Summit Council Newsletter - May 2011

It has been another great year at Summit thanks to the dedication of staff, volunteering of the community and spirit and involvement of the students. There are still some important activities coming up in the last couple of months of the school, and your school council wants to update you on some things that are going on, and ways you can get involved.

The December council meeting, originally scheduled for December 8, 2010, has been canceled. More info later...


Richard

The "Ottawa Parent's Eduction Network" has sent a questionaire to all candidates. Some responses are available now. While not tied to the Alternative prtogram, the group does ask some relavant questions about parental involvement, accountability and consultation. Two questions that directly concern our community are:

The October Council Newsletter is now available on-line. In this issue:
• Potluck Dinner next Wednesday October 21st.
• Churchill Meeting on the Program Review tonight
• Information on Alternative Program Review and Surveys

we keep getting asked by parents, "What can we do?" There will be a lot to do, but here is a start. We have set up an on-line video forum for you to view and record your thoughts and concerns about the current review and let the board of education know why the alternative system is important to you!

http://pages.overlay.tv/asac/

If you have a webcam, simply click on the record button to start. Otherwise, take a clip with your phone or camcorder and use the upload feature. 30-60 seconds videos are ideal but you can submit as many of them as you want so don't worry if you realized if there's something you forgot to say - just make another one.

Once your video is up on the site, or if you have found someone else's video inspiring, use the facebook, twitter or email buttons on the page to help spread the word. Bring as many of your friends to participate in this important campaign.

Parents, kids and community members - this is for all of us. Lets get active now because if we don't, our amazing schools will pretty soon be very different!

Thanks to Nadav Zin for doing this!

The Alternative Program Review is underway. Currently the Steering Committee is working on the Survey questions that will be going home to parents. More information on the review can be found at the ASAC Program Review web site.

The school board regularly conducts reviews of its' various programs. As most of you are aware by now, a program review of Alternative Education will be taking place over the next six months or so (beginning by the end of the month, finished by the end of January).

The framework for the review is now available on the board's web site (please note that this link will open a pdf file):
http://www.ocdsb.ca/Documents/Board_M ... ernative_Elem_Program.pdf

ASAC has updated their list of Revitalization Plans. This outlines how the committee is moving forward with their recommendations of the first phase of the Revitalization Project.

The November People for Education Newsletter is now available. Topics this month include:

• What is ‘character education’ and how much does it cost?
  
• Parent involvement: What works?
  
• Are some special ed students shortchanged?
  
• Taking charge of Canada’s future
  
• $61 million in cuts to maintenance
  
• Parents at government policy tables
  
• Notes from around the province
  

Please come to our next council meeting (not potluck supper, which will be rescheduled) on Wednesday 15 October from 7-9 pm in Room 301. If there is something you would like to discuss at the meeting, please contact our secretary JMichels @ carlington.ochc.org to ask to be added to the agenda.

Minutes from last month's meeting will follow shortly.

Summit parents - please come on Wednesday 19 November to the "Growing up, Feeling Good" presentation by psychologist Maggie Mamen, co-hosted by Summit & Fisher Councils

The Ministry of Education gives each school council $500 to support parent engagement and communication in their school community. This money can be used to cover workshops, guest speakers, translation, school barbeques or other social events, or resources, such as newsletters and books.

You are invited to this annual conference for parents, educators, and community agencies on Saturday 8 November at York University. For more details, go to
the conference web site.

The 2007 - 2008 Year End Report is now available on-line. This includes information on the council's members, activities, meetings and finances.

School councils may apply for grants to support school-based initiatives focussing on engaging parents who may experience challenges in becoming involved in the school due to language barriers, recent immigration, poverty, newness to Ontario's school system, or other factors.

After a year and a half of work, ASAC's Alternative Revitalization Committee has finally finished its work. The Report, "Towards a Revitalization of the Alternative Program" was approved at the joint ASAC/Principals/Co-chairs meeting on February 28, 2008.

Monday, January 21, 2008, Ottawa, ON — What is Instant Messaging, Second Life, Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Wikis, Social Networking, and Cyberbullying? Parents of teens are invited to find out more at a free presentation sponsored by the school council of Sir Robert Borden High School.

Exploring the Cyber-gap: an overview of current Internet and Communication technologies and Cyber-bullying will be offered on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 7 p.m. at Sir Robert Borden High School, 131 Greenbank Road, in the John Henderson Auditorium.

Draft 4 of the Alternative Revitalization Report is now available for review and comments. Summit is being asked to review this and provide comments back to ASAC by the end of January 2008. A joint review meeting for all the Alternative schools will be announced later. Target date for submission to the board is April 2008.

You are invited to an evening of music & entertainment in honour of YMCA Peace Week. There will be amazing youth talent from Ottawa high schools, Captain Sunshine, Venezuelan dancers Cherun Meru & many other talented performers under one roof.

When: Friday Nov 23 (7-9:30 pm)

Where: Brookfield High School, 824 Brookfield Rd.

Cost: $5 students/$10 adults

Why: fundraiser for Stephen Lewis Foundation’s African Grannies

More info: 613.225.7894

The Alternative Program is looking at evaluating where it is, and where it should go to in the years ahead to ensure that the program is vibrant, innovative and different. The full Revitalization Plan can be found on the ASAC web site under "Reports and Submissions".