Happy Holidays

From the Wilma Hansen School Parent Association

Borrowing from a list of best-wishers:

• Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love - Hamilton Mabie
• May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart - Inuit proverb
• May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions - Joey Adams
• If you can't be merry at Christmas, then you can drive the rest of us home when we are - M Bromberg

Have fun - be safe: Happy Holidays

Ralphie: I want a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle. Oooooooh!
Mother: No, you'll shoot your eye out.

Seasons Greetings From the Board of Trustees and the Chief Superintendent

From the CBE:

"The holiday season is upon us once again. It’s a time to celebrate and reflect on the year that is ending.

We can’t look back on 2013 without remembering the unprecedented flood that occurred in June. It was a difficult time for so many of our communities and caused disruption to our year-end exams and activities. Yet, our teachers, staff, students, parents and volunteers pulled together as a strong, supportive community to ensure our students, schools and facilities were safe – and to support each other and those impacted by the flood.

The dedication demonstrated at that time was inspiring and continues throughout the year. We value your commitment to our students and schools and we look forward to continuing to work together to support student learning.

Best wishes for a joyous holiday and for the coming new year."

From the CBE: Check upcoming school open houses to see choices to personalize learning

"The CBE has a rich variety of programs to personalize learning for students. A great way to learn more about these programs is to visit the many open houses that take place throughout the year. To see our full calendar of open houses click here."

Mrs. Higgins Finding a New Home

"It is with mixed emotion that I am writing to inform you that as of January 1, 2014, I will be leaving the Calgary Board of Education and Wilma Hansen School. I have accepted a position with the Foothills School Division." - Letter from Mrs. Higgins

 As I'm sure everyone is aware of by now, we are losing our fabulous admin. Mrs. Higgins. She is moving to a new school, closer to home and the community where she lives. Please take the time to thank her for her outstanding efforts at Wilma and wish her the best in her new placement. I know we are going to miss her. Best of luck Mrs. Higgins.

Winter Band Concert

Reminder that the Winter Band Concert is coming up on Wednesday December 11 at 7pm.

Urban Coyotes

Last week, I saw a coyote walking on a sidewalk in Queensland in the middle of the afternoon.  It was alarming to me, as the animal was deeply imbedded within the community during school hours.  As a precaution, I phoned the City of Calgary (3-1-1), as well as the two nearby schools (including Wilma Hansen).  Here is some information I found on the City of Calgary website regarding urban coyotes:


"Coyotes are common in Calgary. Keep your dog leashed at all times, and pick up children or small dogs if a coyote is spotted. If you are in a remote location and spot a coyote, leave the area immediately. Never leave food in your yard, even pet food, and avoid hanging bird feeders that contain lard or suet.

For more information on coyotes, call the Coyote Hotline at 403-297-7789 or visit the Living with coyotes website.

Who should you call regarding coyotes?

• In an emergency situation where there is immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
• For non-emergency situations and to report coyote sightings, please call 3-1-1 (from within Calgary) or 403-268-CITY (2489) (from outside Calgary).
• Calgarians can also report coyote sightings or injured coyotes to the Calgary district office ofAlberta Fish and Wildlife at (403) 297-6423
  

  Urban coyotes

  Calgary's natural spaces are part of what makes our communities unique. Many of us appreciate the abundance of green spaces within the city limits where we can enjoy nature and for a little while, remove ourselves from the bustle of the city.

  Enjoying those special places brings a responsibility—we must realize we share these spaces with other creatures, some of which can be dangerous on occasion.

  Coyotes are one such species. They exist within Calgary and residents need to be aware of their presence and what to do if they are encountered. Because of several factors, coyotes are not necessarily staying in traditional natural areas—they are present in many urban areas within the city. This may be happening because they are finding food sources within the city and are not discouraged from utilizing those sources.

  Although coyotes mainly feed on small mammals such as mice and rats, they will attack domestic pets. Coyotes are generally no threat to people but should be treated with respect and never approached or fed. People with small children should be especially careful with their children around animals.

  While there have been reports of coyotes attacking people, these attacks are extremely rare.

  Coyotes are part of our urban wildlife and should be enjoyed, but from a safe distance.
• The Alberta government is responsible for wildlife management. The City of Calgary is providing this information as a public service.​"

  
  

Police Charge Minor With Online Threats

From the CBE:

"The safety and security of our students and staff is of utmost importance to us at the Calgary Board of Education. To that end, we support the Calgary Police Service in its efforts to serve and protect young people and are circulating the following news media release which police released today, Nov. 25. "

Read the story here.

