Markville
Secondary School Council
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Participants: |
Admin team:
Stephen Bewcyk (Principal), Debbie Linkewich (Vice-Principal), Linda
DiMarco (Vice-Principal) Student Council : Brandon Aitken, Saliya Remtulla,
Danielle Lapointe Parents:
Arjan Samtani (Treasurer), Lee Carwana (Secretary), Janet Wellsman
Thomson (Vice-Chair), Joyce Chan (Chair), Beatrice Lam, Matthew Poon, Vivian
Magi-Thomson, Vonda Melanson |
Minutes
7:15
p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Library
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Welcome
& Introductions |
Joyce/Steve |
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Approval
of previous meeting minutes – June minutes
approved by Lee Carwana and Arjan Samtani |
Joyce/All |
Student Council Report
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In attendance: Brandon
Aitken – VP, Student Activity Council Danielle
Lapointe – Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Voice’ Saliya
Remtulla – External Affairs Rep, Student Council Every Friday will be spirit day – ie:
(a) Jersey Day-each grade has a banner, more participation, more points; (b)
Talent Show, and much more…. ‘Stuff you Turkey’ held for a
Thanksgiving Food Drive – grade with most items brought in will gain the most
points which will be indicated by feathers on the turkey - BBQ reward for
grade with most points collected ‘1001 Arabian Nights’ theme for
School Dance on Thurs. 27th Nov, 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm (will be DJ
and security) Nov 20th is a buy in day for $2.00 or $3.00 Still working on getting the Voice on
line. Needs to be approved and then it
is the hope of Student Council to have the next issue out by the end of the
week - hopefully by Oct. 10th, 2008. |
Department Presentation
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Anne
Cape, Department Head, Library Resource Centre Mark Nicholson helps as well, taking
stats on attendance, updating website – library is very well used by students
and classes. Anne needs to have a strong knowledge
of all Grades and Curriculum. She has
a background in Eng., Special Ed, Geography and has been the head of the
library for 7 years. The library is
busier in the winter months and exam time and can hold multiple student
groups at any one time. 2 main items within library:
technology and print resources Students can search at home for
material. Check out link below to see the incredible amount of info available
to students/parents. Once in the link,
you will find an icon of a computer and under it is Markville Catalogue IPAC
and this where you can look up print material from home or at school. http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/teacher/library/libraryindex.htm There is also E-Resources – get
up-to-date electronic information when doing research York Region purchased EBSCO which is
the #1 electronic database, across Canada for Universities and Colleges KO (Knowledge Ontario) – which has a
number of products in it for university/college students – a product of the
Ontario government My Blueprint – an interactive
education planning tool “On Line Tutor (by TVO) – An
Independent Learning Center -- Virtual
homework help – kids can email in questions to teachers and ask for
help in many ways such as proofreading … For remote access password, contact
Anne Cape |
Council Report (Joyce/All)
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Treasurers
Report by Arjan Samtani Board funds should be in soon. We currently have $500.00 |
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Subcommittees:
Will regroup with members to discuss
Constitution as planned – not available for this meeting, sent apologies. |
Administration Report (Admin team)
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Information
Items: Will have meetings on Wednesdays from
now on: Nov 19th , Dec (none),
Jan14th , Feb, 11th, March (none), April 1st is Parent Engagement evening, May 6th, June 10th School Council Forum Meeting on Oct
22 – admin to find out which topics will be discussed at this meeting and
then if anyone would like to attend, they will have to register on-line on
Board Site under School Council Parents Reaching Out Grants (PRO) –
now need to submit a request, it is not automatically given out – Submission,
stating a purpose/use of the grant is due 24 Oct 2008. We should try to leverage with our already
scheduled Parent Engagement evening for 01 April 2009 – will be sending out a
note to members requesting suggestions for this evening. Interim reports go out for all grade
9 & 10’s and for those at risk only for grades 11 & 12 Oct 8 – Wellness Day with Jeff Adams
as host, wheelchair athlete who will discuss goals for success Oct 14 – photo re-take day Oct 16 – 32 college/universities will
be here to present their offerings to grade 12 students/parents, could be of
interest to grade 11 students as well – 6:30 to 8pm Nov 5 – Grade 9 Take your Kids to
Work Day Change in office staff – Betty
Schillbach will be leaving, new office supervisor will be Anne; long time receptionist
Glenda Miller will be retiring in October. |
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Focus:
Markville Boys Club / Andrew Bos The Ministry of Education offers an
“Innovation Fund Grant” of $5K -
Markville applied and rec’d this grant for the Boys Club. Mr. Bos and Debbie
Linkewich have been working on developing a Boys Club. Purpose: to help get boys get
involved, build their self-esteem and have them feel like they are a part of
the school. Proven facts: boys and girls learn
differently; many boys struggle and are unmotivated; this mind set begins
before they attend school. The current
curriculum is very hard on boys; in each grade the percentage of failure is
as high as 68% for boys; research states that 60% of current attendance for
Medical and Law in University is female.
Plan: events are being planned to get
young boys out and involved – mentors include teachers, grade 12 students and
local police – trying to figure out how to get kids to actually attend. Have had some success, some setbacks in
this newly evolving program. A big
event is being planned before the break. By targeting boys early, will help
them in the future. Hopefully all
schools participating in the program will re-group at the end of the year to
develop best practices. Mr. Bos has been with Markville for 3
year’s. Working with boys who have
been having a rough go. He was one of
a group of people to attend a conference by Dr. Leonard Sacs who is the
author of “Why Gender Matters” & “Boys Adrift.” There is an epidemic of unmotivated young
man in society. A presentation was put together for
parents of these 135 boys but very few showed. The boys are in teams to achieve a sense of
belonging. They have 20 mentors and 12
teachers to take problems or questions to.
I.e. How to deal with a project?
It is the hope to build their self-esteem. At the end of September a camping trip was
planned but with no great success. It
will take about a year to find the right path to take. |
Action items for next meeting
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Approval of the Sept minutes |
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Next
Meeting: Wednesday November 19th, 2008
7:15 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. School Library
Markville Secondary School
Board Trustee: Elizabeth Richardson
Email: elizabath.richardson@yrdsb.edu.on.ca
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