April 29th, 2014
SAC Meeting Minutes
In attendance; Ellie Arscott, Victor Giorgas, Eilleen Bucholtz, Nikki Rudzic, Louise
Rossi-Chan, Sara Tropea, David Darling, Luke McMillan,
Beverley O’Brian, Georgia Koziol , John Kyriazis, Laurel Johnson, Liz Lundy
Dave Gourlay, Laurie Barnett, Daniele Camissa, Sarah Gilbert, Bella Karsh,
Julia Purdy, Maureen Allan-Doorley, Ann McKecknie, Suzanne Krupchyn,
Tracey Arsenault, Genna Stubbings, Ana Derksen, Steven Pinter plus 1
Welcome started at 6:30pm by Victor. Any business to be added was requested.
Maureen Allan-Doorley added a segment for the Equity committee.
Treasurer’s Report
Louise Rossi-Chan spoke because there were no real fundraisers to report the funds
stood at $9500 to spend, $6800 is released and awaiting the listening centres etc…,
$2700 in reserve that will not be released until the fun fair expenses have come in.
Then the money will be put towards other items that have been brought forward when
we regroup after fun fair.
Principal’s Report
Beverly introduced Sarah Gilbert our school social worker to address that a member of
the community is in need of assistance in getting her child to school. She was severely
injured in an accident and has trouble getting her child to school. Sarah is appealing to
the neighbourhood that if any one would be able to help in organizing a “Walk to School”
program to help get this child to school. This child immediately needs our help so if you
can be of assistance you can leave your name with Beverly in the office and a meeting
with the family will be set up to organize a schedule. It would be ideal to have more
than one person to help.
The Active & Safe Routes to School is an Ontario initiative to get people active and build
community. If you are interested in spear heading this initiative at Duke go to `http://
www.saferoutestoschool.ca to find out more information. It has to be a parent driven
initiative.
The KM Club is still going strong meeting every Tuesday and Thursday mornings at
8am in the back field. There is a KM Club meet on May 24th at Downsview Park that
you can participate in. The permission forms are in the office.
Academics
PLC’s (Professional Learning Committee) will be meeting over the next 2 days. The
teachers will be released on Wednesday and Friday for this. They will be looking at
1) The Pathways; Continuing working on the assessment practices so that the grading
is aligned across all the teachers in a given division.
2) Discussion on Parent evenings feedback mainly how important parents feels about
small group instruction and the benefit of that.
3) Learning goals- inquiry units are discussed; parent feedback again in levels of
reading etc
Ms Karsh said that the learning goals are always guided by our data. This time
requiring “higher level thinking”. Perspective and Point of View was the theme that
came up and it is cross curricular into all age groups. It is specifically geared towards
the developmental level of all the children even though it is the same theme.
POR meeting conclusion was that they are setting up 5 resource rooms to house all the
resources available to teachers. They have been working very hard to pull everything
out of storage in classrooms, accounting for it and then returning and evening out the
supplies within the school. The supplies will be in the 5 rooms to be accessible by all
the teachers for use.
One of the rooms that needs to be cleared out is the old parent resource room. SAC
items need to be removed and placed either in the lost and found area or in the room
close to the kitchen in the basement i.e. the seasonal items. This has to happen by
May 26.
June 13th report cards go to Beverly. June 24th report cards go home. The name and
room number of your child’s class next year will be listed on the final report card.
CAT4 letter and results are in and have gone home with the students Gr 2 + in English
stream and Gr 4 + in French stream.
Daniele Camissa our Model Schools Rep has been transferred our of our cluster of
schools. We thank him for all the work he has done with and for us. We do not know
ibis replacement.
Staffing
Grace Trentadoe is back on staff after her absence.
Tim Noonan is still on medical leave with no return date as yet.
Staffing Model is up and went out in the Duke Express newsletter. Currently Duke is .5
surplus in the English stream and there is 1 position available in the French stream.
The first round of interviews has happened. They are currently doing round two.
You will notice that there are a lot of combined grades and that is actually a good thing.
All children are programmed for according to their age so there will be no detriment to
the students education in a split grade.
In terms of where your child is placed next year, you should talk to your current teacher
and express and learning related requests to them so that they can take that information
with them to place the children next year. Please note that specific teacher requests will
not be permitted.
Nikki asked if the forerunner class of Gr 5/6 French would be the class that will be
receiving the new staff member being hired because she could see that as a developing
pattern. Beverly assured her that this would not be the case this year.
