SCHOOL COUNCIL (2010 - 2011)
Thorncliffe Park Public School
Minutes of Meeting # 2
Date: Nov24, 2010
The meeting was attended by council members, staff members, community representatives and parents
Council Members:
1. Abdul Azeem Mohammed
2. Farah Hussaini
3. Khalid Mahmood
4. Mohammad Arif Khan
5. Ijaz Hussain
6. Muhammad Ayub
7. Ossama El Sarraff
8. Nadeem Qureshi
9. Rana Khan
10. Saeed Saddique
11. Muhammad Sharif
Staff members:
1. Mr. Kevin Battaglia – Principal
2. Ms. Susan Wires – V. Principal
3. Ms Ann Murray – V.Principal
Community member: Niru Damani (Community Representative)
School Council Meeting Minutes
The meeting commenced at 7 PM with respect to the agenda.
Approval Minutes of the meeting
The Minutes of the first council meeting were approved by all the parent council members and the staff.
SECTION A: PRINCIPAL PRESENTATIONS
Mr. Battaglia presented the following plans and updates
Principal Presentation 1: Academic Enrichment Plans
Mr. Battaglia presented three plans for academic enrichment
Principal Enrichment Challenges: Thorncliffe Park students will be presented an enrichment challenge every month using the Principal’s blog. The activities will be open-ended and will require the students to apply their knowledge and skills. Students in grade 2-5 will be invited to participate in all challenges. The Puddle Problem was the first challenge presented on the blog. Students will be recognized with a Principal’s Enrichment Challenge “Award of Excellence” t-shirt and other prizes.
The Academic Olympics: Problem-solving based questions in literacy and numeracy to foster academic achievement will be created by school or school board staff. These activities will involve various TPPS students and other schools may also be invited to participate. He will be speaking to various schools which may also be interested. The mathematics curriculum will be tested in various areas and plus literacy in various sections that include reading comprehension, various forms of writing and all age- appropriate conventions of writing. TPPS school staff is working with central TDSB staff to explore logistics involved in this initiative.
Evening or Saturday EQAO Preparation Classes for Grade 3s: Additional EQAO preparation will be offered for 8-10 weeks prior to the early June testing period. It would be probably begins in March. The Principal said it will focus on building the foundation of literacy and numeracy skill in test preparation. In addition, those students who participate will be provided with tests and written feedback.
Principal Presentation 2: Education Week Activities/Enrichment Challenges
Mr. Battaglia presented an Education Week plan from May2-6th, 2011, which will display academic successes. Some activities will be “contests” or “challenges” and some will be “showcases.” There will be several types of acitivities. The school theme would be “Thorncliffe Park’s Showcase of Differentiated Instruction.” The key date will be Wednesday May 4th 2011(2:30-8:00). He emphasized thre goal of having all students (grade1-5) in at least one way. The featured events suggested by the principal would be as follows:
ART SHOWCASES (all grades)
SCIENCE EXHIBITS (all grades) (in the Large Muscle Area)
CREATIVE WRITING-BOOK PUBLISHING (for grades1,2 and 3)(in the library)
PERSUASIVE WRITING- verbal speech/dramatic, presentations/video advertisements/power point presentation (for grades 4 and 5) (in Gym A)
NUMERACY-Problem –Solving Focus(all grades) (rooms:tbd) ( prizes for top performances at each grade)
SPELLING BEE (all grades) (Gym B/C) (prizes for top performances at each grade)
CHOIR PERFORMANCES (Gym B/C)
Mr. Battaglia talked about ways the school staff and the Parent council could get involved, some of them are as follows:
TPPS Staff’s Role:
-developing the contests and themes for each event
- developing the rubric for judging (when appropriate)
-promoting student participation
Parent Council Role:
-Connecting with local merchants to provide prizes/gift certificates etc.
-Raising publicity within the community
-Fundraising-food sales etc,
-Representing School Council on judging panels (when appropriate)
Principal Presentation 3: Using Data (EQAO/CASI etc) to Measure School and Student Achievement
Mr. Battaglia discussed the reasons for using data to measure student and school improvement in literacy and numeracy.
