PSSC minutes (Approved)

January 12, 2016

In attendance: Mike Belong (Principal), Anne Marie Picone Ford, Mary Boucher (Teacher Rep), Joe Woodford, Patricia Crowell, Sheila Cameron, Lisa Farley, Jennifer Machum, LiseBellefleur-Jonah, Shawna Downey, Scott Agnew, Michelle Doucet(observer). RegretsDenise Owens, Adriana Campbell, Travis Flynn (Student Rep),

Anne Marie called the meeting to order at 6:00pm and welcomed all.

Ms. Dawn Jessome, the SPR for Resource presented.

The presentation was very informative about the resources available to our students. She is responsible for the educational support services(ESS) , there are 23 EA’s in our school. There are 4 teams for grades 9-12 and also 2 individualized teams for grades 9 & 10 and 11 &12. These teams follow the students all the way through their high school years. In Sept 2013 the inclusion policy was put in place with 100% inclusion. New Brunswick is the only province to have this policy. The MHS initiatives include, collaboration & co-teaching, co-planning and Inclusion. They are committed to early flagging. The resource teachers are dedicated to Grades 9 &10 for English and Math. The course, Human Services 110, matches able bodied students with inclusion students. Mhs is the first school to introduce the Paws to Read program which uses therapy dogs with the students. We also have the Best Buddies program, where the individual partners get together once a week and the entire group gets together four times a year. They do have fundraisers for this initiative including Hoop it Up. Once again, MHS is the only high school that manages this program. There are social skills training, including Model Me Kids. The EA numbers are determined by needs, whether it is one on one support required or shared support. The numbers do not correlate truly with the need, this year we lost 5 EA’s.

Anne Marie thanked Ms. Jessome for an excellent and informative presentation and reiterated how fortunate we are to have such wonderful team of teachers for our children. There were many positive comments surrounding the initiatives we have, as well as, concern expressed for any cuts in this program.

Anne Marie began the regular meeting.

Approval of the agenda – SC/SA MSC

Approval of the December minutes - SC/LF MSC

Correspondence– We will discuss the submission to government

Business arising from minutes:

  • Educational proposed changes
  • There will be a meeting at Mathieu Martin on January 18, 2016 from 6:30-8:30pm, Anne Marie and Mr. Belong will attend and everyone is welcome to join
  • Anne Marie received emailed comments from members surrounding the document
  • The following are snapshots of some of the comments around the table
  • Perhaps looking at minimum class sizes within reason and depending on the course, having certain schools designated as French immersion schools, are there too many French programs now, is there the political will to change the immersion programs, look at Mary’s article regarding class size, the problem is a provincial problem and a systemic problem, there needs to be a base model, leveling has been removed from Grade 10 English, yet immersion remains in different streams, if the province is scoring low in testing, how will increasing class size help this, will the reductions affect the Anglophone and francophone sectors equally, rather than reducing teachers, the middle man at the district level should be removed and the department can be directly involved, the trades needs lower numbers, with leveling you can have lower numbers in the lower levels with higher numbers in the higher levels, levelling and streaming must be watched in using the terms interchangeably, not everyone can be painted with the same brush, we should have accountability at the school level, the needs have increased and the teachers are doing much more than years, ago, the custodial services are allowing citizens to work at a decent salary with pride and ownership, if we change to contract workers it will be with minimum wage , less consistency and there are safety issues, we cannot compare P3 schools with others, we do not agree with changing this set –up, if it does the current workers should be allowed to be grandfathered in their positions( see NJ article) , very short term sight
  • We will send a letter to the Minister regarding the proposed changes

Principal’s report:

  • Mr. Belong discussed the Syrian refugee status for students entering the school.
  • There has also been an influx of francophone students transferring

Teachers report:

  • The teachers returned after the break feeling rested and ready to finish the semester.
  • There is an extra week this year before exams
  • Exams are being made with careful attention to the skills that were the focus this semester
  • Ms. Boucher also gave us an article about class size
  • There was also discussion about exemptions and what qualifies. English cannot be exempted because this is a full year course

Anne Marie thanked everyone for a very productive meeting and the importance of confidentiality.

Next meeting will be February 10th at 6:30pmpending any changes.

Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm – LF