit Karia, Laura Nield, Emma DeVrier, Kathlena Hancock, Jennifer Wilmer, Julie Sole
Next Meeting: November 6th, 2017 7pm – 9pm
Student Representative – Ta’Ziyah Jarrett (Ada Celik)
– Liaison to Student council, grade 11 – Thanks everyone who came out to Curriculum night – School Council important areas o List for clubs/etc is posted by guidance office o Sports teams – meet new people, physically active o Youth volunteer club ? Connects kids to external volunteer opportunities – Costume ball this month – October 26th 7 – 9pm o Open to all grades 9 -12 for the first time, as it used to be a senior Costume ball. o Tickets limited 70 per grade, excluding volunteers o Tickets will go on sale 2 weeks before o Newsletter coming out tomorrow and flyer to go out a week in advance about appropriate costumes, faces need to be visible o Permission form required, and parents must be available during those hours in case you need to pick up your child o Volunteers for Costume Ball – Looking for 10-15 student volunteers. Let the student council know at one of their Wednesday meetings.
– Weight room is getting renovated and they are going to need funding
Erika Boone Chair Report
– 6 council meetings planned for 2107/18 (see website for dates) – March 6th Meeting – approve March minutes – Dorothy Carson 1st motion; Irina Kevaler seconded it. Motion carried – May 8th Meeting – approve Julie 1st motion, Veronica Bak seconded it. Motion carried – Nominations for School Council Positions o Chair Erika Boone Gillian Wyatt1st, Liz Hanson 2nd
o Vice Chair vacant o Secretary Liz Hanson Erika Boone 1st, Anne Marie Armstrong 2nd o Treasurer Tina Eng Erika Boone 1st, Jennifer Wilmer 2nd o Immediate Past Chair – NA o Ward Forum representative Veronica Bak o Newsletter Editor – NA o Commencement Coordinator Vacant o Webmaster/Communications Julie Sole o Chairs of all committees ? Wellness Kelly Green ? Fundraising (Direct donation/event) vacant ? Speaker (pro-grant/2-3x per year) vacant ? Safe & Caring (LP meetings 3-4x per yr) vacant ? Eco Schools (spearhead strategy for LP) vacant
School Council Updates
– Met as existing council last week and reviewed: o Provided feedback on equity form. Submitted on behalf of LPCI School Council o Working on School Statement of Needs – what our needs are for leadership and priorities in the school o Advocating due to the heat in the school to the trustees and superintendent. If health and wellness is a priority to the board, yet classrooms registered 34 degrees. Will keep on talking with the ministry. o Kathleen Wynn was at LPCI and talked about 49M for health and wellness o Parents keen to know what they can do to support o Veronica and Erika going to ward meeting in ward 8 tomorrow o Question was asked as to whether there is a school nurse – No school nurse (office provides care) o Last year only raised $10,000 with donations, and putting focus on fundraising ? Transferred the money to the school in April/17 and got thorough list on how the money was funded ? Important to have the money used across all programs, and not just one / two focus. – Fundraising for 2017/18 o Motion put forward – to put in place criteria for how the money is spent ? Proposal for School Council Direct Donation disbursement ? 80% of the funds – LPCI Student enrichment fund • Defined by board definition • Money will be available to any teacher/club/.. and they’d apply for it. • Apply by questions/etc.. ? 10% – LP Student Success • LPCI students in highest need
• Ranked 108/108 high schools in TDSB on LOI (Learning Opportunity Index) with the least external factors, which means we don’t get funding for those students that do need help. They do exist. We have kids in the school that don’t have shoes, money for glasses/boots/lunch/foster care kids. Each student in that boat has a caring staff member assigned. ? 10% – Contingency Fund o Last year > $9000 raised for music committee last year for silent auction o Question: If parents make direct donation – can they say where they want to allocate their funds. Doesn’t exist right now. ? Some parents have said “drama changed my kids life” and make direct donations to the school and can get a tax receipt. o Direct donation campaign will start soon. Funds go to School Council. o Planning for a fundraising event – to raise money for health and wellness centre o Student council raises money for all different things and raise money for charities o Parent Question – Are there limitations on corporate donations ? Partnership office in the board needs to be involved
Motion to adopt the criteria and LPCI School Council Enrichment fund for 2017/18 school year – Motion – Erika Boone – 1st- Anna Richter Powell – 2nd Jennifer Wilmer. Supported by all.
