John F. Ross C.V.I. School Council Minutes
April 19th, 2016
Attendees: Terry Hadaway, Mary Rayner, Kayla Bowland (Student Council), Ruth Anne Peller, Una Murphy,
Charmaine Whitmore
Regrets: Deb Drake, Beth Burns (Principal)
Welcome and Introductions
Terry Hadaway
Introductions & Attendance (email & phone # collected).
Student Council Report
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Jersey day coming up
10 for 10 fundraising: The money raised through 10 for 10 will fund a special project led by the Brain
Tumour Foundation of Canada, in partnership with Brain Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society. The
partnership between the three organizations will match the Guelph students’ contributions dollar-for-dollar,
bringing the current overall donation to the research project to $300,000. Donations will continue to be
collected until the end of April 2016. More information can be found at www.braintumour.ca/ten4ten.
Election for student council underway: campaign ends April 30th ; student crew getting ready to attend
training camp to prepare for Grade 9 orientation in September
Mini Hillside at JFR– Thursday, May 26th @ 11:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Administrative Report
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Beth Burns
School administration spent Monday and Tuesday at a retreat learning how best to provide feedback to
teachers to help them create and deliver the best instruction leading to the deepest learning. It was very
positive. Many of our sports teams are moving forward to higher level competitions and we area about to
embark on a wonderful Native Studies Mural project. More details soon. Our Aboriginal exchange will be
leaving soon…We look forward to hearing about their adventures.
We are setting classes for 2016-2017 and will not have any surplus teachers. I am predicting our population
will stay steady at just under 2000.
School Council Report
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Kayla Bowland
Terry Hadaway
PRO Grant Project- (high level overview for new attendees) Over the last 5 years the school council has
been applying the grant towards translating the school handbook into 12 different languages. French and
Spanish translations have been completed and are being reviewed before final publication.
Parent Café Preparation – held in late August for parents of new grade 9 students, event occurs on same day
as student orientation. Opportunity to answer parent questions and provide resources (e.g. will have 100
school handbooks available in English with electronic/hard copies available in other languages
Funds available for gift cards to be used towards refreshments at Parent café. Total allocated funds- $100.
Parent Teacher Interviews (March 23, 2016) – Evening session (6-8 p.m.) cancelled due to inclement
weather. Teachers were to contact parents to reschedule interviews within following 2 weeks. Parents also
had option to email or phone teacher to reschedule. Council suggestion: If an event has to be postponed or
cancelled, council would recommend setting up new date for the following week rather than have teachers
contact parents to reschedule. Feedback from parents is only some of the teachers followed up with an
email/phone call. Parents who had scheduled appointments would prefer to meet with the teachers in person.
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School Based Funding Grant & Annual Reports – Deb Drake has prepared draft report which is due to the
school board by end of June
PRO Grant 2016-17- application deadline is May 29th . Need volunteer(s) to prepare application. If no
volunteers, will need to defer until following year.
PIC Update – Presentation: Breaking Down Barriers Through Parent Engagement by Dr. Debbie Pushor.
Charmaine provided an update. The ideas presented to improve parent engagement were geared towards
elementary schools.
New Business
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All
Closure of second resource room at JFR was raised by a couple of concerned parents with students in IEP.
Now only one remaining resource room available. Impacted students have put forward a petition with
respect to the room closure, which is used by students for extra help. Concerned Parent has been advised by
Beth that the room closure is due to board cut backs on educational assistant funding which has reduced
staff levels. Second resource room being used sparingly for meetings or administrative purposes and for
overflow when students require it as determined by the Resource Teachers. As a result of room closure in
March, IEP students are having difficulty concentrating on school work. Consensus reached that school
counsel would present parents suggestions/concerns to Beth. Parent will speak with superintendent and
write a letter that will be shared with school council. Amanda Spencer, Head of Special Education will be
invited to speak to council on this issue at the May meeting
Question raised whether another musical is planned for future. Recap program review currently underway;
musicals generally occur every 2 years. Beth provided further clarification. The current plan is to plan a
musical for the school year 2017-2018. In 2016-2017 JFRCVI will again be hosting the Regional Sears
Drama Festival.
Colinda Clyne, School Board Equity Lead presentation. Colinda Clyne is a Métis artist who makes
presentations to School Councils on equity issues and First Nation issues. Table for discussion at May
meeting to determine whether School Council wants to support Colinda Clyne speaking engagement at a
future meeting next year.
Real Talk- Evening Mental Health Seminar for Parents (free) - Thursday April 21st 2016, 6:30 – 8pm at
Rockwood Centennial School. To date, YouthSpeak have reached over 130,000 students, parents, teachers
inspiring a message of hope and positive change through assemblies and workshops www.youthspeak.ca.
Grade 12 commencement occurs yearly in November. Why not hold in June after graduation? Possibly
hold over two nights by surname (A-L, M-Z) to manage capacity. Terry to ask Beth to respond at May
meeting.
School Climate Survey- Beth confirmed that there has been no information shared back to the school from
the Climate Survey yet. Beth will bring survey information to the May if available.
Upcoming Events
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Kiwanis Music Festival: JFR bands perform at the Salvation Army Citadel April 28th (Senior 12:30 p.m.,
On Stage 1:30 p.m.) & April 29th (Intermediate 12:50 p.m., Grade 9 3:00 p.m.). Choirs performs at
St. George Anglican Church April 20th (Junior, Concert, Ross Singers, Men’s 11:40 a.m. – 1:55 p.m.)
Information and schedule http://www.guelphkiwanismusicfestival.org/
Next Meeting: May 17th, 2016