CHSS – School Council Meeting
Agenda
January 15th, 2015 @ 6:30 pm
School Library
Attendees:
Stephen Gayfer
Cheryl Balkind
Sarah Casey
Heather Cross
Item
1
2
3.1
Hayley Warren
Kathryn Selves
Leslie Rye
Ian Mason
Lori Furfaro
Steve Dodge
Barbara Powers-Anderson
Notes
Welcome and Announcements

Viewed CTV announcement about Dog house building at CHSS.

Discussed the great publicity for CHSS
November minutes & follow-up
 Minutes OK as written
 No pending items from November.
Grade 8 Parent Night
 About 70 Families came out, toured the school, and spoke with teachers & staff.
 Not much interest for School Council. To have better impact, will need to develop a 3-panel
tabletop display.
Administration Remarks
 Welcome & introduction of our new VP, Hayley Warren
 Final exams are coming up quick! The kids are stressed as a result.
 Display board at the entryway is currently being built, and expected shortly.
 Website updated with revised dates. A new website is being built, and should be ready in a few
months.
 Currently in the middle of hiring new staff to backfill various staff departures and planned
absences.
 Hiring process for licensed staff is a very difficult process, with mandated posting processes.
Result is long lead times in finding replacement staff.
 CHSS Hockey team won a gold medal today at the Wayne Gretzky center in Brantford.
3.2
VP Remarks
 Haley presented her background as a Math Teacher at Ross, and expressed interest and excitement
about joining the CHSS community. Haley lives in Guelph.
3.3
Teacher Rep (Dept updates)
 January 28 is Tech day. 60 Grade 7 students come in for the day, and do a rotation through all the
shops. The students take home a project from each of the shops.
 There are 3 or 4 Grade 8 students entering CHSS at second Semester.
 John Galt PS has signs up for GCVI, JF Ross, and Centennial, but there is no signs up for CHSS.
Information has been sent to each of these schools, but it seems it is not being made available.
Require some additional effort to see these materials put out at each of the PS’s.
3.4
Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) & Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
 PIC next meeting Jan. 26th @ 6:45 pm - Guelph Board Office
 Digital Open Sat., Jan. 24th @ 9:00 am to 12:30 pm, Island Lakes ES Orangeville
 SEAC next meeting Feb 12th @ 7:00 pm - Guelph Board Office (January meeting post phoned
due to inclement weather)
4
My Blueprint
Marion Box provided an overview of the My Blueprint web portal, and discussed the process that is
being used to guide students through course selections, while simultaneously providing a record fo
courses taken, and the ability to map out a path through the high school curriculum.
 For all students in the building, every student will have a one on one meeting with a teacher to
make course selections for the next year. This includes course and timetable adjustments for
Semester 2.
 From the student’s UG cloud, click on “My Blueprint, and you enter the student’s blueprint
profile.
 Within this portal, the student can select all the courses that they want/need to take.
 Each course has a description, and identifies any prerequisites.
 Once the student has a full plan set up, they can click on the green “Submit” button, and their
courses will then be set for next year.
 Once submitted, changes can only be made through the guidance office.
 All Students must submit their course selections in this manner. This must be complete by Friday
February 13th, 2015.
 Due to fixed resources at CHSS, it is always better for students to pick the courses that they really
want, and pick them as early as possible
 Course selection changes can be made at any time, but parents are encouraged to review their
child’s course selections, around the time that the child submits their course request.
5.1
Other business
 Participation or assistance at Graduation?
 Parent Council Award at graduation is a $250 gift. There is currently enough funds in the
Council account to cover this. We need to obtain the background and basis for this award.
 Marketing of CHSS programs
 Indepth discussion around the need to market CHSS in order to attract more students.
 Agreement that such a marketing effort would need to be from CHSS parents to other
parents in the community, since CHSS staff already do a significant amount of marketing
directly to prospective students.
 A plan needs to be developed, and Ian to meet with Stephen to discuss further.
6
Adjournment

Agenda for February – Compassion is the theme
 Albert Bustin will be speaking about the leadership program at CHSS
 Next Parent Council Meeting: February 19th @ 6:30 pm in the Library
Dates to Remember
Exam Week
Staff PA Day / Staff Meeting
Compassion Month
Semester 2 Begins
Gr. 9 Options Sheets Begins
Semester 2 Photo Day – AM only
Deadline for course changes by 10 am
Semester 1 Final Report Cards Mailed
Family Day Holiday
January 23 to 29
January 30
February
February 2
February 2
February 10
February 13
February 13
February 16