Minutes of the Ward 10 Council meeting of February 16, 2005 Wednesday February 16, 2005
DRAFT MINUTES WARD 10
In Attendance:
Ann Perez, Douglas Harris, Maritza Guzman, Margot Danard, Jean Rajotte, John Benz,
Jim Prince, Jo Grigsby, Berta Carreco, Georgina Balascas (Superintendent), Janet Duffy (Principal of Givins/Shaw JS), Chris Bolton (Trustee Ward 10), Cassie Bell (Constituency Assistant to Chris Bolton) (Apologies for any names missing or those spelled incorrectly)
1.) Welcome and introductions: Chair Jean Rajotte and ward 10 council members
2.) Overview of community and programs at host school, Givins/Shaw, by Principal Janet
Duffy:
- In August of 2000, school went from two buildings to one- one was closed and one was renovated and program went to JK – Gr. 6 (previously JK to Gr.8)
- 255 students and 15 teachers
- focus has been “safe schools” and the Arts- shifting more to literacy and numeracy, but will maintain Arts focus- “safe schools” programs have paid off
- parent council at school is small but supportive
- fundraising has targeted ‘learning through the Arts’ programming
- school has timetabled phys.ed teacher and .5 librarian, also a choir
- core French delivery by classroom teachers has allowed flexibility to keep specialist teachers
- diverse population and changing demographics due to new buildings in area
- main ethnic populations are Chinese and Portuguese
- school also has parenting and a daycare centres
Chair of Ward 10 thanks Janet Duffy and Givins/Shaw for hosting this meeting.
3.) Approval of Agenda and “new business”
Addition of ‘Parent Voice in Education Project’ (PVEP) was added to item #9 –
New Agenda approval was moved by Margot Danard and seconded by Berta Carreco
4.) Previous Minutes were approved (moved by John Benz, seconded by Ann Perez)
5.) Announcements:
- Brief discussion around steering committee needing more members and the possibility of having ‘in person’ meetings (as opposed to through email)
- ACTION: A message to all Ward 10 Council members to please consider joining our exciting, dynamic ward 10 council STEERING committee with a view to continuing on next year in this capacity. If you are interested, please contact the Chair or one of the steering committee members (see contact details at end of Minutes)
- Hawthorne II representative, Douglas Harris, volunteered to be the “point” person on the www.myward10.ca website (Jean Rajotte and Jean Benz to assist); group will report back at March ward council meeting
- Discussion around “outreach” to all 30 Ward 10 schools- how many contacts do we have for 30 schools? Trustee Bolton points out it is difficult to calculate because many of the secondary programs in Ward 10 are alternative and typically hard to reach (ie. find a student or parent contact);
- ACTION: Ward 10 member Margot Danard offered to write a ‘welcoming’ letter to all Ward 10 schools inviting representatives to come out and join Ward 10 council. Letter will be forwarded to Trustee Bolton’s office for dissemination.