Respect Group Inc Comes to the CBE

The CBE has partnered with Sheldon Kennedy's Respect Group Inc to bring Respect in the Workplace to their organization. Read all the details here and for more information on this fabulous online program, click here.

Fundraiser: FundScrip - Where Shopping Is Fundraising

WILMA HANSEN Giftcard Fundraiser

With the Christmas season coming soon this makes gift giving easy! 

Purchase gift cards at no extra cost to you !

When you order $150 in gift cards, you pay $150 and you get gift cards worth $150!

Over 100 different gift cards from gas to groceries to restaurants !

HOW DO I START RAISING MONEY? SIMPLE:

• Check out the order form by clicking here for a full listing of cards available,
• Print out the sheet, 
• Fill in your orders,
• Make out your cheque to Wilma Hansen School Parents Association, 
• Drop off forms at the office.

Please note our final day for orders is FRIDAY NOVEMBER 29th

Alberta Education Partial Cutback on Cutback...

"I delivered"

 Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's Education Minister is taking full credit, he promised to look for money after the heavy $150 million cuts to post-secondary education - "and I delivered". $50 million will be distributed among institutions around the province. Read the whole story here.

CBE Newsletter - November

November Meeting

Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday November 20th, 7:00-9:00pm AE Cross school library (3445 37 St SW).  Please stay tuned for details on meeting content.

September Meeting Follow Up - The Personalization of Learning and Iris Please see the attached document for a summary of our September meeting.  It covers a brief description of the CBE presentation, much of which encouraged dialogue between CAPSC members and the CBE administration.  Should you have specific questions related to the meeting content, please forward them to us at info@capsc.ca, or to Karen Drummond at the CBE kldrummond@cbe.ab.ca.

October Meeting Follow Up - ASCA meeting, co-hosted with the CBE Several members of the CAPSC executive were in attendance for the October 16th CBE co-hosted meeting with ASCA (Alberta School Councils' Association).  CAPSC executive member Karen Lloyd offers these comments from the meeting.  To read up on the meeting content, please click here and make sure to check out these great tools provided by ASCA ASCA presenter Marilyn Welsch touched on a lot of information that could be of great value to your school council.  As a school council in the CBE system, your council has an automatic membership to ASCA, so make sure to take advantage of the resources they offer.  For specifics on the ASCA research behind the importance of parent involvement in student council, please find the attached document.

CBE Council of School Councils (COSC) The first COSC meeting of the school year is scheduled for November 27th.  For details on the meeting please click here.

Voilà Learning - Free Online Homework Help in French  If your child is studying french and is in need of programming and support, please feel free to check out the attached information from Voilà Learning.

Helping Boys Learn Dr. Edmond Dixon will be returning to Calgary Nov. 27 to 29 to make several presentations on helping boys learn.  For information on the workshops or to schedule a one hour presentation for your council, please see www.helpingboyslearn.com

Trustee Procedural Review Takes 'Backseat'

Rookie trustee Trina Hurdman introduced the motion Tuesday for an ad hoc committee to examine whether board meetings at the Calgary Board of Education are in keeping with the “principles of openness and transparency.” - From the Calgary Herald

Calgary Parent Upset with Teacher Arranges Secret Recording in Classroom

From Global Calgary:

"A Calgary mother who says her child has been the victim of a bullying teacher now says she has the evidence to prove it.

After raising the problem with the principal of Grant MacEwan Elementary, she felt there was no resolution. Her next step was to send her son to his Grade 5 classroom with a recording device.

'We went from having a son excited and happy, to very worried and not sleeping at night and not wanting to go to school in the morning,' the mother told Global News. 'That’s when I noticed there was something I needed to look into.'

The device caught the following exchange between the teacher and another student.

Teacher: 'Can you stop making excuses? Did you call the teacher’s attention to say I was trying to write this and ask your neighbour? Did you talk to your neighbour?'
Student: 'Yeah.'
Teacher: 'Which neighbour?'
Student: 'Her- she said she didn’t know and I asked, and then I didn’t get the rest of it' (student crying)
Teacher: 'Oh, so keep crying, Prince. After you ask, I asked everybody to put a red strip on the top of their table if they needed help. Did anybody hear me say that?'
Class responds: 'Yes.'
Teacher: 'Where is your red strip?'
Student: 'I don’t know.'
Teacher: 'How then would I know you needed help? I am not a magician. Stop making me one or I will make you vanish.'

