This year Markville had two outstanding candidates for the position of president. The administration was concerned that the person who did not win would no longer be involved in the executive of the student council. A new position was created – the administrative liaison representative. It may not be a position held every year, the administration must recommend the person and the student council must approve the position. Amanda Perkins will be the first person to fill the role. She will attend some school council meetings, not just to talk to us about student council but as a student voice.
The weekly bulletin that we used to receive by e-mail took a great deal of work and was only received by 20% of the parents because that is all the e-mails that the school had. As a replacement, the school is committed to work on the website and to keep it up to date. The weekly events will be updated on the website each Friday. To communicate this news, it was suggested that the website address be posted on the tall sign on McCowan, on the opposite side of the report card dates. Steve will give the school council the e-mails of the teachers involved so we can have the minutes posted, or any other information that we would like to include.
The exam schedule will go out this week. It is a time consuming process and Steve claims that Markville will be among the first of the high schools to give out the schedules. Exam week is June 20 to June 26. The exams are not more than 20% of the final mark. The summatives in June, however, could be worth up to 30%. Parents should ask their children when their summatives are due.
For the past 2 years, the grade nines have had de-semestered math and phys.ed. They have been on alternate days for the entire year. There are difficulties in the scheduling of this approach and the teachers were concerned with other issues being on a different schedule from the rest of the school. The administration, with great help from Jennifer Parrington, surveyed the grade nine and ten classes and discovered that the kids fully supported the full year approach. The school has decided to continue this approach for 2007/2008 and will carefully monitor it for the following year.
Deb has been collecting data all year on the attitude and success of starting school the week before Labout Day. The York Region District School Board has approved the early school start for Markville for 2007. Markville also has a staggered start. The schedule for next year is as follows:
Monday August 27 – grade nine students only -parents are welcome
-it will be a day of formal programming with a barbecue lunch
Tuesday August 28- an additional day for grade nines, catering to what grade
nines need, there will be workshops on organization, learning strategies, etc.
-grades 10, 11, and 12 will register
Wednesday August 29 – all students will be in classes
Thursday, September 6 – Camp Robin Hood Orientation Day for grade nines. This
is much earlier than previous years to help the grade nine students to get to know one another and they will have senior student mentors.
We have $413.32 in board funds that must be spent this year and $135 in our own funds from popcorn sales that we can hold onto. We agreed that the money could be spent on annuals for the containers in the parking lot. The planters at the front also need shrubs with landscape fabric and wood chips.
It was suggested that we look into extra microwaves for the students in the cafeteria. We need to investigate the electrical outlets available.
In response to a concern put forth by the school council, Steve suggested that we meet the following week if a meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather. If it is a Monday meeting, the meeting would be held the following Monday, if it is a Wednesday meeting, school council would meet the following Wednesday.
Monday, September 10th
Wednesday, October 10th
Wednesday, November 14th (parent engagement evening)
December – no meeting
Monday, January 14th
Wednesday, February 6th
March – no meeting
Monday, April 8th (transitions elementary/seconday – we’ll invite the elementary feeder school councils)
Wednesday, May 14th
Wednesday, June 4th