The Future or Our Parent Association

As part of the agenda at our last Parent Association meeting, Chairperson Lynn expressed her concern for succession planning for the Association.  Since she won't have children enrolled at Wilma Hansen School, she can no longer sit as Chair in September.  This position, along with Secretary, Vice Chair, and Treasurer needs to be filled.

The Parent Association at Wilma (as at many other schools) is a money manager.  Through volunteer effort, we raise funds at Casinos, Bingos, and other fundraisers like the magazine subscription drive.  As a democratic body representative of each parent in the school and in conjunction with school administration, we create a yearly budget with those funds. The budget is used to fund or subsidize various programs at the school that enrich our student's educational experience.  Without this extra money, parents would be paying more for some programs and some things would need to be dropped altogether. A sampling of the PA contributions:

• Apple ipads for classroom use - $8,000
• Quick Draw Animation Society ( Artist is Residence) – Spring 2013 - $10,000
• Equipment for New Design Suite - $10,000
• Author visit – David Poulson – Last Sam’s Cage - $600
• Pro Tech Breakaway rims for basketball - $600
• Pads for volleyball standards - $1150
• Volleyball uniforms - $3120
• SMART document camera - $900
• Set of GPS devices - $900
• Stoves for Outdoor Ed option - $900
• Academy of Reading literacy software - $5650
• Explorer Idol: Gr 7 musical theatre program - $685
• Bussing for field trips (Calaway Park, Leisure Centre, Drumheller)  - $6800
• Awards and student recognition - $4000
• SALTS subsidy

If we don't fill these executive positions, we can't have a Parent Association, without which there will be no casino or bingos - the primary sources of this money.

If you feel you can help and want to step up, now is a great time to learn about the roles we need to fill. No experience is necessary, there will be people around to help, and there are many guides on how to run a meeting and the PA.  Here is a link to our by-laws, these are the primary guide for the Association.  If you want to help or have questions, please let us know.  You can reach Lynn at jewittj@telus.net or myself at scampsall@gmail.com if you want to know more.

CBE: Confusion Over Pay Raises

Over the weekend some very confusing information came out in the press about executive and 'non-union' pay raises at the CBE.  Don Braid wrote a blistering column about the "stupidity" of the board and in an editorial the next day Pat Cochrane (Chair of the Board of Trustees) defends the raise as an item that was budgeted for work done last year.  At a time when the fiscal environment for public funds is so dire, executive pay raises can be a hard pill to swallow.


Here is Don Braid's article and here is Pat Cochrane's defence. And with more on the subject, here is Richard Cuthbertson'offering in today's Herald.

From the CBE website, www.cbe.ab.ca

news release

March 22, 2013
for immediate release
PDF version of news release

CBE administration freezes salaries for senior leaders

CALGARY—The chief superintendent of schools for the Calgary Board of Education is freezing salaries for senior leaders for 2013-14.

“Faced with a difficult budget, we committed to keep students first by looking everywhere to balance the budget,” says Naomi Johnson. “In a week, we will present all of our strategies to balance the budget, including this decision about executive compensation.”

This decision applies to the superintendent team for the fiscal year starting Sept. 1, 2013.

The decision is distinct from possible increases that may apply to non-unionized or “exempt” employees based on performance last year and effective in the current budget year. An allocation for this potential expenditure was approved in May 2012 for the current fiscal year, which runs Sept. 1, 2012 to Aug. 31, 2013. The CBE’s exempt employees are a varied group that includes positions such as engineers, executive administrative assistants and advisors in Human Resources.

“We are still crunching numbers and weighing options to balance the budget,” Johnson adds. “Like our decision to keep transportation fees flat for next year, we are announcing this strategy early so we can all refocus on putting students first.”

Media Relations Calgary Board of Education 403-819-2317 mediarelations@cbe.ab.ca

CBE Board of Trustees Does Not Support Proposed Agreement

The following letter, written by Pat Cochrane, Chair for the CBE Board of Trustees, can be found on the CBE website or by clicking on the link below.

"Dear Calgarians,

You elected the Board of Trustees to represent you and the best interests of Calgary students. Your Trustees have been reviewing the proposed terms of an agreement for the province’s teachers since we saw it for the first time on Friday.

The proposed agreement is being promoted as a pathway to labor peace that holds the line on costs for three years. We do not believe that this will be the outcome of this agreement. The framework has obvious benefits for teachers and government. Benefits for students are conspicuously absent from the agreement. Based on our analysis, we conclude this is not a good deal for students. Consequently, your Board of Trustees cannot support the proposed agreement."

Read the full letter here.

Meeting Reminder: Council and PA Meet Tonight!

Join us tonight in the library (7:00 pm) at the school for this month's meetings.  Please click here to read the PA agenda.

Inverse Power of Praise

As you read over your child's marks, how do you respond? Do you praise her for her intelligence? Do you commend him on his efforts?

In the article, How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise, praising children too much  can have a negative effect on them.  Children who are constantly told by the adults in their life that they are smart may cause them to not want to try things they won't be successful at.  According to the article, a large percentage of all gifted students severely underestimate their own abilities and subsequently underrate the importance of effort.

The article suggests that "emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control...They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides a no good recipe for responding to failure.". Those who can respond to failure with more effort next time and with persistence, rebound well and can sustain motivation longer. "A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards will not have persistence, because they'll quit when the rewards disappear."

Read the full article here.

From CAPSC...

Upcoming Meeting Information

Our next regular meeting will be held Tuesday March 19th 2013 7:00pm AE Cross school library (3445-37th St SW). We will be hosting Dr. Sharon Friesen.

Sharon is the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Education and the President of Galileo Educational Network. Her research interests are focused on the ways K-12 educational systems and structures, including teaching, need to change in a post-industrial society. She has co-authored three books and has received numerous awards for her research and teaching.

This presentation will introduce the idea of student engagement with an emphasis on intellectual engagement.  Findings from the first national survey, as well as findings from a variety of Alberta research studies will be discussed. This presentation will focus on the relevance of these findings to parents.

April Meeting In order to better support the CBE efforts to engage parents and to help ease the education related meeting load on members, the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils

Thirteen Year Old Convinces Hasbro to Design a Gender Neutral Easy Bake Oven

I love this story:

A thirteen year old girl convinced Hasbro to design a gender neutral Easy Bake Oven. The teen's four year old brother wanted the toy for Christmas but was discouraged because the pink and purple design was clearly geared for girls. The thirteen year old started a petition on Change.org., asking Hasbro to offer a more gender-neutral color for the toy and to include boys in the commercials. The petition got more than 40,000 signatures. Hasbro has announced that the color change "has been in development over the past 18 months" and will become available next fall, 2013.

Watch the ABC News story here.