Health and Wellness Centre – Coming
– Pictures shared of the state of the room now. – Weight room had a lot of old equipment. The new athletic chairs got rid of all the old equipment and had a scrap medal company pick it up. – Idea is to tear down walls and transform the space. It’ll be open space to use balls, mats, modern, and be used for students across all grades – Equity and Wellness board priorities – Principal said – we have a massive gym program, but tiny pool and two little gyms. Growing wellness program for Zumba and Yoga and there isn’t anything. A third space is required for classroom space, and will be used early in morning. We want it to be a state of the art facility for the space. – Initial plan and meeting October 11th with design and construction – Questions o how will it be integrated into the curriculum or if a nice to have for the athletes o The plan is for used for programs o Who would supervise – staffed by teacher volunteers o Would there be a first aid room staffed by nurse – no nurse in any tdsb school o Currently the space is not being used at all. Showers are in the pool facility o Gym – boys, girls and co-ed -and would rotate into this space o Funds would be a joint effort – students/school/parent council
Fundraising
– Anne Marie Armstrong, Jacqueline, Liz Hanson o Ideas Golf Tournament o Wine and Cheese silent auction outside of school o Like Spring Fling / Winter Solstice o Garage Sale
Principal Address
Joel Gorenkoff– Feb 2nd started at LPCI
– Stephen Bibla – Vice Principal for kids with last name starting with: A – L – Ruth Kelly – Vice Principal for kids with last name starting with: M – Z – Thanks for attending School Council meeting and coming to the meeting they share issues, bring insights, and have access to them and student/teacher reps – Had a great start up. Cash online was successful, and they could get the money quickly out to the clubs and teams. – Busy school. They want to teach the kids a healthy balance. Convince kids it’s about a healthy lifestyle and be involved in clubs and teams, family. Studies say students spend 9 hours in front of a screen. Request to ask parents to keep an eye on our kids when studying and having a balance and not on the screens all the time. – There is a niche for everyone. – Library – was supposed to be AC’d. It’s been 2 years to get fixed, but not completely done. – New Auditorium lights and new stairs to the stage. – New digital sign in front of the school, purchased by predecessor 1.5 years ago, but finally installed, but not on yet. – Challenging teachers to check that the walls represent the schools and students of today. Some classrooms are very stark and very plain. – Big project is the Health and Wellness Centre. – Staffing – always changes in staffing o Trying to fill vacancies o New Curriculum leaders o There is a shortage of teachers in technology, math, computer science, French, other languages. o One French teacher still vacant, so got switched into contract. The school is doing everything they can. o Goal – to have exemplary teachers – Grade 9 transition o Have moving on up program with the buddies. Joel felt it was a successful kick off for the grade 9ths o Grade 9 welcome day o Grade 9 trip – day trip o More events for Grade 9s to come. – Equity – goal to make sure everyone feels welcome. And ensure meets the needs of everyone. Indigenous people in Canada – short talk each morning. Every student got to do the blanket exercise, and was very moving experience. Ask your kids about the truth and reconciliation report and how we’re working with the indigenous people of Canada.
– Curriculum night – Thanks for those that came out – Teachers 3 key focus: o achievement – how to make them more successful . how to engage students, digital literacy. o Equity o Wellness – walk or ride to school month. Want students to find more ways to be healthier – Wellness for grade 9 – Safe space in 107 – if need a place to go and want to be in a safe space – Number of wellness activities throughout the year – Thursday – Basketball, Zumba – Communication o essential – open dialog. Call the Principal/Vice-Principals if you have any questions. o The Eye is a weekly email o Last week was an important eye o Upcoming Events ..etc o Skim through – Calendar – great way to see school calendar – also in the student agenda calendar – Steve Bibla Shared: o Works with kids whose last name starts with A – L o Some students have missed school with the nice weather and he’ll be calling home. o Space is tight o Shift this year, student success room in the basement and 3rd floor .. nad both needed to work together, and took over 106 and 107 as spec ed and student success room. (as numbers were down a bit). o Portables – still have 2 portables. o School closed to optional attendance, and if numbers go down a bit, they’ll take the portables away first. o Many Leadership opportunities ? School council ? Home Form Reps – good way to start ? Buddies – 40-50 ? LPAC 40-50 Athlete leaders ? Clubs – about 60 clubs and councils – and each has a president and treasurer and lead buddy.. ? Start a club, and get a teacher advisor, enlist other students to join, and how to build the club, part of it is modeling being a more mature student o Looking forward to working with us
– Ruth Kelly o Manages kids M – Z o 4th year at LPCI o Prior years 60% of the students picked up their timetables before school started. This year they started with giving it out in home form and felt it was a smooth start to the year.
– Suzanne Sparrow o Teacher Liaison o Any question you have for the teachers ask her. o 3 clubs – music appreciation, young women’s empowerment group, astronomy club, wellness, eco club. Never too late to join a club. – Clubs – List on our school council website – School website o Working to overhaul school website o Twitter account – #lawrenceparkci – Lpschoolcouncil.com o School Calendar on the website – Locker changes this year o First school to pilot project in TDSB o Prior you kept your locker for the full school year and used to be where your home form was in Grade 9, but in Grade 12 you may not have any class in that area. o This year decided to change every year, and near their home form, and have every 4 days. Program is all electronic, all electronic. Used to be all locker cards. o Everyone choose their locker and were given a block, and some kids went outside of their block if they had special permission from Ted (hall monitor), or Principal/Vice Principal. If not in your locker, Ted will put a sign on the locker. Kids signed up online. Locker combinations are also all online if they forget their locker combination. – Police – no police presence this year o No SRO this year. 1 to 2 days a week. o Traffic issues. Police officer last winter, got involved to help kids, and had pulse on the school. Also had immediate access to support. Had an in for 53 Division. o They become part of the community. o TDSB decision to suspend the program pending consultation from parents.
Adjourned by Erika, Second by Anna.