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.

Earl Beatty School has a new website!

Thanks to everyone who helped put together this wonderful resource:

http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/earlbeatty

School Pools Update from Sheila Carey-Meagher, Trustee for Beaches-East Y

Here is the latest on pools in our ward…

The Budget committee at City Hall today voted in favour of GA Brown and Duke of Connaught pools remaining opened for Parks and Rec programmes for the following year. The decision goes to Council for a vote next week.

Okay that battle is nearly over and is at least headed in the right direction.

The Board is holding back on the signing of an agreement with the City to fund the pools that are jointly used by both of us. There was a motion in June to close all pools – remember that we do not get provincial funding for pools at all – if the City didn’t come up with enough money to pay for all the pools all of the time.

We are in the middle of the budget process and so it is not unusual to be playing around with different scenarios. We all need to point our collective minds at the Board – the Chair and all the Trustees – to rethink the need for pools as an instructional programme and not a frill.

This is an interim response to you all who have emailed me and there will be more information coming as things unfold.

In the mean time there is a huge pool party at GA Brown on Saturday, March 1 from 1:30 hosted by Janet Davis and me. Please come and participate and make a statement of support.

Thanks and keep the pressure up…

S.


February 25, 2008