Bruce St School is going to add Gr. 7 & 8 to its school. This will affect Duke next year
by about 12 students and up so 60 in the future. This does not reflect or affect the
growth of the student body at Duke.
FDK
A confirmation letter will be going out to state that Woodgreen is the before and after
school care provider. This will be a request that you confirm your child’s attendance in
the care program. The daycare program IS happening for next year. There will be 60
spots available.
With this program going into place there is a marriage of teachers and daycare
providers that will be happening in the same rooms. Seeing as the rooms will be used
for daycare as well as teaching the teachers may not use the room for prepping classes
etc. These details are still being worked out.
As far as the outside space goes. Even though the outside space is not leased with the
internal rooms it will remain the use of the daycare. The fenced in area at the side of
the school will now be used for Kindergarten kids as will as another adjacent fenced in
area beside the original. Thank you to the efforts of Ms Z and friends they were able to
get a grant of 4 trees from Evergreen Foundation to plant in the new area for the
Kindergarteners.
FDK hot lunch program will be provided by our own kitchen. The meals will be
prepared and taken to them in their classrooms to eat. The meals will be $3 per meal.
FDK is adding about 140 kids to the lunch regime. With this there will be 5 lunchtime
supervisors hired to stay with each class over lunch. They will also be going outside at
lunch, how has yet to be determined.
There will also be 5 ECE’s hired to go into each FDK classroom.
Extracurriculars
Sarah Tropea brought up the difficulty in getting children into Duke’s French program
next year. Her daughter was declined and she therefore talked to Sheila our trustee
about the issue. It was shared that when you fill out the French registration forms online
you must click the sibling button. If this is done correctly then there is a guarantee that
your sibling child will get in to the school.
There was also some parent feedback from the PRO Grant French night hosted last
week. Some parents said that the English stream seemed more play based learning
and the French more academic. Beverly assured parents on that evening as well as
tonight that this was definitely not the case.
PRO Grant submission will be happening this week and after the survey taken from
parents it was decided that more workshop type things would be set up with the grant
money i.e. navigating the TDSB for special needs and mental health support regarding
bulling, self esteem etc.
There will be a Kindergarten Open House held May 30th in the morning. The day will
start with an SAC Coffee at 8:30am with announcements and tour to begin at 9am.
There are only 2 kindergarten rooms left to be toured but parents and children will be
welcomed into the classrooms to see a class room setting in action. Admin staff and
SAC parents will be there to answer any questions.
Rooms #7 and 3 are completely gutted at this time and unfit for touring.
Anne in the kitchen wanted to mention that they have been receiving donations from a
farmer at St Lawrence Market every week this year and it will extend into the new
school year as well. So if you are in the market take time to give a big thank you to
Ponesse Foods.
Wednesday May 7 there is a guest chef Luke Hayes-Alexander coming to cook with our
grade 7/8’s in our Danny Kitchen. Also Corey Mintz will be writing an article all about it!
Classes have been in the kitchen helping to cook the food for the day with Anne and her
team. There are more guest chef days coming up including a sighting of Georgia and
John!!!
The admin staff got new phones so they have the school’s twitter account going crazy,
so check it out @DukeofConnaught
The Maker Lab is having an Open House next week. It is housed in the wood shop that
has been reclaimed and is ready to go. The plan for the shop is to eventually turn it
back in to a wood shop but for now it is the MAKER LAB! It is a place for inquiry based
learning that the students can then create using found materials in the shop. The shop
is big enough that students can build and leave their creations to build and new and
compare.
Stephen Gilbert has been running a media tech class this year following the S.T.E.M
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) model. He has been asked to put a
presentation together for the director of STEM to present at a conference in the near
future based on Dukes initiatives in this area. Beverly has also been asked to attend a
conference in New Orleans to discuss Dukes initiatives as well.
The GRADE 6 Open House is April 30 at Duke. We will be hosting student from
Leslieville P. S. Our Gr 7 students from Ms Astor’s class will be helping the kids tour our
school.
Thursday May 1st is Career Day for the Gr 8 students of our family of schools. There
will be 700 students attending Duke on Thursday to listen to presentations from different
sectors of workers. Dwight Drummond is the key note speaker. Our student
ambassadors will be showing off our school as well and the Gr 8 classes and their
teachers participating in the day.
Music Monday is happening May 5th. Mr Carusso and Mr Kirkwood will be holding an
assembly to kick of the new semester in their usual musical fashion.
