John F. Ross C.V.I. School Council Minutes
November 17th, 2015
Attendees: Deb Drake, Terry Hadaway, Mary Rayner, Beth Burns, Paul Smith, Zakir Akram, Celine Akram,
Damber S. Pradhan, Dhan Bahadur Gurung, Steve Tucker, Eva Tucker
Welcome and Introductions
Terry Hadaway
Introductions & Attendance (email & phone # collected).
Terry advised attendees that Deb Drake was distributing an information package that included a survey to
assist the JFR School Council in meeting parent/student needs.
Student Council Report
TBD
Student Council members not available.
Guest Speakers – Student Support Services
Adrian Renzetti – Guidance
Adrian provided an overview of the Guidance Department services and programs available to students and
parents (Handout provided):
 Guidance department comprised of guidance counselors, student success counselors, social worker, youth
worker, public health nurse, administrative assistant
 Guidance counselors assist students with appropriate course selections, career and education counseling,
volunteer hours and advise students on post-secondary options
 Guidance counselors also collaborate with other school counselors – Social Worker, Child and Youth
worker and Addiction counselor to provide social and emotional support to students
 Guidance also works closely with Special Education, ESL and school administrators
 Guidance counselors meet with every class/grade level about planning for education now and in future and
communicating their services
 Programs and Services:
o Co-operative Education Program – includes both technical and non-technical placements
o Peer Tutoring – senior students tutor junior students
o Dual Credit Program – senior students explore career interests by exposing them to the college
environment while earning college credits
o Specialist High Skills Major – learning focused on a specific employment sector. Areas of focus
offered at Ross: agriculture, arts & culture, construction, environment, health & wellness,
manufacturing and transportation
o Student Success – students falling behind in academic program are provided with strategies to get
back on track (e.g. credit recovery, alternative programming, experiential learning opportunities)
Amanda Spencer – Special Education
 The Special Education Program services students with issues affecting learning. This can include those
with identified special needs (e.g. learning disabilities, giftedness) or issues such as anxiety.
 The program supports students and classroom teachers in developing and implementing the Individual
Education Plan (IEP) that identifies the students’ specific learning expectations and how the school will
address these expectations.
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A new initiative has been launched this year to help students with learning disabilities in the areas of
reading and writing.
o Students now have access to assisted device technology applications via Google apps.
o Read &Write function is designed for individuals as well as whole school boards to provide support
when working with Google Docs and Google Apps (e.g. proof-reading, dictating notes via computer
microphone).
o This initiative involves moving this technology into the mainstream; accessible to all students via
”iCloud” from school or home. Amanda provided a handout on the initiative and instructions for
accessing Read & Write feature on a personal computer and has asked council members to provide
feedback on the usefulness of the instructions directly to Amanda.spencer@ugdsb.on.ca.
In collaboration with rest of guidance department, coordinates an early intervention initiative; occurs
twice per year and is aimed at intervening to help students who are struggling in their school work (e.g.
based on mid-term marks/report card). A plan is put together in consultation with student, teacher (s),
parents to support student success.
Constable Kevin Dahl – High School Resource Officer (Guelph Police Services)
 Kevin works for the Youth Crime Prevention Services Unit, Guelph Police Service
 There are 4 officers covering Guelph high schools with Kevin covering John F. Ross CVI and St. James
High School
 Role is to provide general knowledge of school police protocol and make frontline officers aware of what
to do when coming to the school:
o ensure the safety of teachers, staff and students
o role model for students – ensures awareness of rules in student handbook
o frontline officers inform Kevin of student interaction with police
 Kevin takes a pro-active approach with students: classroom presentations to educate on topics relevant to
students: interactive drinking and driving simulation, careers in policing, criminal code offences, sexting,
social media/drug awareness
 Responsible for students outside of school property (e.g. lunch hour); establishes relationship with mall
management/small business owners in local area – will call school if student issue
 Youth Engagement Program – outreach to all high school students in Guelph who come from all
backgrounds (at risk, career policing and general interest); learn about different law enforcement services
and at end of 8 weeks, student presents a topic of learning; students earn volunteer hours.
