IN THE WARD:

Upcoming:
Parent Workshop – Chinese Community
On March 27th from 3-5 PM I will be holding a parent workshop for the Ward 15 Chinese community in partnership with Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office and many wonderful TDSB staff members. 

Sessions will be in both English and Mandarin and will cover the following topics:

• How to Help Your Child Succeed in School
• What to Do When Your Child is in Trouble
• Improving Literacy and Understanding Report Cards
• Advocating for Your Child

A Mandarin flyer will be sent out shortly. The workshop will take place at Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre (86 Blake Street). No registration.

Full Service Schools 
There has been a lot of discussion over the past few years about declining enrolment and the need to close schools. The TDSB process for examining the options for an under-enrolled school or group of schools is called an Accommodation Review and is conducted by an Accommodation Review Committee (ARC). At the February 3rd Board meeting Trustees passed a motion asking for trained facilitators and a long term budget plan for the ten ARCs currently in process.

There are currently no ARCs in our Ward. It is my hope that as a community we can have fulsome discussions about how we would like to use the space in our public schools. I sit on the Board’s newly created Full Service Schools Task Force and would like to hear your ideas about how our community can be best served by school buildings. I will be visiting School Councils over the next few months to begin these discussions. Here is a schedule of my visits. 

CMH Week
The first week of May is Children’s Mental Health Week, which is an excellent opportunity to highlight the fact that 1 in 5 Canadian children suffer from a diagnosible mental health problem. There will be many activities happening in schools; I will keep you updated on what will be taking place in the schools in our area.

Last Month:
Our Schools for Haiti
Both Monarch Park and Riverdale hosted excellent events to support the people of Haiti. Riverdale held a beautiful benefit concert that raised over four thousand dollars for Doctors Without Borders and the Canadian Red Cross relief efforts.

Monarch Park hosted representatives from the Red Cross and thirteen TDSB schools as well as the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and Craig Kielburger of Free the Children, who spoke about his recent trip to Haiti and the need for support.

It was an honour to attend these events and see the passion, dedication and care of our students and staff.

Monarch Park Pool Party
On February 2nd the Monarch Park community celebrated the re-opening of their swimming pool. It was a moment for which many parents, students and school staff had worked extremely hard and it was wonderful to see their efforts pay off.

Due in large part to the unflagging efforts of parents to forge community partnerships and generate new revenue, the Board voted on January 19th to re-open the nine pools which had been closed since June 2009. Two of those pools were in our ward and parents in our neighbourhoods raised over $70,000 in the fight to get them re-opened. 

The pools at Monarch Park C.I. and Earl Grey Sr PS are now open and extensively used – by special needs students, by students in the regular program, and by a wide variety of community members. This was an incredible effort of partnership that stands as a testament to the strength of our community. 

AT BOARD:

At the February 3rd meeting of the Board, Trustees discussed and voted on a number of things that are relevant to our community. Here are three items that I think will be of the most interest:

Budget Process
Trustees decided:

(a) That in late February, a seminar be held to present the financial forecast, followed by a
presentation of staffing plans for the 2010-11 school year;
(b) That in late April-early May, combined ward public consultation sessions be held with support from staff, followed by major meetings in the east and west quadrants.

I will let you know the dates of the public consultation sessions as soon as they are decided. 

The current proposed budget plan includes exploring opportunities for whole TDSB departments such as Psychology and Social Work to be funded by a Ministry other than Education, thus freeing up education dollars for other uses. 

The budget will be voted on by Trustees in June.

The Director’s “Vision of Hope”
Trustees approved the Director’s Vision in principle. Detailed proposals for each of the initiatives within the Vision will come to the Board for full discussion before Trustees decide whether or not they will be approved.

Parent Involvement Funds for School Councils
Trustees decided that “all funds allocated by the Board or provided by the Ministry of Education for school-based parent involvement shall be made available to school councils for the council’s decision with regard to how the funds will be spent.” 

I am very happy that we supported local parent decision-making in this way.

FROM THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION:

Full-Day Learning
This fall brings the first phase of the provincial government’s implementation of Ontario-wide full-day learning for 4 and 5 year olds. 71 schools in the TDSB will providing full-day learning in the 2010-2011 school year, including the option of a Before and After School program, which is fee-based. The two full-day learning schools in our ward are Dundas and Pape. Provincial legislation mandating school boards to implement a comprehensive full-day learning plan was introduced on February 17. 

For answers to questions about how this may affect you and your children, take a look at the FAQ in this briefing document presenting to the TDSB Program and School Services Committee on January 20th.


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