In other portions of the recording, the teacher was soft-spoken and encouraging to students.

Officials with the Calgary Board of Education say they cannot comment on the case because it is a personnel issue. They add they are aware of the concerns and have taken action to 'ensure the safety of students.'"

The tone of the teacher's voice portrays a clearer description of how the conversation was carried out.

Listen to the recorded conversation here.

Election Day!

Polls open at 10 am today (close at 8pm). If you are unclear about where to vote, click here to find out. If you are unclear about which Trustee to vote for, read Rox's blog entries below or follow this link to read about the candidates (our ward is 12/14).

Get out to vote! It takes minutes to get it done, you provide an excellent example for your kids, you exercise your most fundamental democratic responsibility, and (best of all) you earn the right to complain about elected officials for the next 4 years.

Forum for CBE Trustee Candidates

This past Thursday, I attended Centennial High School Parents' Association Forum for the Board of Trustees Candidates in wards 12 & 14. The attending candidates were Amber Stewart, Christina Steed, Todd Newman, Helen Mowat, Malik Amery and current trustee, for wards 11 & 13, Sheila Taylor. The two hour forum included an opening and closing remark from each candidate, as well as, an open question period by audience members directed at the panel. The evening was informative and helpful in forming my decision on what CBE trustee candidate to vote for on October 21. Here is my summary of what each candidate presented:

Amber Stewart described herself to be "well rounded," "understanding parents in the thick of it," as she is a parent of school aged children herself. She advocates for transparency, communication, more detail and discussion within the board. Stewart expressed concern around mental health issues in students, particularly at the middle school level. She offered a unique idea for future board meetings, with a "we come to you" approach by using facets like Twitter, Facebook and holding board meetings at high schools. Stewart energetically jumped to answer audience questions promptly during the forum.

Christina Steed, who currently works for an MLA, spoke of her expertise in understanding "how government works, who to talk to, how to talk to them." Having a special needs youngster (and three other children), she feels strongly about early intervention in education. Christina struck me to be intelligent and methodical. She often took her time to answer audience questions and offered lengthy answers.

Todd Neuman, a software developer and small business owner, expressed his ability to "break apart complex issues." He is focused on getting the "attention of the CBE back on learning" and to "open the doors of communication" by connecting parents with the trustees. Neuman feels disconnected to the existing board and if elected, plans to engage open communication between the board and school councils. I appreciated his direct and 'to the point' approach. When the panel was asked a series of fact based questions like, "how many schools are currently within the CBE?" Neuman was the only candidate who knew the facts.

Helen Mowat passionately spoke about character, integrity, holistic learning and working/ speaking from the heart. As a former teacher of fifteen years, she spoke of the "hierarchy" that has caused "a lot of problems within the CBE." She stated that the top management at the CBE "does not want to listen." Mowat feels strongly about providing a sound foundation at the beginning of education for kindergarten and grade one students. At times, her answers got off track and confusing. 

Malik Amery introduced himself as a "product of the CBE." With his expertise in finance, Amery offers a business-like approach to the trustee role, expressing his commitment to "allocating resources." He feels that the current group of trustees has "failed to safeguard the image of the CBE" and spoke of offering more public forums like Peter Demong's 'Alder-talk.' Amery was the only candidate that touched on the diversity within wards 12 & 14, recognizing the range of needs from maintenance of schools to the "middle school issue."

Each attending candidate has a website you can visit to obtain more information. Check them out and plan to vote on Monday, October 21. Your child's education is worth the vote.

Amber Stewart: www.stewart4trustee.ca

Christina Steed: www.steed4trustee.ca

Todd Neuman: www.toddneuman.ca

Helen Mowat: www.helenmowat.com

Malik Amery: www.malikamery.com

Computers Available for Families with Limited Resources

The Calgary Board of Education has partnered with Alberta Computers for Schools to support a number of families who don’t have the financial resources to equip their child with a laptop for learning.

The CBE program has 100 refurbished computers available. In the event that there are more applicants than computers, students will be selected through a random lottery process.

The purpose of this program is to supplement teaching and learning activities, in and out of the classroom. Successful recipients will have a computer delivered to their school. Please note that as the computers are refurbished, they will be provided as is, and the CBE will not be providing a warranty or support on the hardware or software.

