|
|
School Council Update #39 - June 22, 2018
|
Hi there,
This is the second last school council newsletter of the school year - how quickly a year passes!
This year we have done a lot of work at the OCDSB to improve our ability to communicate with families. That includes new features and functionality on our district and school websites; an upgrade to the system that sends email and phone calls to parents; the introduction of our parent portal; the creation of a monthly update for all families called Keeping You Connected; and the development of a new OCDSB app. We continue to work on ways to make communication with parents easier, more efficient and more meaningful. In the fall, we will be fully launching our new OCDSB app and with that, parents will have more choice about the types of messages that you receive from us. Stay tuned for more detail on that.
As we look forward to next year, it important to think about this newsletter - do the frequency, content and length meet the reader's needs. We are able to track readership, but are interested in your feedback. If you have thoughts about how we can improve this newsletter, we would love to hear them. Please send your comments to us at:
Have a great weekend.
|
|
|
Budget 2018-2019
The 2018-2019 Budget was approved at the Special Board meeting on June 11, 2018.
This budget makes some important investments in schools and front line supports.
The Board has approved a $974.3 million budget for school year 2018-2019 and capital investments of $105.5 million. The largest budget investment is in the area of instruction and special education where $721.1 million is allocated - representing almost 74% of the total annual budget. This Budget is aligned with the Boards’ strategic priorities and makes new investments of $3.2M in learning, $2.6M in well-being, $1.5M in equity, $1.2M in stewardship, and $564,000 in engagement.
Highlights of Budget 2018 -2019
The staff recommended budget included the following investments:
- Additional funding to support students with special needs, including 25 FTE Educational Assistants;
- Funding for 20 FTE guidance positions for grade 7 and 8 students;
- Additional funding for 9.7 FTE professional staff, including social workers, psychologists, and speech language pathologists;
- Investing in front-line supports to schools including additional office personnel and facility staff
- Investing $600,000 in classroom technology;
- Investing $260,000 in elementary and secondary athletics;
- Investing $180,000 to enhance communications with families;
- Increasing operating budgets for supplies, services and technology investments
In addition to the original staff recommended budget the following additions were added during deliberations at the June 11, 2018 Special Board Meeting.
- Increasing Vice-Principal allotment at Carleton Heights Public School by 0.25 FTE;
- Increasing 2.0 FTE Educational Assistants across the District;
- Increasing 1.0 FTE Elementary Vice-Principal across the District;
- Increasing 2.0 FTE School Office Assistant Administrators;
- Increasing funding for RAISE identified schools by $60,000;
- Increasing support staffing for Indigenous Education by $75,000;
- Increasing funding for Learning in the Arts by $75,000.
You can learn more about the budget in the
staff report 18-072
.
The 2018-2019 Approved Budget will be posted when available in mid-July
here
.
|
|
International Baccalaureate Program Implementation Plan - Merivale High School
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is planning to introduce a new International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Merivale High School beginning in the Fall of 2019. This would be the second IB program in the district; there is currently an IB program at Colonel By Secondary School.
In order to best serve the community, we asked our community to provide input into some of the implementation issues for the new program. Specifically, decisions need to be made about three things:
- Attendance boundaries for the two IB programs;
- Semestering versus non-semestering at Merivale High School; and
- School start time at Merivale High School.
The implementation plan for the IB program at Merivale High School was discussed at the Committee of the Whole meeting on June 5th. The Committee asked for more information in a number of areas. Additional discussions will be held
at the Board Meeting on June 25, 2018, prior to final decisions being made.
|
|
2018-2019 School Year Calendar Approved
The 2018-2019 School Year Calendar has been approved by the Ministry.
|
|
Updating your child's immunization record
Any time your child gets a vaccination or booster shot you need to update their record with Ottawa Public Health by:
Mail: Immunization Program, 100 Constellation Dr., Ottawa, ON, K2G 6J8, 7th floor, mail code 26-44
CANImmunize has also launched an action comic,
Immunity Warriors: Invasion of the Alien Zombies
, to educate elementary school students about the immune system and the role of immunization in defending against illness.
|
|
Continuing Education - Spring and Summer
Take a look at what is coming up in the Continuing Education Department this Spring and Summer in the
May/June 2018 Newsletter
.
Registration is now open for all Summer Programs
- High School credit in-class Summer Programs run from July 4th to July 26th (Sites: Adult HS, Longfields-Davidson Heights SS, Woodroffe HS, & Sir Wilfrid Laurier SS)
- Summer Coop Program begins July 3rd.