The student “Club House” is having its Open House May 20th. This is to introduce
students and parents to the new room that is a safe environment to talk to a trusted
adult, Ms Lachicha, where kids can feel safe and supported. This is a ministry wide
initiative and the intermediate and junior student have already made good use of it. The
intermediate students will be touring the junior students through the room. It is a place
to learn about building relationships. Also the focus is on relieving stress and anxiety in
the student body. Journalist Andrea Houston will be talking with the kids and reporting
all about it at the Open House.
The Caring and Safety Committee has created a dress code, a code of conduct in
outdoor play and personal electronic devices. It was sent out in all the newsletters. It
was an document written by the students for the students. They also will be organizing
lunch time ambassadors to help encourage following the code. The code will also be
going into the agenda pages for next year.
Grade 7/8 students will be going to Camp Wahawin May 14-16th. They will be staying
in cabins and will be working on leadership when they are there.
Facilities
The kindergarten rooms have started construction. They have been making some new
discoveries in Room 7 that have them delayed. Beverly is hoping that the room will be
ready for September. If it is not the kindergarten will stay in their current rooms.
Not sure on the timeline for the outside space to be ready.
Sub-Committees
Sara Tropea spoke on PRO Grant French night that was hosted last week. There were
about 40 people who attended. You can get the power point presentation in the nest
Need to Read and also you can pick up the hand outs in the office if you are interested.
The PRO Grant Math night is coming up this Thursday May 1. There are about 90 kids
RSVP’d so far and counting. The kindergarten activities will be held in the gym. There
will be 7 other rooms with math related activities for you to wander through. There is a
math related book fair in the library as well as loot bags.
To get a loot bag you must register that you attended so that a Continuing Education
Grant that has been accepted can keep track of numbers and donate $3 per registration
back to the school to purchase math related goods.
There are 18 teachers involved in Math Night.
* We are looking for 8 volunteers to help register people at the beginning of the event.
15-20 minute commitment. Please let Sara, the office or Ms Karsh know if you are
interested.
Equity Committee wanted to say how successful the International Potluck was and also
to say thank you for everyone for participating and making it such wonderful event.
Meeting Close 8PM- by Victor
SAC Meeting Minutes
In attendance; Ellie Arscott, Victor Giorgas, Eilleen Bucholtz, Nikki Rudzic, Louise
Rossi-Chan, Sara Tropea, David Darling, Luke McMillan,
Beverley O’Brian, Georgia Koziol , John Kyriazis, Laurel Johnson, Liz Lundy
Dave Gourlay, Laurie Barnett, Daniele Camissa, Sarah Gilbert, Bella Karsh,
Julia Purdy, Maureen Allan-Doorley, Ann McKecknie, Suzanne Krupchyn,
Tracey Arsenault, Genna Stubbings, Ana Derksen, Steven Pinter plus 1
Welcome started at 6:30pm by Victor. Any business to be added was requested.
Maureen Allan-Doorley added a segment for the Equity committee.
Treasurer’s Report
Louise Rossi-Chan spoke because there were no real fundraisers to report the funds
stood at $9500 to spend, $6800 is released and awaiting the listening centres etc…,
$2700 in reserve that will not be released until the fun fair expenses have come in.
Then the money will be put towards other items that have been brought forward when
we regroup after fun fair.
Principal’s Report
Beverly introduced Sarah Gilbert our school social worker to address that a member of
the community is in need of assistance in getting her child to school. She was severely
injured in an accident and has trouble getting her child to school. Sarah is appealing to
the neighbourhood that if any one would be able to help in organizing a “Walk to School”
program to help get this child to school. This child immediately needs our help so if you
can be of assistance you can leave your name with Beverly in the office and a meeting
with the family will be set up to organize a schedule. It would be ideal to have more
than one person to help.
The Active & Safe Routes to School is an Ontario initiative to get people active and build
community. If you are interested in spear heading this initiative at Duke go to `http://
www.saferoutestoschool.ca to find out more information. It has to be a parent driven
initiative.
The KM Club is still going strong meeting every Tuesday and Thursday mornings at
8am in the back field. There is a KM Club meet on May 24th at Downsview Park that
you can participate in. The permission forms are in the office.
Academics
PLC’s (Professional Learning Committee) will be meeting over the next 2 days. The
teachers will be released on Wednesday and Friday for this. They will be looking at
1) The Pathways; Continuing working on the assessment practices so that the grading
is aligned across all the teachers in a given division.