He summarized the three types of assessment in Ontario Schools. He indicated that the Ministry of Education has emphasized on assessment “for” learning and “as” learning. This type of assessment impacts daily academic programming. Assessment “of” learning is the type of assessment that report cards are based on.
Other data that is collected includes: academic achievement data, school discipline data, demographic data (re language, culture, religion etc), and attendance data. Achievement data is collected based on the Elementary Report Card two times a year.
He cited that the completion of DRA (grade1-3) and CASI (literacy-grade 4-5) two times a year are TDSB mandates. The CASI and DRA can be used to evaluation the same student’s growth. It also can be used to evaluate school data.
He talked about the EQAO data which is collected only in grade 3 and 6.This is a “snap shot” measure. The statistics that are published include only the percentage of students scored at or above the level 3 provincial standard. Individual measurement of the student’s growth can not be done until their next EQAO testing year.
He pointed out that for numeracy assessment there is no board wide standard tool. There are other tools which are close ended such as Canadian Achievement Test.
Mr. Azeem asked about data evaluation, the principal said Ministry and TDSB supports schools in “unpacking” data. They help schools understand their data and the school will be involved in this process again throughout this year.
Principal Presentation 4: New Kindergarten School Construction Update
Mr. Battaglia updated the council about the new kindergarten school construction. He said that the construction should begin in spring. The project was on hold as the construction plan has changed due to changes in plans regarding the mall owner and the use of parking lot space. Therefore the parking lot may be on the top of the building. That will will lead to changes in the coding.
He spoke about the fence being constructed to the end of 3rd portable from the building corner, hence taking away the field space. By September 2012 the construction will be finished. During the summer of 2012 there will be renovations of the current school building. The Principal suggested of inviting the design firm for the next meeting.
Principal Presentation 4: Ministry of Education’s “Growing Success” Reporting Policy
Mr. Battaglia discussed about the new Ministry of Education policy on Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario schools. This policy was implemented in September 2010.
Earlier there were three terms with three different snapshots. But, with the new policy the school year is divided into two halves. One will be ending in mid-February and the other in late-June.
The Progress Report that was received has comments on some strengths and next steps to work on. Teachers are to comments user-friendly and to bring mainstream language.
Follow up: New Report Card Feedback-Mr. El Sarraf
Mr.Sarraf compared the old report to new report. He asked questions relating to how standardized grading is across the province. He expressed concern that the new progress report has various measures but that not all teachers may agree that, for example, “progressing well” is for students above 70%. Some teachers may thingk that “progressing well” is for students over 80%. The Principal commented that this is not defined in the provincial policy and schools and school boards historically will develop greater consistency as time passes in response to their new legislation.
Principal Presentation 5: Physical and Health Education and Accommodations for Religious Observances
In May the provincial Ministry of Education withdrew new curriculum guidelines regarding sexuality. The 1998 program will continue to be followed.
Mr. Battaglia suggested that staff, community members/organizations and parents will work to ensure that the Ministry’s curriculum is presented in a way that is respectful within the TDSB’s policy regarding religious accommodations. For example boys and girls may be in different room. Parents will receive communication and then alternative work can be provided for those parents who request an exemption. The exemption doesn’t impact on report card and will be substituted with other work.
Follow up: Health Education in Grade 5 - Mr. El Sarraf
Mr. Sarraf cited that some points are sensitive and to use explicit pictures may be seen as inappropriate to parents. Also discussing the development of men & women may not be viewed as appropriate, personal hygiene following puberty may also be seem as inappropriate. Mr. El Sarraf asked how this learning will be replaced and expressed concerns about the unsupervised conversations of students following the lesson…those whose parents choose an exemption could receive this information second-hand from other students.
The principal assured parents that it will be handled sensitively and that the staff will work with the parents as much possible. Last year the Toronto Public Health was involved in planning this unit of study.
The Chair has suggested a committee to be formed for reviewing curriculum in depth, measuring its sensitivity under Islamic Faith codes. The committee should come up with some recommendations in next council meeting to be held in January, 2011.
The committee would be led by Mr. Al Sarraf and the members involved will be Mr. Sharif, Mr. Azeem, Mr. Arif Khan, Ms Farah Hussaini, Principal, teachers and Public health nurse.
