Markville School Council Minutes

Monday, September 12, 2005

Present:  Sofia Alim (Co-chair), Anne Belanger (Principal), Jan Christen, Nancy Elliott, Patty Luubert, Valerie Milligan, Julia Sumner, Deb Rhodes, Rashmi Swarup (Vice-Principal), Tim Armstrong, Elaine Wilkes, Nirmala Persaud-Armstrong, Judy Hall, Ashok Kapadia, Raj Seth, Vivian Magi-Thomson

Introductions and Welcome – Sofia welcomed new and old members to the first meeting of the year.  She gave some background and the purpose of the school council.  We are a group of concerned parents who wish to be informed about life at Markville.

2.  Election – Many thanks to Angela and Sofia for being co-chairs for the past year.  Thank you also to the parents who volunteered to take on a position of responsibility for the upcoming year.

Co-chairs – Elaine Wilkes and Tim Armstrong

Secretary – Deb Rhodes

Treasurer – to be discussed in October

Community Representative – Nirmala Persaud-Armstrong

Grade 9 parent reps. – Joyce Chan and Raj Seth

Grade 10 parent reps – Judy Hall and Nancy Elliott

Grade 11 parent rep – Julia Sumner

Grade 12 parent rep – Valerie Milligan

Science Department – Jen Parrington

Ms. Parrington, the science head, showed us pictures from last year’s science club.  The focus of the science department is on science and literacy and they work hard to ensure that the students are literate in science.  She explained the science courses offered at Markville as well as the possible trips that students could go on in conjunction with those courses.  There are extra-curricular competitions for grade 11 and 12 as well as the York Region Science Olympics and the York University Science Olympics.  There is a science club which has its first meeting Wednesday September 14 after school for all grades and they meet every 3 to 4 weeks.  In the science club they could do parachute construction, bubble making, dissections, or super conductivity.  Power Stream provides the Markville student with top marks in grade 12 biology, chemistry and physics with a $250 scholarship.

Ms. Parrington can be reached at the school  at ext. 426.

OSSTF – Dave Kempton

Mr. Kempton, who is the head of the computer department is also the federation representative at the school.  The teachers are in the second year of a 4 year contract. 

There is no student council representative yet but they asked Anne to tell us about a car wash at the school on September 16th.  There is a school dance Thursday September 22, with a DJ and a live band.  The dance is staff supervised and a security company is also hired.

6.  Vice Principal’s Report – Rashmi Swarup

The registration at the beginning of the year went smoothly.  She explained the process when questioned and it was recommended that next year the grade 11 and 12s register at separate times.

Attendance Policy – If students are late, they require an admit slip.  To get an admit slip, the student requires a note or a phone call from the parent.  Likewise, if students are absent, they require a note or a phone call from a parent.  Parents must sign students in/out if the student leaves during the day for an appointment.  When there has been an absence, the synervoice system will call the house at night.

In response to a question about first period lunch, we were told that the school has asked teachers to allow students to eat in class if students have 4 periods in a row. 

More grade nines than expected came to the school in September.  There has been a change in the grade nine timetable, an adjustment in schedules and teachers.  The timetables are set now.

The school population is at 1336, we discussed the boundaries and the possibility of an influx of students.  The population is not expected to change much.

The grade 10 literacy test will now be held on March 29.  It has been changed from 2 days to 1 day.  There will be more emphasis on conventions and multiple choice.  Markville will provide training and a $5 package to help prepare the students. 

Rashmi will be asking for parents e-mail addresses.  The school will send home a Friday bulletin to keep parents informed of upcoming events, student absences, individual marks. 

The school website is being updated with a calendar of events, activities, a staff list, and some departments have curriculum and projects posted.

Check out EQAO.com, Markville S.S. is featured with our terrific results in last year’s test.

Principal’s Report – Anne Belanger

Markville has 14 new teachers, with a total of 80 staff.  In addition, there are student teachers and currently there are 3 Swiss student teachers for one month in the history, music, and phys. ed departments.  Rashmi is organizing a new teacher mentoring program.

A question was asked about extra-curricular activities.  There was a ½ day sign up the first Friday of school, there are morning announcements every day, and the announcements are also posted in the atrium.  In response to more questions, we were told that True Vines is a Christian Charity Group and Helping Hands is a charity group that raises funds for global issues.  Another parent complimented the school for allowing the students to try out for more than one sport at the same time.

The grade nine orientation day will be held at Camp Robin Hood on September 28th.

There will be a safety drill at the school on September 29th.

Anne asked parents to volunteer to fill out a safety questionnaire.  Jan and Joyce will meet with Anne at a later date.

In recent years, the school council sent home a letter requesting donations.  We have had a rather poor response.  We discussed other ways of raising money because the school would like to completely re-haul the computer lab and create another computer lab in the history department.  We discussed a silent auction at the parent night, but in the end, we decided to sell microwave popcorn at the parent night.  It is $3 for 2 bags, with 15 packs to a case.  Anne will order the popcorn.  Any leftovers will be sold to the students.  A notice will be sent home to the parents about the popcorn and they will also be informed that we are a charitable organization and donations are welcome at any time.

A question was asked about the change in bus policy.  The distance has now changed to 4.8 km. and it is pay for use.  The cost is about $40 a month.  The school was not notified in advance of this change.

The next meeting of the Markville School Council will be Monday, October 3rd at 7:15 p.m. in the library.