Eligibility

To receive a refurbished laptop from the Computer for Kids program, you must have had your school fees for the current academic year waived and be between grade 3 and 11.

Only one computer will be allowed per household.

Process

Please fill out the application to apply. A teacher reference is also required. Teachers will be contacted during the year to gather data in order to determine the success of the program. The application is to be signed, scanned and submitted to Suhayl Patel in the CBE Learning & Innovation Department at supatel@cbe.ab.ca by Oct. 21, 2013.

CBE’s digital citizenship

All students must adhere to the CBE digital citizenship guidelines.

Computer specifications

All laptops will have the following specs:

• 80GB hard drive
• 2G RAM
• Microsoft Windows 7
• Microsoft Office 2003
• Wireless Capability
• And will be accompanied by a laptop bag

Download the Application for a Refurbished Computer.

Nominate a Great Kid Today

Nominations for the 2014 Great Kids Award have opened. 

Nominate a special young person whose generosity, leadership, courage, and compassion made a positive impact.

Every year, young leaders make outstanding contributions – at home, at school, and in their communities. 

Why not thank them for their great achievements and share their stories to inspire other Albertans to reach their full potential and build a better Alberta?

The Alberta government will honour all nominees and 16 great kids at an awards ceremony at the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton in April 2014. All winners will receive a trophy and a prize package from Fantasyland and IBM.  Investing in youth is one way the Alberta government is investing in families and communities to build a better Alberta.

How to nominate a great kid

Go to the website below, print off the nomination form; fill it out; and fax, mail or e-mail it to:

GREAT KIDS AWARD Alberta Human Services Community Partnerships Branch 10th Floor, Sterling Place 9940 106 Street Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2N2 f | 780-644-2671 e | HS.greatkids@gov.ab.ca

All nominations must be received by Dec. 9, 2013 at 4 p.m

For more information, please visit www.greatkids.alberta.ca, call 780-415-8150 (for toll-free access, dial 310-000) or email HS.greatkids@gov.ab.ca.

CBE Chief Superintendent is Stepping Down

From the Calgary Herald:

"The hunt for a new chief superintendent for Calgary’s public school board unofficially began Tuesday with the surprise announcement that Naomi Johnson plans to retire next April.
Johnson, who joined the Calgary Board of Education 33 years ago, made her decision known at the last public board meeting before the Oct. 21 election.
She was contractually required to give the board six months’ notice, and her five-year term that was set to end July 2014.
Her resignation takes effect April 8."

Read the full story here.

From the CBE

"CBE celebrates another year of strong student achievement:

Calgary Board of Education students demonstrated another year of strong academic results on those 2012-13 Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma exams that were written. ... 'Alberta continues to be one of the highest achieving jurisdictions in the world,' says Naomi Johnson, chief superintendent of schools. 'Our objective is to exceed provincial targets and we have done so in almost every subject and grade level. For another straight year, our student results are outstanding.' "

Read the full post here.

From CAPSC

CAPSC October Meeting Oct. 16 development session for CBE school councils – hosted by CAPSC and CBE The Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils (CAPSC) and the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) are pleased to co-host a development session for CBE school councils. This session will be delivered by Alberta School Councils’ Association as follows: Date: Wednesday, Oct. 16 Time: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Place: Multipurpose Room, Education Centre, 1221 – 8 Street S.W. Parking: free underground parking provided (access off 12 Avenue) Topic: Tools for effective school councils We were planning to have ASCA at our October meeting this year, and when we learned that CBE also wanted to host an ASCA workshop evening, it seemed natural to join up for this project. ASCA has offered workshops to schools now for some time.  One of our executive members participated in their workshop at her school recently - here's what she had to say As CAPSC executive, we feel that your school council will be greatly enhanced by attending this evening workshop.  It is the kind of information that is fundamental to operating a successful school council and working with your administration in a positive, collaborative way.  Attending this ASCA session will be a great benefit to the children of your school, and, in the end, that is our ultimate goal!

Trustee Forums CAPSC is still set to co-host two public school board trustee forums this month, prior to the October 21st elections.  Please see the information below for how you can participate. Citizens’ Public School Board Trustee 5+10, 6+7, 8+9 Forum  Thursday, October 10, 2013, 7pm Triwood Community Association Hall 2244 Chicoutimi Drive NW Citizens’ Public School Board Trustee 1+2, 3+4 Forum (corrected) Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 7pm Thorncliffe Greenview Community Association Hall 5600 Centre St. N Calgary

CAPSC Memberships Don't forget to purchase your CAPSC membership now!  For questions regarding your membership status or to receive a copy of the membership form, please contact our Communications Coordinator.

Fundraiser Information

Magazine Fundraiser: The end of our magazine fundraiser is fast approaching. October 19th will mark the final day you can support this effort. The Canadian Community Reading Plan is owned and operated in Western Canada and is a great way to promote reading and raise funds for our group. Click here to complete your order.

HomeLogic

You probably received a recorded message from the school in the last few days about opening and accessing a HomeLogic account. HomeLogic is a portal for parents to the information that the CBE has about students. This is a tool that parents can use to view information about their child's Attendance, Schedule, Transcript, and Demographics. Sign up is simple and is a great way to keep track of important information. There is even a list of your child's current teachers.

Here is the letter that describes HomeLogic to parents and here is the web page from Wilma's website with all the links you need. If you want to just go and sign up: click here and select 'new user?' under the credentials section.

Resources for Familes Affected by Flooding

From the CBE:

"As a result of the devastating flood last June in southern Alberta  we have many students and families who have been affected. In addition to the resources available with the Calgary Board of Education , there are other resources available through Alberta Health Services."

Click here to find out the details.

Urgent Request from the Bingo Team

The bingo is tomorrow night! The roster is almost filled up, but we need 3 more (and a few people on the reserve list would be good). Thank you to those who have signed up so far.

If you have been thinking about signing up please do it now.

http://www.volunteersignup.org/TCMW8

Maybe you can sign up other family members (over 18) to help out. Please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested in helping out.

Thank you for volunteering!

The Wilma Hansen School Parent Association (WHSPA)  Bingo Team.

Role of a Trustee

The following is an excerpt from an excellent article by Laura Shutiak for a group called Artics (Association for Responsible Trusteeship in Calgary Schools). In it, she examines the role of a trustee on the CBE board, shows examples of real transparency, and points out some of the differences in our trustees.

In mid-September, a few parents took to Twitter to thank Calgary Board of Education Trustee Joy Bowen-Eyre for helping them secure additional bike racks at their school. A picture of bikes stacked neatly by the school door accompanied the thank yous.

Why shouldn’t you pat your trustee on the back when you think he or she has been responsive to an issue?

Well, because securing resources for an individual school, whether it’s a computer, basketballs or bike racks, isn’t the job of a trustee.

Now, we don’t actually know what impact Bowen-Eyre had on this decision, if any. We also don’t know if there were other, more needy schools that missed out because of politics.
But, doesn’t it show there’s problem in the system when the principal couldn’t secure needed facilities for his or her school? Instead of handing out kudos, perhaps those parents should be demanding answers.

So, what is the role of a trustee? - Click here for the entire article.

Meet A Trustee Candidate

In 26 days municipal elections will be held in Calgary. We will be voting for a Mayor, 14 Councillors, 7 Public School Trustees and 7 Separate School Trustees - are you ready? Don't let the voting booth be the first place you see their names.

Since this is a school related blog, this post will be about the Public School Trustees in our area. There are seven trustees on the board, each representing two wards. Wilma Hansen is in Ward 14. Our present, long time trustee Carol Bazinet has announced her retirement from the board.

There are three declared candidates for Wards 12/14. They (and their websites) are:

Amber Stewart

Christina Steed 

Malik Amery

The Council and Parent Association will be meeting on Wednesday, October 16 at 7pm in the library. One of the candidates, Christina Steed, has asked to chat with us during the first part of our meeting. Plan on coming out and listening to Christina and asking her some questions about her candidacy.

Find out about all the candidates in our ward by reading their websites and sending them questions. The CBE Board of Trustees makes decisions daily that directly affect our children's education so your participation in this process couldn't be more important.

CBE Report Card Processes

From the CBE:

"Our provincial programs of study are changing and like many other school divisions in Alberta, the CBE is re-designing assessment and reporting practices to reflect these changes.
The introduction of new reporting processes, including a new report card, will be an important part of our work moving forward. The direction of our province, as well as current research on assessment, evaluation and student learning, require us to work together to understand, recognize and communicate about student learning in new ways."

Read more details here.

