Friday, May 8, 2009

May 11, 2009 - Agenda

Nashwaaksis Middle School
PSSC Committee Meeting
May 11 2009
Agenda

7:00 Call to order
Approval of Agenda

Approval of March 2009 Minutes

D.E.C Report- D.E.C Rep- Carol Coleman

Friends Report – Mary Rowe

Principal’s Report

Discussion: SIP update
Nutrition and exams

Action Item Follow-up:

Action: Mitch to send an electronic copy of the Parent’s Conference Planner to Alan.

Action: Copy of SIP to be distributed to PSSC members. Discussion on this to be held at the May PSSC meeting. (done)


New Business

Next meeting date: June 8 2009

Adjournment

Monday, May 4, 2009

March 25, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Meeting
NMS – PSSC Committee Meeting
March 25, 2009

Attendees:
Anne Small Pat Campbell Shauna Miller
Tracy Allen Sherry Thomson Mitch Claybourn
Andrew Rowe Alan Atkins (Staff)

Regrets: Heather Touchie Carol Coleman (DEC Rep) Tracey Grattan John MacKenzie
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Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.

1. Welcome and Approval of Minutes
• Minutes of the February meeting were presented and approved with one amendment – Add follow up item - Posting of the DEC parent survey – posted on the blog. Ask parents to fill out the survey. Send out talk mail.

2. Friends of NMS Update- Vicky Patterson PSSC liaison
• See attached submitted written report.

3. D.E.C Report - Carol Coleman

• None. Carol was unable to attend the meeting.

4. Principal’s Report
o There are planned changes for northside middle schools. A driver of this change was the need to offer similar programs in all middle schools. The changes mean that over the next 3 years, around Nashwaaksis, we could have a smaller school population as some of the feeder elementary schools that have been coming here, will be redirected to other northside middle schools. Current students at NMS will be grandfathered (will complete all 3 years). It is estimated that 50 kids will be going to Devon that we usually had coming to our school. Next year we will still have 30 classrooms, however over the subsequent 2 years we will reduce overall to have an estimated 6 fewer homerooms. We will lose some funding that is based on student population. There will be staff changes.
o We are preparing for the Memphis Committee meeting – Laptop Institute. Recent budget cuts will impact the laptop program. It is unknown at this time how these cuts will impact our program.
o A geography challenge was held for grade 6.
o A committee is working on the NMS Vision statement for the school. This will be presented to the PSSC.
o A talent show was held on February 20
o The Winter Carnival was held prior to the March break.
o The anti-bullying day where kids wear pink went well.
o The Crash Test Dummies drummer spoke to the kids. City Police helped to sponsor that event.
o The field house committee announced that new bleachers will be coming. Potentially the field house will be closed for the full month of August.
o On March 11th a big challenge was held where all students and those in the school at the time chomped on an apple at once.
o Cleaning staff in the building are doing a good job and are also friendly. We received favourable comments from the district and Alex Dingwall.
o Creative Clothing came in for one lunch hour. There was a small uptake on this.
o We are completing school-wide speeches. The NMS oratorical contest is to be held on March 25th.
o The under 16 wrestling tournament will be held at NMS in May.
o The Grade 8 celebration is scheduled for June 16 or June 18. This involves a full day of activities including going to the lake, a BBQ and a dance. There will be a formal dance held.
o Food services – We are continuing to review the food being provided in the vending machines to ensure it meets nutritional guidelines. The challenge is letting the vendors know what the acceptable food items are. Usage of the cafeteria is down.

5. Follow up to Previous Action Items

• Add students to the committee on fruits and vegetables grant proposal along with Kim and Alan.

• Alan to talk to teachers about options to food rewards (i.e. in lieu of pizza parties)

• Friends of NMS to spread the word that we need coaches/more parental involvement in order to establish more school sports teams. – Friends of NMS have not met to discuss this item.

• Alan to arrange for a note on the BLOG about the DEC Parent Survey. Also a voice mail to be sent out asking parents to fill out the survey.

NEW BUSINESS:

6. Parental Involvement in NMS, in particular upcoming parent-teacher meetings
• How can we get the word out on the importance of parental involvement at the upcoming parent-teacher meetings? The concern is that the parents of the kids that need help, are not showing up at the parent-teacher interviews. We could be proactive by taking attendance at the fall meet the teacher night and then following up with the parents that were absent. Also, we could lead the parents to the classrooms after the initial meeting. An e-mail parent-family list is helpful. We could invite parents to come to some of the events (i.e. talent show, oratorical contest).

Action: The Leader in Me – Can this program be brought to NMS? Pat to provide a website address to Alan on this program.

Action: Schedule presentation on the Developmental Assets program to the PSSC.

7. Electronics Policy

• How are we doing in enforcing the cell phone policy? There are problems with students being distracted by the cell phones. There is some research from Europe there are health hazards for those under 20 using cell phones. Alan has done some research on the legal limits of administering the cell phone policy. What is being proposed is that the device be taken away from the student, put it in an envelope and then call the parent to come pick it up. We need to get the parents buy-in on this. Alan made a presentation on the approach to deal with this at the last principal’s meeting. This issue has been brought to the attention of the District and Kelly Lamrock.

Action: Alan to forward article on sexting to PSSC members and also will have it posted on the BLOG.

Action: Andrew to send note to the DEC for support and direction on the cell phone policy.

8. Talk Mail Program for NMS

Alan informed the committee that NMS will be buying the School Connects program for our Talk Mail program for the new school year.

9. District 18 new priorities

Alan informed the committee that there is a new program called Student Voice. A suggestion was brought forward that NMS participate in this. Alan advised that we will be awaiting further information on this.

Action: Bring forward this for further information/discussion at the April meeting.

10. Green Matters essay contest

There is a Green Matters essay contest as posted on the City of Fredericton website.

Action: Alan to arrange to have information on the Green Matters essay and Earth Day hour posted on the BLOG.

11. Stem Expo

An inquiry was made re NMS involvement in the Stem Expo this year. Alan informed the committee that NMS had some entries this year.

Next meeting – April 20, 2009 7pm.