Markville School Council –Minutes Nov 8, 2004 meeting

Date: Monday, November 8, 2004

Time: 7:15pm to 8:45pm

Location: Markville Secondary School Library

Attended: Sofia Alim Co Chair, Anne Belanger ( Principal), Sandy Moriaty ( Treasurer), Julia Murray, Nancy Elliot, John Cosgrave, Barb Munro, Linda Valley, Susan Brown, Kim Brandaon Uyede, Jan Christen, Heela Omarkhail ( Student Rep) & Tammy Saranaki

Sofia gave an update on the school council orientation that she, Deb, Angela and Rashmi attended on Oct 19^th. One thing that she thought we needed to do was to have voting members on our school council. Any member of the council can be a voting member unless they work for the board and have children in the system. The council’s consensus was that all members of the existing council will have voting rights unless they are working for the board and have children in the system.

Heela gave a student council update:

- Sports fan day was Oct 22^nd. People dressed up as their favourite sports player, there was a fan pageant and winners received dance tickets.

- - Markville’s 14^th birthday was Oct 28^th and there was a dance. 150 tickets were sold.

- For Halloween, the administration dressed up as people from the Elizabethan era. Pictures were taken and will be sold as a fundraiser. Candy grams were also sold.

- There are 2 spirit days planned for Nov. One suggestion was to has the physically challenged as the theme. People can borrow wheelchairs and maneuver through obstacles or walk with blindfolds etc. to understand the life of the physically challenged.

- Nov 19 – 21 is the Shout Conference for Motivation and Leadership. The council agreed to direct the $231.89 left over from last year to sponsor a student(s) to attend the conference. Anne agreed to provide $50 of funding as well. The cost is $119 per attendee.

- Raffle tickets will be sold for Alicia Keys concert tickets as a fund raiser for the Stephen Lewis foundation. Nov 26 is the deadline for the tickets to be sold. There was a question raised about whether or not these raffle tickets can be sold to the community as well as the students. Heela has confirmed that these tickets can also be sold to the community.

- The York Region Police who attended the council meeting suggested that another possible fundraiser could be to have a basketball game with the staff. Students can buy tickets to watch the game. If students can miss a class to attend the game, this would be counted as 1 of the 2 buy in’s that are allowed per year.

The York Region Street Liaison officers attended the council meeting:

- 2 films were shown. One was on drug use at rave parties and the other one was on grow houses. Both were very informative.

- The main role of the Liaison officers is to act as mediators as they try to minimize charges/arrests if at all possible.

- The Youth Forum was mentioned. York Region officers choose student reps from different schools in York Region to educate and share the message on staying away from drugs. The try to choose students who are perceived as leaders by their colleagues.

Treasurer’s Report (Sandy)

- $1441 has been received to date from the Parent fundraiser. Of that, $448 was used to purchase a digital camera for the coop program and $69 was used to send flowers to Mr. Melnyk and Miss Chong as congratulations for winning the Governor General’s award for teaching excellence. The balance of the account is at $1155 of which $232 will be directed towards sponsoring students’ attendance at the Shout Conference

Principal’s Report (Anne)

- A survey on use of time during the November break was passed out and filled out by the council.

- The school plan was passed out to be reviewed for the next meeting

- A GAP meeting is scheduled for Nov 11^th at Markville at 7 p.m. This program is for senior students to travel to other countries and work on a volunteer basis.

- Cyber Bullying session for parents will be held on Nov 15^th at 7:30 p.m. at the City Playhouse.

- There will be a Remembrance Day assembly on Nov 11^th

- There will be a clean air assembly for grades 9 and 10 on Nov 15^th

- There will be a ESL reception after school on Nov 16^th

- EQAO went smoothly from an administrative standpoint. The plan is to hold EQAO all on 1 day next year

- Parents were given a choice to take their grade 9 kids to work either on Nov 3 (the province wide date for this) or Nov 10^th since the 3^rd fell during the November break. Feedback on concern with Nov break timing and take kids to work day was received and suggestion was to try and move the Nov break 1 week later next year if possible. This has to be coordinated with the Keswick school that is also participating in the early school start/Nov break program.

- Dec 3 is Literacy Day and there will be no classes.

The next meeting is scheduled for Mon Dec 6^th at 7:15 p.m. in the school library.