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Page 30 The th OSCAR - OUR 37 YEAR July 2010 Kathy Ablett, R.N. Trustee Zone 9 Capital/River Wards Telephone: 526-9512 Rest! Relax! Rejuvenate! - The 3 R’s for the next few months. Hopefully the weather will cooperate so there will be lots of “fun in the sun”, family time and just time for kids to be kids. As this school year winds down I’m happy to bring you some good news items of Board-wide interest. Balanced Budget Approved The Board approved a balanced budget for the 2010 – 2011 school year totaling $404.6 million. “This budget is focused on student success initiatives in all our elementary, intermediate and secondary schools. It directs an additional $509,000 towards classroom spending for 2010 – 2011. “said Chairperson Gordon Butler. “We are pleased that this balanced budget meets all Ministry of Education guidelines and requirements.” said Director of Education, James McCracken. The budget provides educational programming for approximately 36,900 students. It incorporates the following new initiatives that directly benefit students and further enhance student and staff success: • 10 additional Special Education Teaching Assistants • Computer Technician to support Assistive Technology Program • $165,000 for continuation of Kindergarten Tutoring Program at OCCSB TRUSTEE REPORT “PUTTING STUDENTS FIRST” five sites • $333,000 for additional Early Learning Program resources • $21,000 for bus passes for English Language Learners Program • $16,000 for EQAO short-term strategy sessions (release time) • $52,000 for teacher release time to support high school extracurricular activities • $36,000 for school improvement planning • $110,000 for increased Access Copyright tariffs • The Board also adopted the 2010-2011 Capital Fund expenditures budget in the amount of $20,647.408 for: • Kanata North Catholic Elementary School • Energy efficiency projects • Facilities Renewal Program • Good Places to Learn projects To view detailed information about the Board’s 2010-2011 budget, go to: http://www.ottawacatholicschools.ca/ media.php?mid=51698 2010 – 2011 Budget Council Final Report The Board considered the 2010- 2011 Budget Council Final Report as part of its budget deliberations. Budget Council was formed in 1998 and its membership represents parents, staff, students, unions and school councils. The main purpose of this advisory group is to continue the involvement of the community in an open and transparent budget process. Council makes recommendations on program and allocation of resources. The Budget Council Report is at: http://www.ottawacatholicschools.ca/ media.php?mid=51698 Supporting Student Success The Board approved the following one-time expenditures to be funded from the Board’s current Reserve for Working Funds (now referred to as “accumulated surplus”) of $8.4 million. These supplementary projects total $2.5 million – they enhance student success, supplement the Board’s regular budgetary expenditures and include: • Four additional dual track French immersion sites • Staff and start up costs for two unfunded Early Learning Program sites • Wireless access points to convert 21 elementary schools • LCD projectors in 158 classrooms • Additional Smart Boards for Children Support Schools This modest drawdown on the current accumulated surplus still leaves a satisfactory level of reserves. Classroom Museum Artifacts to Be Donated To Canadian Museum of Civilization The Board approved the donation of a large number of important artifacts from the Ottawa Catholic School Board Classroom Museum to Canada and is making final arrangements with the Canadian Museum of Civilization for attribution and display Trustee John Curry, Chair of the Historical Committee of the Board, and Superintendent Fred Chrystal, acknowledged the work of Mae Rooney in developing the collection. The Museum of Civilization has provided the Board with a report that acknowledges the financial, social and historical value of the contribution by the Board to Canada. Ottawa Public Health encourages residents to protect your hearing and enjoy the music forever – Prevent noise-induced hearing loss Ottawa Public Health (OPH) encourages city residents of all ages to protect their hearing while attending outdoor musical events this summer. In co-operation with several local festivals and the National Capital Commission, OPH is launching a new awareness strategy educating the public on noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Prolonged and repeated exposure to sounds above 75-80 decibels (dBA) can damage your ears. Many concerts measure sound levels at an average of 95 dBA and some even as high as 110 dBA. Ottawa Public Health encourages An exhibition of the artifacts will acknowledge that they were a part of the Board’s museum. The Board will also be able to “borrow” artifacts from the Museum of Civilization for educational purposes. After final arrangements are made for the transfer of the collection, a celebratory event will take place to acknowledge the contribution of the Board to Canada. For more details on the collection, please read Dr. Anthony Di Mascio’s report at: http://www. ottawacatholicschools.ca/media. php?mid=51698 Corpus Christi and Immaculata High School Leave taking ceremonies for Grade 6 students at Corpus Christi school will be held on June 18th at Blessed Sacrament Church. Graduation exercise for Immaculata High School is scheduled for June 24 at 10 a.m. at the high school. Both events make the end of and beginning of another chapter in your students’ life. May they enjoy continued success with the knowledge that their hard work and Catholic education have played a huge part of where they are today. To students, staff, parents and volunteers, my sincerest best wishes for a safe and happy summer and thank you to all for your support and assistance this past year. See you in September If, at any time, I can be of assistance to you please do not hesitate to call me at 526-9512. Sincerely, Kathy Ablett “Your Trustee” Protect Your Hearing city residents to protect their hearing with key messages: • Limit the time spent around excessive noise • Wear properly-fitted hearing protection devices such as earplugs when exposed to loud noises • Sit or stand away from speakers at concerts • Help ears recover after being exposed to loud noise by spending time in a quiet place • OPH’s noise-awareness strategy has the support of several local music festivals, including Westfest, Bluesfest and Jazzfest. “Westfest is about community, Cont’d on next page
