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School Council Update #19 - January 25th, 2019
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What a week of weather in Ottawa! Thanks to all of you for your patience with bus cancellations, delays and rescheduling. Today was a professional development day and our system wide focus was assessment and evaluation. Elementary teachers were busy reflecting on student achievement in order to prepare report cards. Secondary teachers were busy with exams and reviewing summative assignments. This time is so important in terms of reflecting on progress over the semester or term and planning for future learning. Parent Guide to Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting -
elementary
or
secondary
.
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Kindergarten Registration 2019
If your child will be 4 years old before December 31st, 2019, then they are ready to start kindergarten in September 2019. Call or stop by your child’s new school to pick up a registration package or register
online.
To find your local school, try our helpful
School Locator
.
Take a look at our
Welcome To Kindergarten
video and see some of the many new experiences your child will enjoy. If you know someone with a child who is ready to start kindergarten, encourage them to take a look.
Registration in advance helps us to better plan for September
. However, we welcome parents for registration at anytime in one of our schools or
online
.
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Building Brighter Futures Together @OCDSB
The OCDSB strategic planning process is well underway. We have hosted focus group discussions with community partners, students, the Parent Involvement Committee and other advisory committee members. Unfortunately, this week's weather resulted in the cancellation of one of our focus group sessions. There is still plenty of space in the session scheduled for January 31st. Please pre-register in order to reserve your spot.
Thursday, January 31st, 2019 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Cairine Wilson High School
975 Orléans Blvd
Agenda
6:00 p.m. Light Refreshments and Meet and Greet
6:30 p.m Thoughtexchange Consultation Overview
7:00 p.m. Focus Group Sessions
8:30 p.m. Wrap-up, Final Thoughts
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OCDSB Speaker Series -
Free Information Session
UNSTOPPABLE YOU with Unstoppable Tracy Schmitt
February 28th, 2019 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Earl of March Secondary School, 4 The Parkway, Kanata
No matter where you are in life, sometimes you just need to be inspired. Join us and “Unstoppable Tracy” as she shares how you can use humour and motivation to crush your obstacles and soar to the top!
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Black History Month 2019 - Workshop
As part of Black History Month activities next month, Parents for Diversity will be putting on a workshop entitled "Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Schools". It will be held on February 16th, 2019, at 2:00 P.M.
This workshop will provide parents with tools to advocate for their children in the school system when they face racism and bias. It will explore different actors in children's education, forms of anti-black racism and bias, human rights aspects of discrimination, as well as practical ways to address discrimination when it arises. While the workshop is free, they will be accepting donations at the door to cover costs of maintaining their website and helping Parents for Diversity to do more workshops and other activities.
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NEWS From OSTA and OSSTF Negotiations
OSTA Management has been in negotiations with OSSTF Educational Support Professional Bargaining Unit #25 for the past few months. The term of their collective agreement ended on August 31st, 2018. Despite recent news reports of a "strike vote" and "work-to-rule", is a step in the bargaining process. A strike is not imminent and we remain committed to negotiating a fair and affordable collective agreement. OSTA Management is confident that an agreement can be reached with its unionized staff through the bargaining process.
We will continue to provide information to schools, operators and parents as the process unfolds.
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Continuing Education - Winter Newsletter
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High School Information Nights
Making decisions about high school? Come to an OCDSB information night to help you make an informed decision. OCDSB schools host information nights for parents and grade 8 students. Learn everything you need to know about our incredible variety of schools, programs and courses.
Upcoming sessions:
- Canterbury High School - January 31st
- Bell High School - February 7th
- Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School - February 7th
- Ottawa Technical Secondary School - February 7th
- South Carleton High School - February 7th
- West Carleton Secondary School - February 7th
Visit our
website
for a complete list of Information Nights by school.
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Ottawa Public Health (OPH) Immunization
All children attending school between ages 4 to 17 need to be immunized according to
Ontario's Immunization Schedule
.
Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, students attending school in Ontario are required to be vaccinated against nine (9) diseases or have a valid exemption. Parents are required to report all immunizations done at the doctor's office to OPH. Under this Act, OPH has the authority to suspend from attending school students for whom OPH does not have a record of immunization.
Parents/guardians of these intermediate and secondary students received written notice from OPH in the mail by
November 21st
. Suspension orders are scheduled to be mailed to households on
January 25th, 2019
(Grades 7 - 12) and scheduled to be enforced on
February 20th, 2019
.
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School Council Information
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2018-2019 Pro Grants Announced -
OCDSB Schools Receive $84,475
Ontario Parent Reaching Out (PRO) Grants are designed to support parents in identifying barriers to parent engagement in their own community, and to find local solutions to involve more parents in support of student achievement and well-being. This year 87 OCDSB school councils will receive up to $1,000 each. School councils are required to submit a report back for the completed project by July 15th, 2019. The report is to be completed online
here
.
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Important Information for School Councils
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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!
W. O. Mitchell Elementary School's Game Night - February 7th, 2019
W. O. Mitchell Elementary School is hosting their annual Game Night on Thursday, February 7
th
, organized by the School Council. The games are carefully selected to encourage participation and cooperation. There are some traditional board games set up, as well as some that are a little less traditional such as a giant Twister game, a giant "snowball fight" (using rolled up socks), life-sized Candyland, life-sized Hungry Hippos, and an extreme rock/paper/scissors and cup stacking. There is also a laser maze and for a small additional fee, groups can book an Escape Room experience provided by a local company called Unlocked.
The event is taking place from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and the cost is $2.00/person at the door, which allows you to participate in all games except the Escape Room which is pre-booked separately ($5.00/person). Please bring non-marking shoes to wear.
All proceeds will be going to support School Council initiatives.
Want to spread the word about your event? Send us an email at:
[email protected]
. We will help publicize your events on our website.
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Semester 1 Secondary Exams - January 25th - 31st, 2019
Exams are scheduled for students in grades 9-12 from Friday, January 25th to Thursday, January 31st, 2019. Semester 2 begins Monday, February 4th, 2018.
Looking for homework help? Check our website
here
for helpful resources.
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School Year Calendars
The 2018-2019 school year
elementary
and
secondary
calendars are available on our website. The highlights include School Holidays, PA Days, and District-wide Secondary Testing.
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Board and Committee of the Whole Meetings
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The next public Board meeting will be on January 29th, 2019. Read the full agenda
here
. Watch the meeting
live here
.
Upcoming Committee Meetings:
Read our Boardroom Highlights
here
.
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Stay Connected
OCDSB staff, students and community members can view the District's
website.
Keep in touch by following us on
Twitter
,
and downloading our new
app,
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]
.
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