Minutes December 09

Nashwaaksis Middle School
PSSC Meeting Minutes
2009-12-07

Attendees:
Pat Campbell
Alan Atkins
Tracy Allen
Carol Coleman (DEC)
Mitch Claybourn
Anne Small
Don Richardson
Tracey Grattan
Sherry Thomson
John MacKenzie
Guests:
Mike O’Brien, City Councilor
Regrets:




Shauna Miller
Andrew Rowe



Heather Touchie-Blakely





Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm.
Approval of Minutes

Motion to accept the minutes from November by Sherry, seconded by Anne.
Friends of NMS Update – Alan Atkins

Munchie Table – November 12/13
Firefighters Challenge – November 19
H1N1 Clinic – November 25
Healthy Eating initiative – Taco Soup
Upcoming: Christmas Dance – December 17th
Nominations for Friends of NMS: Dec 7-11; Elections: Jan 13
D.E.C Report – Carol Coleman, D.E.C. Rep

Traffic Issue

Carol raised our concern with the D.E.C., they are sympathetic to our cause.
PSSC Orientation

This was successful, areas of discussion included
Supplemental Funding

Our request for funding was approved but the notice has not been received by the school yet.
Action Item Follow-up

Action Item: Mitch will invite a representative from the police and the city councilor for the school zone to attend a PSSC meeting to discuss this concern about school traffic patterns.

Update: Mike attended the meeting and was presented with our concerns regarding the traffic load at the bottom of the school driveway in the mornings. Mitch provided statistics collected on November 6th. Mike committed to look into getting a crossing guard.

Alan reported that he and Gary have a line on some surplus jersey barriers from the Smart Center. Alan took the opportunity to request that Mike also influence these negotiations.

Action Item: Carol will bring the issue of safety of pedestrians along the driveway forward at the next D.E.C. meeting.

Update: Done

Action Item: Alan to arrange for communication home reminding folks about the designated sidewalk area.

Carry forward

Action Item: Alan will arrange for communication home regarding availability of milk.

Update: Done December 7

School Improvement Plan Update & Overview – Alan Atkins

The school is conducting annual Math testing and will start Language Arts testing as well.

In relation to the SIP goal of providing a Positive Learning Environment, Alan noted that there has recently been an increase in involvement of students and a decrease in misconducts.

Action Item: Alan to bring a sample of the misconducts.

Alan explained that his goal is to have the new SIP ready by March. Alan plans to invite parents from the PSSC and the school community to provide input.
The current SIP is status quo while we’re working on the new SIP.

Agenda Building: PSSC to provide input in the new SIP, related to student involvement
Principal’s Report

Take your child to work
Write Traits in service PD for Language Arts – November 4
Report Cards – November 9
Soccer Tournaments – October
Friends NMS AGM - November 4
Remembrance Day ceremonies – November 10
Friday Frenzy (celebration for top sellers in fund raiser) – November
Float in Santa Claus parade
Healthy Eating Day – November 26
Student & Teacher Perception surveys done, still getting parent surveys back
Christmas Concert – December 2
Leo Hayes Band – November 30
Junior Achievement Presentation to Grade 7

Anne requested an update on the handling of situations of abuse of cell phones:
School has not been confiscating phones but has relaxed the rules, allowing students to use them before and after school hours
Schools have been instructed not to look at any phones

Call for Agenda Items/Approval of Agenda

Additional Items (identified prior to the meeting):
· Proposal for education evening for parents, to speak about drugs, planning session for next meeting (Dec)
· Tell Them From Me: review last year’s data at next meeting (Dec)
· Snow Plows/Removal

Parent Education Evening – Drugs

All agreed that we should move forward with this issue. Mitch suggested that we contact the city police for input. It was suggested that we also invite parents of Grade 5 parents from the feeder schools for NMS.

Action Item: Mitch will contact the police to invite them to come to the next PSSC meeting to facilitate planning this event.

Alan would like to bring the city drug dog into the school to check lockers. Alan is proposing that the school do extensive communications leading up to this to ensure parents are well informed.
Tell Them From Me

Alan distributed a Tell Them From Me report from May 3, 2009.

Highlights:
Participation in Sport & Clubs both low, which is influencing the SIP goals
Snow Plows/Snow Removal

Mitch mentioned that last year the end of the driveway got very narrow. Mitch suggested that some form of indicator be placed so that the plows have a target for width.

Alan also mentioned that there are issues with students crossing the traffic circle twice. Alan mentioned that they would like to divert the walking traffic away from the traffic circle.

Agenda Building: Teacher communication home regarding curriculum and how parents can support the learning outcomes at home. [Sherry]
Next Meeting/Meeting Adjournment

Next Meeting: January 11 @ 7:00pm
Meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm