Lester. B. Pearson Parent Advisory Council Meeting Oct 18, 2016 Attendees: Cheryl DeLugt Lisa Galay Rebecca Newcombe Loraine Fedurco Todd Reilly Siobhan Duguay Guest speakers: Rachelle Papin Ward 4 School Trustee Rob Eatough- Superintendent Minutes from last month approved. Student Parliament: Spirit assemble end Sept—Greetings to students, took a vote to choose a charity to raise funds for this year=Joseph Brant Hospital Halloween dance Oct 27-sales of tickets thru cashless Feb dance—charity fundraiser Hot choc for sale Secured a Pet A Dog therapy time for end of semester one-beginning of exam time. Breakfast program: Explanation from Lorraine (see last months minutes) A grab-n-go type breakfast Will survey students as to what they want to see available. Ministry requests tracking of #’s using the program. Cheryl has info on someone who makes granola bars and nutritional snacks. Cheryl to pass along info to school. Guidelines must be met (school waiting for the package with this info). Athletic sale: Explanation from Cheryl %of sales goes directly to the school where the event occurs. Requires gym space. PRO Grant: Toronto Argo Huddle Up Program: Anti Bullying campaign. Explanation of program from Cheryl (last months minutes). Argos have been in touch with Cheryl with possible dates. Teachers Report: Math/science careers and engineering presentation Math 9-mindfulness Mondays Appledorn exchange went very well.
Social Justice-collecting food and coatsfor kids, famine day Phys ED-overlapping of the sports seasons—lots going on Spirit Wear for sale early Nov. Field Hockey won their 1st game in 6 years—Congratulations girls! Music- bands are up and running + choir Holiday concert Dec. 8 Music fest London is in March Guidance: Nov 2 Take Our Kids to Work Day, grade 8’s will visit LBP that day January-course selection process begins Principals Report: Grade 10 Literacy test-Oct 20 online test will be attempted (trial run), March will have a written version of the test. IEP accommodations taken into effect for this test. Grade 11/12 have a study hall—blocking Netflix, Facebook etc to accommodate the bandwidth required. More experiential learning taking place this year—visitors, trips, experts. Started prepping Oct PD day. Student engagement fee=voluntary because the board didn’t want to charge kids to go to school. Team activity fee=how is the money spent? Transportation, refs, tournament fees, athletic banquet. If money isn’t used it is returned to the students/payee. Environment campaign. Treasures Report: $312.95 Grant money report No fundraising at the high school level by council. Nov meeting will pick PAR parent council representative. Nov 15, 2016 next meeting. School closures: program accommodation review (PAR)—due to low enrollment Vote: Wed Oct 19 whether or not to begin the process or not. Many parents and community members in attendance. Robert Eatough and Richelle Papin answered community members questions. Hayden is overcrowded—should it not become a boundary review? Killbride went to Hayden instead of LBP. Huge occupancy issues in secondary schools in Burlington. Hayden over capacity, Nelson at par, all others under enrollment. Possibility that Burlington will be the smallest municipality in the GTA by 2015—so why build a new school?
Media sharing this news cause panic for the students—students already looking at moving to other schools next year rather then waiting. Enrollment will decline again. Students not caring to attend. The threat of a closing school will bring property values down—local businesses will lose. Cheryl read a letter from a LBP grade 10 student. Former student spoke about how the resource dept. helped him to succeed. Struggles through school academically. Now a 2nd year student in a paramedic program at Loyalist. Current Student: why not ask the students! Great resource dept. Classes are not really small, she has 36 students in one of her current classes. Small selection of electives. If the vote is to go through—the students will be surveyed. Be informed! the media has facts as well as incorrect information. The cart before the horse! (tomorrows vote) If Hayden is over crowded, look at boundaries—redistribute the students. The vote is about ALL of Burlington. The board is looking at downtown, east and west. Bottom line, too many high schools in Burlington, too many. Planning dept. would have to answer the question of demographics. If approved tomorrow—what are the next steps? Set up meetings to inform and discuss—PAR committee setup Website outlines the process, HDSB website=info. The process includes looking at busing, demographics,.—a very extensive process. Former teacher:800-900 students, LBP was a vibrant school with lots of choice and a small school feel. Boundaries are what changed the enrollment. To get your voice across: create a community sub committee, present to the board. School park is used by many other community organizations. LBP has a daycare on site. Should we not balance the students in Burlington before choosing to close Central and LBP? It is understood 2 schools need to close, why Central and LBP? How do kids transfer when a school is closing? Some grandfather, some it just ends, there are not set rules.