(chris.bolton@tdsb.on)
- PCN: (Parent Community Network)- still have no Ward 10 representatives; Jim Prince points out that participation will enhance capacity
ACTION: Jim Prince and Chris Glover agree to attend last two PCN meetings and report back to council. Jim will send mandate of PCN to Ward 10 for information purposes. Jim and Chris will actively seek out a new PCN representative for Ward 10 to begin in September 2005
- Note: Next PCN meeting will be at 5050 Yonge St. (Board offices) on Monday March 14th
- East Toronto Lunar New Year Community Fair: TFCP (Toronto Federation of Chinese Parents) cordially invites everyone to come and celebrate the Lunar New Year, Saturday February 19th; 12 noon – 4 pm at Riverdale C.I. (see flyer) ALL WELCOME! For further info. call (416) 406-0263
6.) Trustee Chris Bolton’s Report:
- Real Estate issues: Grace St. school closed about 6 yrs. Ago and the site has now Officially gone to the French Public School Board; much work was done to the school grounds which was also partly funded by the city- decision has been made that school yard will therefore revert to public space (ie. park) during no school periods (ie. summer)
- Meeting at TDSB Tuesday February 15th : combined meeting of all standing Committees of the Board- met as “Committee of the Whole” to discuss staffing allocation for next year; meeting was not posted properly on website unfortunately;
Staffing discussed were:
- Clerical (ie. office staff)
- Lunchroom Supervisors
- EAs (Education assistants)
- Teachers
- Hall Monitors
- Vice principals
- Principals
After a long discussion, trustees made no decisions as there were inaccuracies in the report from staff which needed to be corrected; Trustees asked: why do the staffing allocations now? TDSB staff replied that decisions have to be made by March 14th in order to follow contractual obligations and allow TDSB staff time to roll-out board decisions to schools;
Some trustees did put a proposal forward to put more staff in schools, not less as per report (ie. more classroom teachers, ESL, guidance, secondary libarians etc.), but staff in Planning Dept. pointed out that declining enrolment could be an issue- figures show that enrolment could decrease by as much as 4000 students next year which will impact badly on TDSB;
Question from parent at council: Declining population? Didn’t the recent census indicate approximately 1 million newcomers (ie. immigrants) are likely to come to Toronto alone by 2020?
Answer from Trustee Bolton: It is a hard fact right now that there are fewer kids in our schools. Trustee Bolton made a motion at Board that the Chair write to MoE regarding the “space” issue for the TDSB (hard cap, funding for small schools etc.) as without information on what the government plans to do, how can Board plan??
Trustee Bolton discovered at this meeting letter had never been sent.
ACTION: Trustee Bolton to pursue this issue and confirm that letter has gone from Chair of TDSB to Ministry of Education regarding space issues.
Question from parent at council: Can someone from Planning Department of TDSB
come and speak to Ward 10 council about demographics of Ward 10?
ACTION: Trustee Bolton will invite Andrew Gowdy of the TDSB Planning Dept.
to come and speak at an upcoming Ward 10 Council meeting.
Discussion ensued whereby Givins/Shaw parent pointed out that when under threat
closure by TDSB a few years ago they hired their own demographer whose stats
were contrary to Board’s figures; Trustee Bolton asked Principal of Givins/Shaw if
school population had changed significantly over past few years, but she related
that it had remained relatively stable over the past four years;
- Trustee Bolton confirmed that there were 10, 055 elementary teachers in the system now, but TDSB will only generate 9, 757 teachers next year- a loss of 300 teachers; this 9,757 is the “floor” or minimum no. we will have prior to the anouncment of government grants; right now Board is spening ESL and money for Inner-city programs on classroom budget lines, which is leading to a denigration of these programs
- Reading Clinic update: many parents came to PSSC (Program and School Service Committee) a few weeks ago- motion passed at committee that, ‘ no cuts in staff for literacy programs until all the research has come in and can be looked at in a holistic way
- Question from parent: Is it necessary for staffing changes in high schools to be made in mid-October? Her Gr.9 son was moved from one class and it was very disruptive- is there no parental input/participation in this process?
- Answer: Secondary Panel Teacher contract says teachers and principal will do staffing and bottom line is up to principal; parents do not have a formal voice or role in this process at sec. school level- sec. school staffing is a very complex process; student numbers flow in throughout September in order that changes can made as soon as student population number is stable which is often October; There is a committee finally begun at board looking at staffing committees and parent role at the elementary level; there will be a communication sent to principals and parent councils by MARCH 1st encouraging principals to include parents in this year’s staffing committee process as much as possible until recommendations from Board committee are done; timeline is tight!; parents are urged to speak to their parent councils and their principals and discuss make up of this year’s staffing committee
- March 14th Staffing announced > March 18th School staffing allocations must be finished > April 8th: contractual deadline for declaring teachers “surplus”
Trustee Bolton added regarding staffing levels for 05/06:
- V.Ps. will remain at same no. for both elementary and secondary
- E.As.: numbers in report show a decrease of 93 positions > Trustee Bolton has put a motion forward to ADD another 70 positions for this year; to put an EA in every kindergarten class would need 135 more staff
- Lunchroom Supervisors: NOTE: the ratio is now sitting at 1 lunchroom supervisor for every 99 students IN THE SCHOOL (1:99)
- Parent Question: Isn’t this a liability issue? Also, if you have 150 kids in your school, you still only get 1 supervisor!! Trustee Bolton suggests parents may want to come out to Board meeting on Wed. Feb.23rd and show their concern over these allocations.