- e-Learning Summer Program runs from July 3rd to July 26th.
- Summer Programs for Grade 6, 7 & 8 run from July 4th to July 26th.
|
|
School News
There are a lot of amazing events going on in our district.
Check out our new
School News
section of the website to learn about the great things happening in our schools!
Want to spread the word about your event? Send us an email at:
[email protected].
We will help publicize your events on our website.
|
|
Board and Committee of the Whole Meetings
|
The final Board meeting of the school year will be June 25, 2018 in the boardroom at 133 Greenbank Road at 7:00 p.m. Read the full agenda
here
.
Watch the meeting live
here.
|
|
School Council Information
|
|
Parents Reaching Out (PRO) Final Report - Due July 15, 2018
School council projects must be completed by June 30, 2018. School Councils are encouraged to submit their final report, at
http://education.factorial.ca
, as soon as their project is complete. The deadline for school councils to submit their final reports to the Ministry is July 15, 2018. A copy of this report must also be sent to the OCDSB together with original invoices and expenditure records to the attention of Engy Masieh, Policy Analyst, Board Services.
School Council Annual Report - Due 30 October 2018
School councils are required to submit to the District an annual report on their activities for the past year. The report has to include information on 2017-2018 activities and may include information on the goals and composition of the council, and a note from the Chair or Co-Chairs. On or before October 30, 2018, please ensure to submit your school council annual report to the school principal and forward a copy to Engy Masieh, 133 Greenbank Road, Ottawa, ON K2H 6L3 or by email at
[email protected]
.
Elections of 2018-2019 School Council Members
The election of school council members must be held within 30 days of the start of the school year. The details about the election process are outlined in the
School Council policy
and in the
school council elections procedure
. The election of officers (Chair, Co-chair, Secretary, Treasurer) happens after the members of council have been duly elected. Don't forget to review your school council constitution for specific provisions with respect to your school. Please send us an updated list of school council contact information after your elections.
School Council Records and End of School Year Tasks
As the school year closes, many school councils are asking about how to manage their records. Records that contain financial information, such as those that pertain to School Generated Funds, are kept for the current year, plus 6 years. As such, financial records from the 2010/2011 school year can be destroyed. School Council meeting minutes are only required to be maintained for the current school year, plus 5 years. Thus, the 2011/2012 minutes can be destroyed. When destroying records, please be sure to shred anything which contains personal or sensitive information. If you have records for destruction, you can bring them to the school boxed and clearly marked school council records for shredding.
Corporate Records welcomes questions with regard to document maintenance and can be reached through email at
[email protected]
School Council Year-End Financial Reporting
All school councils must prepare and submit an annual report on their activities (including fundraising activities). To make the exercise easier the Finance Department has produced a template that school councils can fill in. A memo with this information was sent to school principals this week.
Please note that individual school councils will not be identified in the District's financial statements as the amounts are consolidated with those from all other school councils. The school's budget is based on school enrolment. The table assumes that your school council's financial reporting year will end on July 31st.
If your school council has a June or August year-end please provide the information based on your year-end and amend the dates shown in the table. Please ensure your opening balance for this year matches your closing balance from the previous year's report. Your opening balance plus your funds raised less your funds spent should equal your closing balance.
School Name
School Council Chair
Opening balance of all reconciled bank accounts, $
investments and cash on hand on August 1, 2018
The amount raised by school council during the year
August 1, 2017 and July 31, 2018 $
The amount spent by school council during the year
August 1, 2017 and July 31, 2018 $
Closing balance of all reconciled bank accounts,
investments and cash on hand on July 31, 2018 $
In cases where your school council's banking arrangements are administered by the school, the school council is not required to provide this information please advise Michelle Klein at
[email protected]
.
|
|
Important Information for School Councils
|
|
Ottawa-Carleton Assembly of School
Councils (OCASC)
OCASC is an umbrella organization for school councils and parents in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) to share information and facilitate communication within the OCDSB communities to enhance the education of all its students.
Contact Information:
|
|
Stay Connected
OCDSB staff, students and community members can view the District's
website
. Keep in touch by following us on
Twitter
, visiting our
Facebook
and
LinkedIn
pages, and watching our videos on
YouTube
.
About the Newsletter
If you forward this message, please delete all of the text from the "forward e-mail" link at the bottom left of the newsletter (just outside of the border). Otherwise, anyone who receives the message can click the opt-out button at the bottom of the newsletter and unsubscribe your name from our distribution list. If you are not on our distribution list feel free to subscribe or email
[email protected]
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
