Your help is needed to save our Pools!

From the Save Keele Pool blog:

A new development in the fight to save our pool:
The city was scheduled to begin decommissioning up to 35 neighbourhood swimming pools this June. However, it was recently revealed that Beaches-East York Councillor Janet Davis was able to find alternative funding to save two pools in her ward at G.A. Brown and S.H. Armstrong public schools.

The question:
What does Councillor Davis know that our own Councillor Bill Saundercook doesn't?
And why isn't he out there finding out?
What can you do?

Toronto City Council is meeting next Monday, March 31st. On the agenda is a Budget Committee recommendation to Executive and Council to have the 2008 Budget include funding for G.A. Brown and S.H. Armstrong pools.

Your help is needed to write letters, faxes or emails to urge Councillor Saundercook to follow Councillor Davis' lead and save our pool as she is with those in her ward. In fact, this does not apply to just our ward. If you're elsewhere in the city where there's a pool slated to close due to lack of city funding, use the below table to find your councillor and write to them as well.

What to write:
To make it easy, two sample letters are available as guides. You can copy them verbatim (personalized with your information) or just use them as reference for your own letter. However, it's important that this be done before this Friday.

See the link below for more information and sample letters:
http://www.savekeelepool.ca/member_alert_03-25-08.html

Eco Team Meeting March 26, 2008

The Eco Team had a special meeting -- and a special guest -- in honour of World Water Day last Saturday, March 22nd.

Karen O'Krafka from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority brought her "Watershed on Wheels" (WOW) program for an evening of fun, interactive games & activities focusing on water conservation.

We learned about protecting our water supply and the wetland habitats of the animals and aquatic creatures in our watershed.

Did you know that:

• 70% of the earth's surface is covered in water
• accessible fresh water makes up just 1% of all the water on Earth
• today's water molecules have been travelling around the Earth for 4.5 billion years?
  
• water molecules are endlessly recycled through processes like evaporation & precipitation. Water that ends up being part of us may once have been part of a glacier, a distant ocean, a wild animal -- even a dinosaur!
• we need to conserve water by turning off taps while brushing our teeth and having short showers
• water that flows down the storm drains in our streets flows untreated into Lake Ontario!
• we need to keep our lakewater clean by washing our cars at public car-washing stations and by disposing of chemicals such as fertilizers and oil properly -- keeping them out of the storm drains

We were very pleased to have a few honorary Eco Team members for the evening -- please come back any time!

Click here to see more pics from this exciting event!

Our next Eco Team Meeting will take place on Thursday, April 17, from 6 – 8pm in the lunchroom.

To join the Eco Team or subscribe to our mailing list, please write to me at:
taranimator (at) hotmail.com

Community Conservation Fair: Thurs, March 27th, 7-9 pm, Beach United Church and Auditorium, ‏ 140 Wineva Avenue at Queen Street

The East Toronto Climate Action Group invites you to this eco-friendly event:

Do you want to find out how to save money on energy bills, install a solar panel, cut down on your driving, eat local or vegetarian, or just plant a tree in your yard? Then plan to attend the Beach Conservation Fair.

Free Expert Advice/Speed Presentations:
-Solar Electricity and Getting off the Grid
-Low Impact Electricity Purchase Options

-Getting Heat from the Ground
-On Demand Hot Water Subsidy
-Home Energy Audit Rebates
-Hot Water from the Sun
-Boosting Insulation
-Car Sharing

Earl Beatty PS Dialogue

Please note that the second meeting has been cancelled due to the success of the first meeting.
------------------------------------------------
We would like to invite you to engage in an:
EARL BEATTY P.S. DAILOGUE

When:

WED, MARCH 26, 2008

Time:

5:45 – 7:45 p.m.

Where:

Earl Beatty - Library

Kathy Cowan, Superintendent of Education would like to invite parents of Earl Beatty to attend both of these two evenings. Our purpose is:

· To comply with the Board’s mandate for yearly updated school administrative profiles.
· To understand the leadership skills.
· To participate in creating an administrative (Principal/Vice-Principal) profile for Earl Beatty.
Pizza and child care will be provided.

My School Review Quadrant Meeting: Tuesday, March 25th at D.A.Morrison Public School, 271 Gledhill Avenue

Please plan on attending the MSR Quadrant Meeting on Tuesday, 25 March 2008 at D.A. Morrison Public School. The meeting will commence at 6:45 p.m. and will be led by our Trustee, Sheila Carey-Meagher. The purpose of the meeting is to give us all a snapshot of the dreams and desires of the other schools in our quadrant, namely Parkside, D.A. Morrison, Gledhill, Secord, and Crescent Town. Let's compare our similarities, see what other ideas have surfaced, and find out how we can work together to make Earl Beatty an even better learning environment for our children.

Click the image above for more information.
EBSAC

*Here is the work-in-progress document outlining our My School Review discussions at Earl Beatty.

