School Council Minutes May 09

MINUTES – School Council Meeting St. Joseph’s High School May 12th, 2009 Sr. Clare Gallagher Library Attendees: Colin Slight, Mark Searson, Sue McSheffrey, Catherine Helferty, Karina Dewar, Sheila Sweet, Chris Naismith, Carla Walters, Sister Sheila and Carolyn Hass. Special Guests: Brennan Trainor – Vice-Principal William Millar – Grade 12 Student Opening Prayer: Brennan Trainor led Council in a prayer reflecting The Secret of Life. Minutes: Minutes of the April 7th meeting were reviewed by members and approved by Sue McSheffrey and seconded by Karina Dewar. Student Council Report: Catherine Helferty (Prime minister for 2008-2009)

Student Council Report for School Council Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 - The Student Council is in the process of sending our $500 check to our sister parish in Lima, Peru. This check is the combined donation from the student body, student council, and Mr. Searson. There was an informative presentation about Lima, Peru and Will Millar did a presentation about Antarctica. - Spirit week, Earth Week, the Coffee House and the Dance were all a success. - The musical “Once Upon A Mattress” begins on May 19th. - The election for next year’s student council representatives will be later in May or in early June. The new council will get to go on a leadership conference with guest speaker Craig Kielberger, founder of “Save The Children”. Correspondence: C. Slight  Andy Bray acknowledged the letter Council sent to him regarding the Staggered Bell Proposal. Walking on Ice: Will Millar Will was involved in a Students on Ice expedition in the West Antarctic that explored current environmental issues. He shared highlights of his expedition with School Council. His slides revealed the beauty of the Antarctic and demonstrated the dangers of Global Warning. He also shared many helpful hints to help us to care for our environment through his slide – “Simple Acts of Green”. Anti-Bullying Campaign: Brennan Trainor  Mr. Trainor discussed the Anti-Bullying Campaign with Council. Mr. Trainor and Tim O’Connor and four students in Grade 10 are working on a policy to address bullying issues that are of concern to students at St. Joseph’s. The Anti-Bullying Team is creating a survey in order to figure out what the main challenges are at St. Joe’s. The survey will be distributed to each class and Mr. Trainor will speak to the importance of the survey. Students would like to come up with another term for Bullying.

 

On September 10th, 2009, Eva Olsen, a holocaust survivor, will be speaking to our School Community. Mr. Trainor invited any interested member from School Council to join the AntiBullying Team. Interested members are to leave their names with Mr. Searson.

Principal’s Report: Mark Searson Mark Searson prepared the following report: Principal’s Report

School Council –May 12th, 2009 Faith Life May 6th we celebrated mass in Arnprior with St. Joseph’s and John XXIII. The mass went extremely well and Father Dobec was very pleased. Please see the attached picture and article from our web page. We are currently celebrating Pro Life week here at St. Joe’s. On Thursday Miss Milosek will take 12 students to her for the Pro Life Rally at Parliament Hill. June 3rd we will have a year end mass at OLF Parish Rev. John Lacey has agreed to celebrate our Graduation Mass on June 24th. Safe, Healthy, Environmentally Friendly School We celebrated earth day on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, by participating in Operation Clean Sweep. The Town of Renfrew presented us with a nice plaque of recognition. We will have a practice Lock Down on May 26th. This will be our second lock down of the year. We will also have a few more fire drills to build on the three drills held in the fall. Success For all Students Staggered Bell – Trial run in Pembroke – Discussion – for Andy Bray and Anne Smith were the two dissenting votes. St. Joe’s will host a Board Wide PA Day on Friday, May 15th. This is a nice opportunity for us to show off our beautiful facility. Grade 8 Portal Program and messaging campaign Student Success rates for Semester 2 Term 1 as follows: Gr. 9 – 95.08% Gr. 10 – 94.13% Gr. 11 – 86.74% Gr. 12 – 86.63% New Business:  The Ministry accepted St. Joseph’s application as a Healthy School. Council gathered to sign the certificate. Old Business:  Memorial Cards Mark Searson will meet with Mr. Goulet to discuss the design of the memorial cards.

 

Review of School Council: Colin Slight Faith Life: - Year end mass will be celebrated June 3rd, 2009 at Our Lady of Fatima. - Graduation mass will be celebrated in the gym on Wednesday, June 24th Safe, Healthy, Environmentally Friendly School



St. Joseph’s application as a Healthy School has been accepted Gym mat has been ordered.

Success for all Students - Exams will begin on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009. - Grade 8 and 9 Orientation BBQ will be held on Thursday, August 22nd at 4:30 pm. Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 7:00 pm.