Dalewood Parent School Council Meeting Minutes
DATE: February 18, 2014
Present: Sigal Balshine, Diane Crawshaw, Kelly McCormick, Joanne Hall (Principal), Linda Colburn (Teacher Rep.), Phyllis Connelly, Joyann Kruizinga, Laura
Boorman, Tina Moffat, Cecilia Irazuzta Guests: Judith Bishop (Trustee) and Sue Dunlop (Superintendent, West Cluster).
Regrets:
AGENDA ITEM
Meeting Start at: 7:09pm
1. Principal’s Report
(Joanne Hall)
DISCUSSION
ACTIONs
 Motion to accept previous meeting minutes: Sigal raised motion to accept minutes and Joanne
seconded. Minutes were approved.
 Introductions
High school option sheets were due Friday. Majority of students going to Westdale S.S.
All out of catchment students at Dalewood have been notified of not being able to attend Westdale
Secondary School. Dalewood is closed to further out of catchment from Grade 5.
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2. Teacher’s Report
(Deb Pratt)
Teacher’s Report for School Council February 18, 2014
1.Integrity lesson - tied to Olympics and recognized Pride of Dalewood award winners.
This is an initiative by the Ambassadors – Acts of Kindness are being recognized and
are nominated by student ambassadors or teachers.
2.Directors Forum - two students Julian Rogers (OELC athletics) and Charlie Hill (OELC
music) representing Dalewood at a Student voice forum
3.March 28th - Right to play conference for student leadership - 20 students will be taken
4.4, Sara Westbrook - Feb. 26 meeting with OELC students to plan March lesson on
acceptance
5.Senior basketball teams are finished and junior teams are having tryouts.
6.Swimming with Mr. Martindale will be beginning soon.
7.Curricular - Health - Growth and Development - letters to go home soon, unit to start
towards the end of March
8.OELC athletics - selling hot chocolate month of February, and assisting with
intramurals
9.Creative Ad Design with the Spectator > Class 61 and 62 were involved. Ms. Coburn’s
Class 61 client was Hamilton Tourism and Amman Wayheed’s ad was selected and
Mrs. Halmagean’s class 62 clients was French Immersion programming and Maria
Seo was selected. Their ads will appear in the Feb, 25th edition. Dalewood will be
given complimentary copies.
10.After School Scholars Program for Numeracy has begun Ms. Desotti will be working
on Gr. 6 Math with FI students and Ms. Coburn will be working with 61 and 62 on
Numeracy
11.Gr. 7 & 8 students have been trained in Career Cruising, which is a working online
piece of software that will follow them through the process of picking high school
courses and career paths. Link can be found on our school website.
12.Muskoka Woods is next week for our grade 7 students from Feb. 26th to 28th - ~ 80
students going (majority of students are going, and we have subsidized some
students).
13.Let’s Talk Science begun in Nov. to introduce the students to some challenges and
material that they may encounter at the event. We will be up and running again the 1st
week in March. (Ms. Coburn was named one of the 20 top educators for their 20th
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anniversary edition and the link can be found on the Let’s Talk Science Website.
3. School Council
Guest speakers – Judith Bishop and Sue Dunlop (Superintendent, West Cluster) re: renovations to
school.
Judith – ARC recommendations promised renovations to Dalewood – elevator, book room, changes
to staff room and most of all, roof and furnace. These are promised and are solid promises. Problem
is timing. Linked to Rec Centre which is supposed to have renovations. Pool heater linked to
school’s furnace. City and Board could work together to achieve efficiencies. Uncertainty on city
side re: how to move forward. If City to rebuild, it would be beneficial to work together. (Cost of
heater is $90000 per year). Not sure if City has funds to rebuild pool. Board has been told that
planning stages are in Budget Year 2014-15. Acknowledged that the closing of schools was left much
too late. The vision for secondary education started in 2006. Board officials looked at many
different modern schools over the continent to inform the decision-making. Recommended to move
to more inclusive schools recommended offering all programs in every school.
Sue Dunlop – Tremendous change happening and it is difficult; acknowledged the change fatigue.
1) What work has been approved ? All approvals still stand: boilers, new roof, electrical
upgrades, accessible upgrades (lift and washrooms), upgraded plumbing, fire alarm/electrical
upgrades, exterior doors, windows. This was from Ministry funding. Expecting to hear from
Ministry if capital request has been approved. Money will come from Board if not Ministry.
2) Hasn’t happened due to working with City, and not been able to “get that going”. City has
renewed interest in working on the project. Is right now considering the scope of their
involvement in the rec centre. They are assessing and we should know within a month, what
they are willing to fund. Other priorities have superceded this renovation – G.R. Allan
renovations, Dundas Valley S.S, Saltfleet and new North school. While the ARC approved
renovations were all approved together, they are separate projects with different timelines.
3) Timeline – Board and City will meet to development the parameters of their partnership as a
next step, and likely the renovations will start this summer – boiler and roof to begin.
4) Question from Anita – with boiler malfunction, does this not move the Dalewood renovation
up in priority? No “cold threshold” outlined in the safety standards.
5) Question re: mould – none has been noted.
6) There are regular monthly walk-throughs for health and safety.
7) Joanne met with architects, and Board officials came in and did measurements and they
spoke of needs of school regarding and rec centre interface. This is the first time this has
happened.
8) Is there a drop dead date regarding cooperation with the city – Sue is not aware, but will find
out.
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9) There was some discussion about community fundraising for the capital improvements. This
is not permitted from the school point of view, but it may be for the rec centre.
10) We have requested a report from the Board for our April meeting to update us regarding the
decisions/City partnership…
11) School Council will connect with our city counselor, Brian McHattie to discuss this further.
Sara Westbrook – next Wednesday February 26th at 7pm. Parents can come with their children.
Sigal suggested we use the auditorium.
It was decided after an assessment of the biscotti, that mini-biscotti would be ordered as a
refreshment for the evening.
4. School Council
Subcomittee Updates
Deferred to next meeting.
Transition Committee - Public meeting being held this Thursday February 20 to discuss the transition
plans.
[see questions for Sue Dunlop and Judith Bishop above]
5. Questions/
Open Discussion
Dalewood D – Grade 8s are on winit system this year.
- Grade 6 and 7s are now on the point system, and are able to win medals by the
year’s end. Gold – 100 +; Silver is 75 to 99; Bronze is 50 to 74.
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Meeting end: 8:30pm
Minutes submitted by: Kelly McCormick
CHECK THE SCHOOL WEBSITE FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION & UPDATES
see the “School Council Tab”: http://schools.hwdsb.on.ca/dalewood/
Next Parent School Council Meeting: April 15, 2014
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