School Councils Guidebook from the Ministry of Education

The Ministry of Education has prepared a detailed online guide to school councils.
"Parental involvement in a child’s education has been shown to have a significant effect on his or her achievement... The partnership of school and community representatives on a school council helps to build mutual understanding and interaction between a school and its community, resulting in benefits for both."
-- for more information, see the
Ontario Ministry of Education Guidebook:
School Councils - A Guide for Members

EBSAC March, 2008 Minutes

Read the minutes from the March 19th EBSAC Meeting here.

Agenda items

Welcome:

• Review & acceptance of last meeting’s minutes including Action Items

• Follow up on outstanding action items

  • Parent wish list

  • Staffing committee – parent rep

Treasurer’s report

New Items

• By-law amendments

• Allocation of funds from Funfair

• Discussion of staff wish list

Principals Report:

• Laurie Reid to provide a succinct overview of recent school activities and issues

• Staffing model framework

• Safe school update from Neil

Open Items/Group Discussion/New Business

• Red Door Shelter presentation

• Selection of paint

• Report from Eco-Team – Evergreen Funding, beautification of main entrance

• Parent committee

• Community Center

• Funfair

• New Business

Wrap up & outstanding issues

• Receipt of items for next council meeting

The Danforth East Community Association

The Danforth East Community Association (DECA) is the result of a bunch of neighbours who wanted to improve our little pocket of the city and get to know each other better. The boundaries are Coxwell to Main, Mortimer/Lumsden to the Go Train tracks south of the Danforth. We believe that engaged neighbours make for a stronger, more vibrant community.

DECA formed about a year ago and it's been a busy year. We launched a website and a newsletter to share events and concerns in our community, hosted an all-candidate's debate for the provincial election, organized a number of community parties, hosted a home safety workshop for members by the Toronto Police, ordered more than a dozen trees for the boulevard along our streets and sponsored a competition among Danforth shop owners to green their flower boxes. At the same time, we established DECA as an official entity, drafted a charter and by-laws and elected an executive committee.

What are we working on now? We are hoping to start a farmers' market in East Lynn Park (south of Danforth, west of Woodbine) this summer. We are currently in negotiations with Farmers Markets Ontario to bring local farmers, organic and conventional, to the park on Thursday evenings from 3 to 7 p.m. We think it would be a great asset to the community, bringing neighbours together one night a week to enjoy locally grown food. We hope to promote local musicians during the weekly event. The one hold-up we have to date is around -- what else? -- parking. We're hopeful we can find a solution to that ever-present problem. We're also planning an Earth Day party in East Lynn Park and organizing a tree tour around the southeastern part of the community this spring. We've also got a passionate group of people who are working to improve our commercial stretch of Danforth Avenue.

We invite anyone who lives within the boundaries to become a DECA member. By becoming a member of DECA you will have the ability to vote at DECA meetings, but also your membership will give DECA a stronger voice. For more information, check out http://www.danfortheast.ca/ or contact natasha.granatstein@gmail.com.

Eco Team Minutes from February 21st, 2008

We had another action-packed February meeting.

The meeting was in two parts:

• kids did activities about Litterless Lunches
• adults discussed Heather Hale’s progress with the in-school Eco Team and other items.

Using samples of typical lunch packages, containers and accessories, the kids separated the items into 3 groups: reusable, recyclable, and garbage. They packed examples of lunches that were litter-free, low-impact, or were destined for the landfill. Because our kids are already so well-versed in what goes into a litter-less lunch, our activity was very quick!

Next, we did a ‘SNACKtivity’! (thanks, punny Cameron!), practicing ‘decanting’ snacks (small cookies, raisins, goldfish crackers and gummies) into small reusable containers. Then we practiced eating out of containers! (Thanks, Anne, for helping with this activity!)

Ms Hale's in-school Eco Team has been making great progress. The kids have many ideas including helping reduce waste at the Fun Fair and a "Save the Oak Tree" campaign.

Other topics discussed included schoolyard greening, seed planting in the classrooms, the upcoming reuse sale, the EcoSchools application, and more.

Click here to read more in our minutes.

Next meeting: Wednesday, March 26st at 6:00 pm in the lunchroom.
In celebration of World Water Day on March 22nd, our next meeting is on the theme of "Water Wonders". We will be joined by a staff member from the Toronto Region Conservation Authority who will be bringing some activities from the "Watershed on Wheels" program. Please bring indoor shoes! Everyone is welcome to join the Eco Team and help our kids help the environment! Contact me to be added to our mailing list: taranimator (at) hotmail.com.

Earl Beatty's 3rd "My School Review" Meeting

Thursday March 6, 6:30 - 8:00 pm in the Lunchroom

The purpose of the 3rd meeting is to prioritize some of the program ideas developed in the first two meetings, determine some time lines for those priorities and have an opportunity to reflect on the MSR process. This will allow us to have some clarity heading into the Quadrant Meeting on March 25th.

We've had great attendance so far, let's keep the momentum going and continue to build on the energy and enthusiasm we've already seen.