ACTION: Cassie will send out notice to all of Ward 10 Council inviting them to attend Board meeting. (this was done)
- Ombudsperson Motion: Trustee Bolton has put forward a motion also for Feb. 23rd meeting regarding the implementation of an ombuds. Office at the TDSB.
Motion was made by Jim Prince, seconded by Jean Rajotte and carried unanimously that: Ward 10 Council support the idea of an ombudsperson at the TDSB
- Parent Concern Protocol discussion deffered
- Message from Ward 10 Council to Trustee Bolton to take to Board Retreat Thurs/Friday February 17/18th:
Ward 10 Council proposes that the TDSB use the surplus fund to maintain current programs at both the elementary and the secondary school levels while factoring in demographic issues.
(motion by Douglas Harris, seconded by John Benz, unanimously carried)
7,) Building Bridges Report: deferred as speakers Marta Brum and Paula Green unable
to attend.
8.) Update on Ward 10 “Information Sharing Day” : Jim Prince
- all parents in all ward 10 schools will be invited, not just ward council reps
- Jim suggests we have each school do a ‘template’ presentation of their school (ie. size, special programs, other programs such as phys. Ed., music etc., school priorities, school council ie. communication strategies, participation and diversity and fundraising)
- Discussion ensued regarding format of “Info. sharing day” ie. booths? School profiles already prepared and handouts made up by various schools? Some ward council reps this was more work and may put people off participating- must be easy!
Onus should not be on participants; eat dinner, network, brief presentations on schools.
ACTION: Jim Prince will send a “draft” proposal of event to Cassie Bell and Kim Wright in one week. Kim Wright (also constituency assistant) will support this event. Tentative date for event: Tuesday April 26th at Central Tech. Chris Bolton will confirm location and date with schools and Central Tech.
Contact info: cassiebell@sympatico.ca; kim@joshmatlow.ca; chris.bolton@tdsb.on)
9.) Report on Community Resource Model: deferred
10.) Parent, Student and Community Involvement Report: Jim Prince
- Sub-committee to work with Jim and draft response: sub-committee is: John Benz, Chris Glover, Trish quenneville, Jean Rajotte, Douglas Harris and Jennifer Lunergan
- Board decision stated new policy is now a “living document”- doesn’t mean anything as this policy will operate the same as any other- therefore, sub-committee should recommend that this policy be ‘opened up’ and reviewed every year by parents and trustees
ACTION: Ward 10 parent involvement sub-committee will be led by Jim Prince and prepare a DRAFT response for discussion for next Ward Council meeting: March 8th.
Final response will be delivered to PSSC (Program and school service committee) on March 30th.
Note: Discussion around formal “ward” response to PVEP (Parent Voice in Education Project)- decision that each parent council and/or individual parents would respond as timeline was very short (February 25). Jim Prince offered to collate any forwarded council responses.
ACTION: Cassie to email all parent councils to remind them to complete PVEP survey by Feb. 25th (this was done)
Next Ward 10 Council meeting is confirmed for:
Tuesday March 8th
7-9 pm
King Edward P.S.
112 Lippincott Ave.
Meeting ADJOURNED
Contact Information:
Ward 10 Council Steering Committee Members:
Chair: Jean Rajotte: (416) 574-1767 jean.rajotte@sympatico.ca
Jim Prince: (416) 532-5307 jim.prince@opg.com
John Benz: (416) 534-5141 schmigly@hotmail.com
Trustee Chris Bolton: (416) 705-6370 chris.bolton@tdsb.on
Constituency Assistant: Cassie Bell: (416) 653-8898 cassiebell@sympatico.ca