2) Discussion on Parent evenings feedback mainly how important parents feels about
small group instruction and the benefit of that.
3) Learning goals- inquiry units are discussed; parent feedback again in levels of
reading etc
Ms Karsh said that the learning goals are always guided by our data. This time
requiring “higher level thinking”. Perspective and Point of View was the theme that
came up and it is cross curricular into all age groups. It is specifically geared towards
the developmental level of all the children even though it is the same theme.
POR meeting conclusion was that they are setting up 5 resource rooms to house all the
resources available to teachers. They have been working very hard to pull everything
out of storage in classrooms, accounting for it and then returning and evening out the
supplies within the school. The supplies will be in the 5 rooms to be accessible by all
the teachers for use.
One of the rooms that needs to be cleared out is the old parent resource room. SAC
items need to be removed and placed either in the lost and found area or in the room
close to the kitchen in the basement i.e. the seasonal items. This has to happen by
May 26.
June 13th report cards go to Beverly. June 24th report cards go home. The name and
room number of your child’s class next year will be listed on the final report card.
CAT4 letter and results are in and have gone home with the students Gr 2 + in English
stream and Gr 4 + in French stream.
Daniele Camissa our Model Schools Rep has been transferred our of our cluster of
schools. We thank him for all the work he has done with and for us. We do not know
ibis replacement.
Staffing
Grace Trentadoe is back on staff after her absence.
Tim Noonan is still on medical leave with no return date as yet.
Staffing Model is up and went out in the Duke Express newsletter. Currently Duke is .5
surplus in the English stream and there is 1 position available in the French stream.
The first round of interviews has happened. They are currently doing round two.
You will notice that there are a lot of combined grades and that is actually a good thing.
All children are programmed for according to their age so there will be no detriment to
the students education in a split grade.
In terms of where your child is placed next year, you should talk to your current teacher
and express and learning related requests to them so that they can take that information
with them to place the children next year. Please note that specific teacher requests will
not be permitted.
Nikki asked if the forerunner class of Gr 5/6 French would be the class that will be
receiving the new staff member being hired because she could see that as a developing
pattern. Beverly assured her that this would not be the case this year.
Bruce St School is going to add Gr. 7 & 8 to its school. This will affect Duke next year
by about 12 students and up so 60 in the future. This does not reflect or affect the
growth of the student body at Duke.
FDK
A confirmation letter will be going out to state that Woodgreen is the before and after
school care provider. This will be a request that you confirm your child’s attendance in
the care program. The daycare program IS happening for next year. There will be 60
spots available.
With this program going into place there is a marriage of teachers and daycare
providers that will be happening in the same rooms. Seeing as the rooms will be used
for daycare as well as teaching the teachers may not use the room for prepping classes
etc. These details are still being worked out.
As far as the outside space goes. Even though the outside space is not leased with the
internal rooms it will remain the use of the daycare. The fenced in area at the side of
the school will now be used for Kindergarten kids as will as another adjacent fenced in
area beside the original. Thank you to the efforts of Ms Z and friends they were able to
get a grant of 4 trees from Evergreen Foundation to plant in the new area for the
Kindergarteners.
FDK hot lunch program will be provided by our own kitchen. The meals will be
prepared and taken to them in their classrooms to eat. The meals will be $3 per meal.
FDK is adding about 140 kids to the lunch regime. With this there will be 5 lunchtime
supervisors hired to stay with each class over lunch. They will also be going outside at
lunch, how has yet to be determined.
There will also be 5 ECE’s hired to go into each FDK classroom.
Extracurriculars
Sarah Tropea brought up the difficulty in getting children into Duke’s French program
next year. Her daughter was declined and she therefore talked to Sheila our trustee
about the issue. It was shared that when you fill out the French registration forms online
you must click the sibling button. If this is done correctly then there is a guarantee that
your sibling child will get in to the school.
There was also some parent feedback from the PRO Grant French night hosted last
week. Some parents said that the English stream seemed more play based learning
and the French more academic. Beverly assured parents on that evening as well as
tonight that this was definitely not the case.
PRO Grant submission will be happening this week and after the survey taken from
parents it was decided that more workshop type things would be set up with the grant
money i.e. navigating the TDSB for special needs and mental health support regarding
bulling, self esteem etc.
