CAPSC Newsletter

The Calgary Association of Parent School Council has released their latest newsletter.

January meeting follow up - Report Cards Due to last-minutes set-backs, changes had to be made to the format of our January member meeting.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but appreciate all of you who were still able to attend our meeting and share your comments and feedback.  We have included a complete summary of the meeting, including some background information and a summary from CAPSC executive members.  Full details of member's comments, concerns and questions are also included.  Please read over the article and be sure to contact us directly with further comments and questions you have.  We will use the information to formulate our response and discussion with the CBE regarding the changes being made. CAPSC is here to advocate for you on all issues, so be sure to let us know what you'd like us to say on your behalf. Thank you for your continued support!

Upcoming Meeting - AGM Wednesday February 26th we will be hosting our regular meeting as well as our annual general meeting. Our regular meeting will take place from 7:00-8:00pm, with our AGM to follow starting at 8:00pm.  We will be hosting both meetings at AE Cross school (3445 37th St SW) in the library.   Our regular member meeting will focus on fundraising ideas for the sustainability of CAPSC.  This meeting is open to the public. The AGM that follows is also open to the public, however you must have a valid CAPSC membership to vote in the election or to run for a position (membership deadline is January 31st).  The CAPSC executive is looking for a few dynamic individuals to join us for the upcoming year and we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us if you have questions regarding positions or how you can contribute.  Commitment can be as much or as little as you'd like. We really do need parents and community members just like YOU!

Learn About K-9 Report Cards at CAPSC Event January 15

Please join the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils (CAPSC) on Jan. 15 for a discussion about report cards.

You may have heard about or been involved in discussions about work that is happening to develop a common and consistent report card for all students in kindergarten to Grade 9. At the Jan. 15 CAPSC meeting, you can learn more about why this is happening, what is taking place this year and how parents and students can be involved.

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 15
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Place: Multi-purpose Room, Education Centre, 1221 – 8 Street S.W.
Parking: free underground parking available (access off 12 Avenue)

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.

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!

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.

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!

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

CAPSC Meeting

The Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils would like to welcome it's members back to the second half of the school year and we look forward to seeing you at our meetings in 2013.  First up is our January meeting which will take place Wednesday January 23rd at 7:00pm AE Cross School library (3445-37 St SW). 

This month we will be hearing from Jillian Drysdale who will be discussing her involvement with the Alberta Safe Streets initiative, which aims to extend playground zone hours to include all school start times.

Following her presentation the CAPSC executive will be hosting a conversation on how CAPSC as an organization can aid in promoting communication

CAPSC Newsletter: November 2012

In which:

• Upcoming meetings
• Membership Dues
• Council of School Councils Update
• Online Learning

are discussed...