AGM Tuesday Night

Please plan to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Wilma Hansen Parent Association and Council on Tuesday evening. The meeting is held in the library and starts at 7pm. Click here for the Parent Association agenda and here for the Council agenda.

Volunteers required for the financials of last year: We need two parents to review the books and statements this month. It will only take 1 or 2 hours, no experience or special book-keeping knowledge required. If you can help out, please email wilmahansenparents@gmail.com.

Check the calendar at the bottom of this page for various events/locations/times. Please submit any missing calendar entries to wilmahansenparents@gmail.com.

One more item for this blog entry: If you wish to volunteer for anything, if you want more information regarding Council/Association items, if you want a blog entry about a subject, if you want to contact us for any reason - just send an email - we'll get back to you, use wilmahansenparents@gmail.com.

Teens, Phones, and Sleep

There has been a lot written in the press lately about cell phone usage among teens. One of the things that researches are helping us parents to worry about is cell phone usage at bed time. Screen brightness, late night texting, melatonin levels, snapchat anxiety, etc all seem to be contributing to our kids getting less sleep and/or lower quality sleep.

CBC recently reported:

The average teen should get nine hours of sleep, but the medical literature and research at SickKids suggest they get only about seven hours. - link.

The Better Health channel in Australia reports:

Adolescents (teenagers) need between nine and 10 hours of sleep every night. Regularly not getting enough sleep (chronic sleep deprivation) can affect a teenager's academic and sporting performance and may increase their risk of emotional problems such as depression. Even 30 minutes of extra sleep each night makes a difference. - link.

Dr. David Palmiter:

...three out of four teens report bringing their cell phones into their bedrooms at night, with 56% texting every night/almost every night... - link.

I suppose all this is applicable to adults as well, do you watch tv or read on a back lit electronic device at bed time? Maybe you're being affected too...

CAPSC Meeting September 18

From CAPSC:

The Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils would like to welcome you back for another school year!

Please join us for our first meeting of the 2013/2014 school year.  The meeting will take place Wednesday September 18th 7:00pm, AE Cross school library (3445-37th St SW).  We will have guest speakers from the CBE in attendance to discuss the personalization of learning and Iris. Our executive has also been working on a number of initiatives over the past few months and we will update you on all those happenings as well.

This meeting will also be a great opportunity for you to purchase your CAPSC membership for this year.  We will be able to process all of your membership requests at the meeting, or please view our webpage for more information.  If you have any questions regarding your membership status, please contact our Communications Coordinator.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Paperless Classrooms?

"Alberta Education informed school districts earlier this month the learning resources centre, an Edmonton warehouse that distributes printed textbooks and resources, will stop taking orders on Aug. 30."

Click here for more.

CAPSC June Newsletter

Safe wishes
The CAPSC team is sending wishes of safety and strength to all our members during the recovery from the flooding in our city.  We hope you and your family are safe, and would like to extend our heartfelt wishes for speedy clean up for those of you who have been affected by the flooding.  For the latest in what is happening at our schools, please see the CBE website.
If your school council has any flood-related concerns, please be sure to contact us and we will support you as best we can.




 
CAPSC May 2013 Meeting Follow up
At our May meeting we had several members of the CBE administration in attendance to provide us with a budget presentation.    Please click here for our summary of that meeting, which will refer to this document from the CBE.  They have also posted the information and comments from our meeting feedback forms on their website.



Report Cards
There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming changes to report cards, and the CAPSC executive has been following the issue very closely.  Our president Jeff Bowes wrote an article for the Globe and Mail, which states our position on the new reporting.  Chief Superintendent Naomi Johnson has met with our president to discuss our concerns and has assured us that there will be ongoing parent engagement.

We heard from many of our parents who had concerns and questions, and we will continue to solicit your opinions as issues like these arise.  If you would be interested in being named as a parent contact when we get media inquiries, please let us know and we will add you to our list that we forward on to the news organizations when they are requesting parent feedback.

Here's what the CBE is saying.

To make it easy for you to stay in the loop with what we are saying, we have added a new page to our website.  Please check it out regularly for the latest in our ongoing involvement in education-related items.

                                    Advocacy Steps

At CAPSC we are always open to hearing about the issues you are having at schools, and will do our best to help you or advocate for you.  Please feel free to contact us with your concerns.
There are also other steps you can take to help resolve your issues and CAPSC vice president Robert







2013 Trustee Elections
As part of the 2013 municipal elections, CAPSC, along with CivicCamp, will be co-hosting three trustee forums at various locations throughout the city.  We will have more details to follow as we move closer to the elections, but we need volunteers now to coordinate the forums.  If you would like volunteer please contact us at info@capsc.ca.