There will be a Kindergarten Open House held May 30th in the morning. The day will
start with an SAC Coffee at 8:30am with announcements and tour to begin at 9am.
There are only 2 kindergarten rooms left to be toured but parents and children will be
welcomed into the classrooms to see a class room setting in action. Admin staff and
SAC parents will be there to answer any questions.
Rooms #7 and 3 are completely gutted at this time and unfit for touring.
Anne in the kitchen wanted to mention that they have been receiving donations from a
farmer at St Lawrence Market every week this year and it will extend into the new
school year as well. So if you are in the market take time to give a big thank you to
Ponesse Foods.
Wednesday May 7 there is a guest chef Luke Hayes-Alexander coming to cook with our
grade 7/8’s in our Danny Kitchen. Also Corey Mintz will be writing an article all about it!
Classes have been in the kitchen helping to cook the food for the day with Anne and her
team. There are more guest chef days coming up including a sighting of Georgia and
John!!!
The admin staff got new phones so they have the school’s twitter account going crazy,
so check it out @DukeofConnaught
The Maker Lab is having an Open House next week. It is housed in the wood shop that
has been reclaimed and is ready to go. The plan for the shop is to eventually turn it
back in to a wood shop but for now it is the MAKER LAB! It is a place for inquiry based
learning that the students can then create using found materials in the shop. The shop
is big enough that students can build and leave their creations to build and new and
compare.
Stephen Gilbert has been running a media tech class this year following the S.T.E.M
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) model. He has been asked to put a
presentation together for the director of STEM to present at a conference in the near
future based on Dukes initiatives in this area. Beverly has also been asked to attend a
conference in New Orleans to discuss Dukes initiatives as well.
The GRADE 6 Open House is April 30 at Duke. We will be hosting student from
Leslieville P. S. Our Gr 7 students from Ms Astor’s class will be helping the kids tour our
school.
Thursday May 1st is Career Day for the Gr 8 students of our family of schools. There
will be 700 students attending Duke on Thursday to listen to presentations from different
sectors of workers. Dwight Drummond is the key note speaker. Our student
ambassadors will be showing off our school as well and the Gr 8 classes and their
teachers participating in the day.
Music Monday is happening May 5th. Mr Carusso and Mr Kirkwood will be holding an
assembly to kick of the new semester in their usual musical fashion.
The student “Club House” is having its Open House May 20th. This is to introduce
students and parents to the new room that is a safe environment to talk to a trusted
adult, Ms Lachicha, where kids can feel safe and supported. This is a ministry wide
initiative and the intermediate and junior student have already made good use of it. The
intermediate students will be touring the junior students through the room. It is a place
to learn about building relationships. Also the focus is on relieving stress and anxiety in
the student body. Journalist Andrea Houston will be talking with the kids and reporting
all about it at the Open House.
The Caring and Safety Committee has created a dress code, a code of conduct in
outdoor play and personal electronic devices. It was sent out in all the newsletters. It
was an document written by the students for the students. They also will be organizing
lunch time ambassadors to help encourage following the code. The code will also be
going into the agenda pages for next year.
Grade 7/8 students will be going to Camp Wahawin May 14-16th. They will be staying
in cabins and will be working on leadership when they are there.
Facilities
The kindergarten rooms have started construction. They have been making some new
discoveries in Room 7 that have them delayed. Beverly is hoping that the room will be
ready for September. If it is not the kindergarten will stay in their current rooms.
Not sure on the timeline for the outside space to be ready.
Sub-Committees
Sara Tropea spoke on PRO Grant French night that was hosted last week. There were
about 40 people who attended. You can get the power point presentation in the nest
Need to Read and also you can pick up the hand outs in the office if you are interested.
The PRO Grant Math night is coming up this Thursday May 1. There are about 90 kids
RSVP’d so far and counting. The kindergarten activities will be held in the gym. There
will be 7 other rooms with math related activities for you to wander through. There is a
math related book fair in the library as well as loot bags.
To get a loot bag you must register that you attended so that a Continuing Education
Grant that has been accepted can keep track of numbers and donate $3 per registration
back to the school to purchase math related goods.
There are 18 teachers involved in Math Night.
* We are looking for 8 volunteers to help register people at the beginning of the event.
15-20 minute commitment. Please let Sara, the office or Ms Karsh know if you are
interested.
Equity Committee wanted to say how successful the International Potluck was and also
to say thank you for everyone for participating and making it such wonderful event.
Meeting Close 8PM- by Victor