 Contact info 519-824-1212 ext # 7175
Sharon Dills – Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)
Website: http:// wwd.cmha.ca/
 Formerly Trellis, now CMHA Waterloo Wellington Dufferin with offices in Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo,
Cambridge, Orangeville, Fergus and Mount Forest
 CMHA WWD provides a full care system for those with addictions, mental health or developmental needs
from children to adults to seniors
 Children’s Developmental and Early Interventions Services:
o Growing Great Kids (Ages 0-6): Mental health assessment, Service coordination, Consultation, -in
education and capacity building services, Direct Therapy and support; and Parenting services
(including psycho-educational groups)
o Ages 0-5 services: developmental delays due to premature birth or other undetected causes; home
visits including specialty team (e.g. developmental pediatrician) to continuously monitor
o Inclusion Support Team – community-based program supporting children with special needs (e.g.
social/cognitive) in childcare services; individual program plans are developed; team includes multidisciplined professionals/specialists
 Mental Health Services:
o Ages 0-6 – “Little Buddies” – workers support children & family at home
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o Ages 6-18 – Mental Health team to support families and youth; family consultants to build
relationship between youth and family; case management workers work on complex cases involving
youth, justice system/courts and complex family dynamics
o Mental health workers work with schools to assist youth not attending school due to mental health
issues
Other Services:
o Walk-in Clinic: every Tuesday 1:30 – 7:00 pm, 485 Silvercreek Parkway, all year round; access for
families; create a service plan with options for accessing CMHA or other community services
o Mobile Crisis service: available 24/7 all year round
o Here 24/7 Addictions, Mental Health and Crisis Services point of access: 1-844-437-3247
o French-language services
o GLOWW – Giving Light Offers Worth and Wellness; youth voice for mental health to reduce stigma
and raise awareness http://gloww.ca/
o WAYVE – Working Against Youth Violence Everywhere; a youth-led mental health and violence
prevention program (Kitchener area)
o Section 23 Class: CMHA/UGDSB program for students Gr 6-8 who are struggling within the school
system. Goal is to help them develop skills to allow transition back into school.
Administrative Report
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Beth Burns
Beth distributed John F. Ross CVI November 2015 newsletter prepared by school yearbook team.
http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/uploadedFiles/jfr/JFR%20November%20Newsletter.pdf. Please provide any
feedback directly to Beth.
Mid-term Report Cards will be sent out week of November 23rd
Parkview Church (Guelph) would like to surround school in prayer as part of Youth Outreach Program.
Two people will pray on periphery of school property, once per week prior to 7:30 a.m. They will not be
approaching students or evangelizing. Similar program in place at Centre Wellington in Fergus. This is
seen as positive for JFR. Contact Beth directly if you have any questions or concerns at
Beth.burns@ugdsb.on.ca.
CBC has approached JFR to be a potential site for a reality television series regarding kids and staff who
work in a high school. It is based on a British reality show and presents a positive message of how
schools support students. This is in the exploratory stage at this time.
School Council Report
Deb Drake
Website
 Updates accomplished: Minutes and agendas have been added, email address and council chairs have been
updated, dates of meetings for the year added, updated Parent Handbook has been formatted to web
version and added. See http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/jfr/councils/article.aspx?id=22805
 Planned upgrading of all UGDSB school websites – no updating of rest of the site until that’s done.
Parent-Teacher Interviews:
 Lots of traffic at the council table – surveys completed & new email sign-ups
 17 info packs given out, mainly to new grade 9 parents since many didn’t attend the Café
 Lots of positive feedback on the emails sent out
o Information in the emails is very helpful and parents are grateful and happy to be able to get info
since no time to attend meetings or other commitments Tuesday nights
o Parents love the app – one particularly likes the daily announcements but commented they sometimes
come out fairly late (these are posted to both the website and the app at noon daily).
PRO Grant Project:
 ESL department suggested languages to translate (French, Spanish, Urdu, Farsi, note: no translators for
Russian or Tagalog) – Immigrant Services has been contacted regarding availability of translators, quote
was over $2,500 for 4 languages. Immigrant Services/translators have agreed on a reduced cost per word
so we are able to do 2 languages for slightly over $1,000. Moving forward with Spanish and French.
Treasurer Report:
 Expenses to date – $285.
Events/Seminars:
 Reminder of the Your Future Your Choice career resource fair – Nov 18, 6-8 pm, Centennial CVI.
 Nov 25th, Our Lady of Lourdes HS, 54 Westmount Rd., 6-9 p.m. – Dr. Brenda Kenyon – Community,
Connection, Compassion. Differentiating between Mental Health and Mental Illness. Dr. Kenyon will be
joined by various community organizations with display tables containing information and resources for
families. http://www.eventbrite.ca/e/community-connection-compassion-tickets-19159262871
Other:
 Guswhenta – New Aboriginal studies 4 credit program – see Guidance website or My Blueprint for further
information.
 Set tentative date of February 11th for the Staff Appreciation Luncheon – this is an annual event organized
and hosted by parents to show our appreciation for Ross staff. We gratefully accept donations of food
from parents to help us put on this luncheon. Approximate number served is 150 staff.
New Business
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All
Students interested in changing courses for next semester should be taking care of that now
University application deadline is January 13, 2016 and College application deadline is February 1, 2016
Next Meeting: January 19th, 2016
We will be welcoming school personnel to discuss some of the program offerings at Ross – tentative guest
speakers/topics for next meeting are Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) in Technology and RECAP
(enriched Arts focused program).