SECTION B: Responses/Discussions regarding Concerns/Ideas Presented at the Last Meeting:
1. Identification Cards for Students
Principal suggested that all students now have the ID cards and that if the student is being picked up by anyone other than their usual adult that the adult could carry the student ID card and show it to the teacher. The photographers also work at Marc Garneau and Valley park. There are discounts for families of 3 or more.
2. Suggestion Box for Parents
The principal will work to develop a box for suggestions. There was discussion regarding whether it should be two boxes – one for administration and one for parent council – or just one box. One box seems to be preferable. The chair and principal can review suggestions together.
3. School Yard Safety and Lunch Room Discipline/Safety
Ms.Wires talked about the supervision before school, recess, lunch and end of day. She said that to alleviate congestion at the lunch time, the grades 1-2 have their lunch first and the grades 3, 4, 5 are escorted in the yard. Lunch room supervisors are assigned to collect students from 3-5 classes of grade 1&2. Then grade 1-2 are escorted out. Teachers each have to be on duty for a certain number of minutes per week. Those minutes are within a schedule and are maximized already.
4. Teacher/Office Responses to parents who are late to pick up their child
Students who are not picked up on time wait with the teacher on duty and then are bought to the office after 10 minutes when that duty is over. The Principal said parents are encouraged to speak to him or the VPs out about any concerns.
5. Lice and Public Health Issues
Ms Murray talked about dental screening and lice screening done at school. 370 students had dental issues and were referred to public health dental office.
The lice check was done on 1875 students by three public health nurses and two parent volunteers. Approximately 100 students were detected with lice. They were provided with instructions and some with recurring lice were given a “lice meister” to assist in removing the lice eggs. The next lice check will be in May.
6. Hygiene in the lunch room
Mr. Khalid had visited the lunch rooms during the lunch time and said that they were maintained very clean and there were no concerns regarding hygiene.
Mr.Sarraf suggested about setting up the tables for lunch. Principal commented that setting up tables creates issues of time (cancelling gym classes each day before and after lunch) and storage.
Parent volunteers for lunch room were also suggested.
7. Outdoor shade/shelter
Principal said that there is no ministry funding for building shades but said if the parking lot is built then automatically there will be a shade. Mr. Khalid suggested involving the city councillor and MPP for the construction of shade and inviting them to next meeting.
8. School and Surroundings Cleanliness
Ms. Murray said that the Head Caretakers start at 6:30am. There are three caretakers in the day and four caretakers in the night for regular cleaning of the classrooms. For extensive cleaning, work orders are filled out. Regular inspections are done. If parents have concerns they should be directed to the office.
9. Student Attendance on School Council
There was a consultation on how to operationalize the group of ambassadors already in school. Past council had suggested two students and selection has been left on principal. First half an hour would be given to them and two kids would be rotated from grade 4&5. Mr. Sarraf suggested that the students could have presentation of concerns.
SECTION C: PLANNING WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS
Recommended Workshops for Parents:
Child Abuse and Neglect Protocol for Parents
An event will be arranged in the month of January. It may constitute one community speaker and one TDSB staff. It will be conducted in the staff room or gym.
How do I help my child become better readers and writers?
Parents Resources to help improve Children Literacy - Mr. El Sarraf
Ms Wires talked about the workshops by instructional leaders in literacy and numeracy in winter. The workshops will be based on early education in school and home. She also mentioned that the parents of kindergarten students have been invited to classes during the instructional time for 45 minutes.
How do I help my child prepare for EQAO?
Recommended Events/Committees
Committee 1: Enrichment Challenges during Education Week 2011 (May 2nd – May 6th)
The Academic event will be led by the Principal. Parent Council support will be led by Mr.Sarraf and the members involved will be Ms Farah Hussaini, Mr. Khalid Baloch, Mr. Sharif, Mr. Azeem, Mr. Ayub (Fundraising)
Committtee 2: Fun Fair – Schedule and Committee Set Up
The Fun fair event will be led by Mr. Sohail and the members involved will be Mr. Sharif, Mr. Ijaz Hussain , Muhammad Ayub, Mr.Nadeem Qureshi, Mr.Arif Khan, and Mr. Saeed Siddique.