au courant
January 19, 2015
Global School Play Day! - February 4th, 2015
Short Staff Meeting for Everyone
SD Meetings
The purpose of the meetings is to make sure everyone is up to date on all the information related to each student and to share strategies for further interventions (much like the CRM). Staff members have been informed if they are scheduled to meet. If you have a student with severe needs, and you have not been given a time to meet (but would like one), please let me know. Barb will be back for more meetings in the near future.
School Council Purchases...
1) $100.0 per class for spending (including PE, music, HUB, library, and social worker)
2) March Super Hero month presenter, Steve Harmon
3) Artist in Residency (something art related such as masks or drawing lessons)
4) Playground equipment ‐ $1000.00
5) Buddy Bench equipment such as chalk, t‐shirts
6) 3 school-wide swims - up to $1000.00
7) New sound system for the gym
8) $15 iTunes cards for the new iPads
9) 2 more iPads
10) Money for field trip busing was tabled until later in the year.
BP Servers - January 29 - Who's in?
Student Intervention Team
CRM Strategies and Resources for Sharing!
School Enhancement Committee
The school enhancement committee will have the role of fielding questions or concerns that come from the staff. These topics may find their way to a staff meeting if greater input is required, or if the enhancement committee determines the topic requires a staff vote. On the other hand, the enhancement committee may determine a specific question or concern can be handled by the committee rather than involving the whole staff.
Topics should be things under our control and relate to enhancing the school in general.
Examples of topics/questions:
- Do we have to send home mail from outside sources (eg.,sports notices, camp notices)?
- Can we look into tweaking the milk delivery system?
- I suggest we re-focus everyone on the walking in the hallway policy? It seems students are getting away with running again?
- Can the assembly dates for the whole year be entered into the school calendar at the start of the year?
- I'd like clarity on how decisions are made regarding the purchasing of school resources.
Non-Examples:
- Can they change the calendar so school staff doesn't have to start before September? (This is a non-example, because WC makes the calendar decision after getting global input from stakeholders.)
- Can we do our STAR assessments just two times per year instead of three? (This is a non-example, because WC mandates when we give the STAR assessments.)
- I think we should have musicals for Christmas concerts instead of just songs. (This is a non-example, because the music teacher determines her program and decides if and when to get input from the staff.)
- The staff is frustrated that not everyone gets the same resources. (This is a non-example because individuals need to speak for themselves rather than representing their concerns as being global. As well, it's a complaint; see the fourth bullet above for alternative phrasing.)
Committee meetings will take place monthly. Any staff member can put a topic forward by filling in a Google form (rather than approaching committee members directly); we want to be mindful of people's time, and we don't want anyone to have to take responsibility for explaining someone else's concern. Anyone wanting a discussion item on the table needs to write up his/her comments, so each member of the committee can read exact information, as explained by the individual. As a follow-up to the meetings, the staff will be informed as to the discussion/decisions/plans through au courant.
The committee will consist of the three administrators and a number of representatives from the rest of the staff. Depending on the agenda items, other staff members may be asked to join the meetings on occasion (eg., We might invite the inclusion coach to attend if someone asks a question related to the HUB).
Before determining the exact size and make up of the committee, the diamond team would like to know how many people are interested. Please respond to the survey question below by Thursday, January 22.
Things to keep in mind:
As we know, it is unprofessional and harmful to school culture to talk negatively about others, so nothing should come to the enhancement committee that contravenes this. If you have concerns that relate to specific individuals, speak to them directly and to no one else.
The committee members will not serve as a sounding board for any complaining or venting. The purpose of this committee is to be action oriented, and the focus is on positive forward movement.
Please use the RSVP to indicate interest in being a member of this committee by...
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015, 11:00 PM
École James S. McCormick School, 50 Street, Lacombe, AB, Canada
RSVPs are enabled for this event.