 We would like to say a huge “thank you” to all of our school and community members who have joined us
through meetings, emails and e-newsletter sign-ups.  We would also like to extend our appreciation to all of the guest speakers we had throughout the school year.
Hurdman has written an article that can help you get started.  His post can be found on our website as part of our resource section.

In May we had our last public meeting of the 2012-2013 school year, but we are already looking ahead to next year.  We have selected the third Wednesday of every month to hold our regular meetings, so you will see us back for our first meeting of the 2013/2014 school year on Wednesday September 18th 2013.  We have already committed that time to the CBE, who will be presenting topics related to the personalization of learning, report cards and IRIS.  Please mark your calendars, you don't want to miss it!
Our executive will continue to meet over the next several months to plan our upcoming year and we ask that you continue to join us online for the most up to date information. We are always looking for meeting topic ideas, comments or feedback, so please make sure to send those along on behalf of yourself or your school council.  In particular right now we would love to hear some of your fundraising success stories.  Please feel free to send them on so that we can incorporate them into an upcoming meeting!
Have a great summer and we look forward to seeing you again in September!

Membership
It's never too early to join CAPSC!  As the 2012-2013 school year winds down, we are already planning for next year, and now you can too!  Purchase next year's membership now and stay ahead of the game.  CAPSC is already busy lining up great guest speakers and topics for next year and you don't want to miss out!  Please see our web page for membership information, or contact our Communications Coordinator for more information on how we can support you and your school council.

No More Grades on Report Cards?

A pilot project will be introduced in some Calgary schools next year eliminating numerical grades on report cards.  “Evident,” “emerging” or “support required” would replace "1 - 5" on reports to parents. There would be fewer (and maybe no) personal teacher's comments about our kids and reports would only be done twice per school year.

There hasn't been much, if any, public input about the project and even the trustees say they haven't been fully informed: click here.

Frank Bruseker, the ATA president has suggested that this would be a welcome change because teacher's wouldn't need to spend as much time on reporting student's progress. An interview with CBC can be heard here. David Grey at Calgary Eye Opener asks: "Are these changes about finding better ways to give parents feedback about how their kids are performing in school or are these changes about cutting down the workload for teachers"?

CAPC would like some help with parental response to this project. Please see this web page if you'd like to provide a voice.


From my point of view, teachers are going to spend a whole lot more time explaining to parents what 'emerging' means than if they just wrote down a 3.

CBE Parent Survey... Speak Up!

The CBE Parent Communication Survey is open until June 14.

Click here to complete it.

Online Option to Pay School Fees

For the 2013-2014 school year, payment options for most CBE school fees will be available online.

To register for online payment, go to www.cbe.ab.ca and click on the "Online Fee Payment" option.

CBE Prioritizes School Construction

The following is a portion of a news release from the CBE. This segment of the document seems to be the most applicable to our school and community. However, you can read the entire letter by clicking on the link at the bottom.

"In addition to new school requirements, many CBE schools require significant upgrades, repair and modernization work.

“Sixty per cent of our schools are more than 40 years old and a number are nearing the end of their life cycle,” says Frank Coppinger, Superintendent, Facilities and Environmental Services. “Our schools must be safe for our students, without question. These projects are urgently needed, and represent a significant financial requirement.”

The 2014-17 Three-Year School Capital Plan and the new ranking methodology will be debated by the Board of Trustees at a Public Board Meeting on May 28, at 3 pm at the Education Centre, 1221 – 8 St S.W.

Johnson adds, “As much as we are grateful for the new school funding that was announced earlier this month, this report highlights that without significant capital investment in the coming years, it will be very hard for the CBE to catch up to the demands of Calgary’s growing population.” "

Read the full document here.

CAPSC Final Meeting Tonight

Please join the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils for our final meeting of the school year.  The meeting will take place Tuesday May 21st at 7:00pm, AE Cross school library (3445-37th St SW). This month Chief Superintendent Naomi Johnson will be in attendance to discuss the budget.  Trustees Joy Bowen-Eyre and Sheila Taylor, along with several members of the CBE administration, will also be joining us to answer questions from our members.  We look forward to seeing you there!