MHS PSSC
February 11, 2015 (Approved)
Present: Anne-Marie Picone-Ford; Mike BeLong(Principal), Dr. Tim Wallace(DEC Rep), Mary
Boucher(Teacher Rep), Scott Agnew, Megan Campbell(Student Rep), Colleen Landry, Denise Owens, Joe
Woodford, Lise Bellefleur-Jonah; Brian Pond, Shawna Downey, Sheila Cameron, Adriana Campbell,
Patricia Crowell. Anne Marie called the meeting to order at 6:30pm and welcomed all.
Approval of the agenda- DO/SD MSC
Approval of the Minutes – SA/LBJ MSC
No Correspondence
Business arising from minutes – Anne Marie continues to ask Monique LeBlanc for a meeting or
information regarding the funding that was discussed at the January meeting.
Principal's report - Mike BeLong
1)
Transportation change - request by realtor for traffic to follow Longfellow; Dept agreed. Notice
went out
2)
Citizens of Royal Oaks - Principal has invited the citizens of Royal Oaks to come for a tour of the
school; wants to create good relationship.
3)
Friends of the Knights – Carol-Lynn Landry to chair; 4 on executive; 19 on committee to date.
Looking at an event / auction for the spring.
They have had 2 meetings so far, need the executive to move fundraising forward. Meeting
tomorrow night.
MHS has acquired all of the composites of the grad classes. There will be digital copies rotating
on the screens in the lobby.
Scott mentioned that they should connect with the Facebook group "Saving Moncton High"; as
many alumni in that group.
Denise mentioned to connect with the feeder school parents.
4)
Alumni Trust Committee - $26,000 is held in the Alumni Trust for bursaries; may take a year off
from fundraising.
5)
Open House (discussion) - for the larger community; PSSC to be involved
6)
Growing Pains - Everyone is adjusting to the new building and new procedures. First year will be
a learning curve. There is a long list of deficiencies.
7)
1)
Custodial group struggling to keep the school clean; feels it is bigger than old school
2)
EAs don't have bathroom keys
SPR (Dept Head) Invites to present at PSSC - We had science last year. We'll have Math in
March; ELA in April; Humanities in May
8)
Cafeteria - not enough space for everyone; adding seating and tables to common areas to help
this; seems to work with one noon hour; congested first day; but worked out by second day.
Teachers' Report - Mary Boucher
Staff is positive and are adjusting well. Seem to be more relaxed now that move is over. Some growing
pains.
Transportation change is a mild irritant because Royal Oaks is a public road. But staff not prepared to
make an issue out of it.
Time missed is causing pressure on teachers as we are a week behind the other high schools. This is a
unit of study so trying to be efficient with time.
School procedures - no jackets in class; use lockers; cafeteria procedures. Staff like the new procedures.
Technology is being installed.
Student Council Report - Megan Campbell
This week is teacher appreciation week. Megan thanked staff on announcements; giving Tim Hortons to
staff tomorrow.
Tomorrow is Spirit Dance - free for all students who have paid student fees.
Have partnership with Under Armour for Knight wear. Looking to blow out old inventory; and pre-sell
new clothes
Students are settling in after initial growing pains.
Discussion - Only 25% of the students have paid their student fees. First year of doing it online. Maybe
we'll go back to old system and collect payments on the same day as picture day. $70 fee includes the
yearbook ; but we can't do that anymore as we are losing money. Yearbooks cost $26,000 and less than
$20,000 of student fees are in.
DEC - Dr. Tim Wallace
Birchmount did a presentation to DEC for a green playground. Showed the partnerships and the cost.
Asked for access to funds left in the DEC budget.
DEC doesn't give money to charities anymore. Nothing from DEC budget this year will go to schools.
There are 37 schools, some with projects and some without.
New Business:
Knight Rider/Transportation: Anne-Marie hoping to talk to Monique before this meeting.
Friends of the Knights will look at this issue. They will also look at the cost of an outdoor common area.
There are not enough buses for all the runs needed to bus the MHS students to the new school.
No boundary changes happened because of the move to the new school. DEC are looking at boundaries
for all of the schools, not just high schools.
UNB has an initiative to have the mens' athletic teams stand up against bullying. AM asked for more
information to be able to present it to us, with the hope that MHS and other high schools would
promote this. UNB will keep us updated.
Next meeting is March 11, 2015. If snow day, meeting will be March 18, 2015.
Moved to adjourn at 7:45pm by Sheila