July 2010 OCDSB TRUSTEE REPORT By Rob Campbell The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR Page 31 Area Accommodation Review Planning Update! Hopewell and First Avenue public schools have wanted an accommodation review to take place for some time now. This is a far cry from years ago when area schools most definitely did not want a lot of accommodation review attention. These days, an accommodation review really is needed soon due to population pressures at these two schools. This is not about school closures as almost certainly no local closures would be indicated, but rather about rebalancing student numbers across area schools and ensuring a sustainable mix of programs, grade structures and catchments. The most important pressure has been and is being felt at First Avenue PS. The school’s Ministry rating is for 394 students and yet its population is up at about 515 now and may or may not be slated for continued growth from here. If we start to examine various scenario options to relieve the pressure on First Avenue then other area schools most likely get necessarily entrained and we’re likely into a review of some sort on that basis alone. Hopewell, though somewhat down in population this year, remains well above the 800 student planning cap we’re supposed to be respecting and it remains, on its postage stamp property, one of the very largest elementary schools By Daniella S. Being a girl in Scouts doesn’t really feel different than any other activity in which I have participated. At the Scout meetings, there are girls and boys aged 11 to 14 who share the same interests. My final achievement after three years as a Scout will be earning the Chief Scout Award. After my Investiture, the first badges that I earned were for everyday things that I had done at school or at home. These are called Challenge badges, which are in 7 categories (Athletics, Culture & Society, Environment, Home & Family, Outdoors, Personal Development plus Science & Technology) and are focused on your own interests. The Individual Sport badge and the Team Sport badge were accomplished by participating in school sports activities. I earned my Music badge by being in the school choir and the Science badge by doing a science project at school. The French and Spanish language badge were earned for being able to in Ottawa. Other area schools may have preferred programs or grades or catchments they’d like to gain also. To date this school year both Hopewell and Mutchmor have conducted surveys of parent opinion as to what programs are important to retain at those schools. Glashan is concerned to replace its phased out late French immersion program with something else. Lady Evelyn Alt school might like to take a look at piloting alternate French immersion. Certainly there are lots of options across area schools. There is universal consensus amongst Board planning staff that an area review is needed at some point, especially with the eventual implementation of all-day early learning which will gobble up more classroom space. Two years ago staff argued that no review was needed in the Glebe area as First Avenue growth might well not continue. So, no review was done last year. End of last year it became clear that some 11th hour changes were needed and a mini-review was done which had the effect of moving gifted French immersion out of both First Avenue and Hopewell as something quick and doable. I found it very unfortunate that our options were constrained by this necessary minireview. Then, given the then unknown implementation of all-day learning intended by the government, and also the then unknown result deciding the fate of the alternative ed program (it Being a Girl in Scouts demonstrate my ability to fluently speak those languages, yet I learned French at school and speak Spanish at home. The Pet Care badge was earned by having a dog at home and knowing how to take care of him. After my 8 th Challenge badge, the Scout leaders asked me if I was interested in trying to earn the Chief Scout Award, knowing that it would take up to 2 years to achieve it. There are 6 requirements to achieve the Chief Scout Award: 1) complete the Pathfinder Scout requirements, 2) be qualified in First Aid, 3) earn at least one Challenge badge in each of the 7 categories, 4) hold the World Conservation badge, 5) investigate Scouts Canada’s involvement in World Scouting, and 6) complete a project which demonstrates your skills in the Activity badges. In order to earn the Pathfinder Award, you must have already qualified as a Pioneer Scout and earned the Voyageur Award, which has 4 Activity badges (Citizenship, Leadership, Personal Development and Outdoor Skills) plus 4 challenge badges from at least 2 categories has been kept), staff argued again, with some real justification, that a full area review should be put off some more. So, we also had no area review planned for this year. The staff report recommending accommodation reviews to be initiated next year came out beginning of the month and has been debated amongst Zone 9 school councils. Again staff argue for not planning for a review to start next year. This greatly concerned some schools and was met with a mixed reaction by others. Staff are recommending further delay to vision the future through their Schools for the Future process (do we want to move decisively towards 7-12 schools, dual track schools or something else), and also because they are busy already in areas of the city they perhaps see as more acutely in need of reviews right now. After about two weeks of whirlwind consultation locally, the genuine consensus decision in the local community (endorsed by reps from Hopewell, First, Mutchmor, Lady E, Glebe Community Assoc) was to agree with the staff recommendation not to proceed with a review to start next year. Instead what everyone seems to want to do is to discuss locally amongst ourselves as to what might work well in this area, and to explore the pressures and options ourselves ahead of a likely review. I had been lining up an amendment and the Spring/Fall portion of the Year-Round Camper Award. The Pathfinder Award also has the same 4 Activity badges but with increased responsibility plus 6 more Challenge badges from at least 2 new categories and the Summer & Winter portion of the Year-Round Camper Award.. The longest component of it was the final project, which involved the history of the 36 th Ottawa Scouts (started in 1936). I visited the Scout Museum at the National Scout Headquarters and had a tour with Mr Griffin. Then we did some research at the Archives, as well as through the Library and the Internet. There were interviews with previous Scout Leaders and then compiling all of this information, which will then be developed into a written history. My initial thought was that it was going to be hard, but it was fairly easy. I had some help from the leaders and with determination, I was able to finish it. to get a review started soon if people wanted that (and I was pretty sure I had the votes). However, as a result of the consensus which was achieved on this, obviously I have not moved on that and indeed have had now to defend the community preference against some Trustees still hot to move on such a review! At the time of writing, Business Services Committee has supported my amendment to the staff work plan to basically support community-initiated dialogue next school year around these issues. Quite likely, staff themselves will propose an area review in June 2011 - to be seen. It was refreshing to be able to gain consensus as to how we should proceed and I’m proud of the community for being able to achieve a consensus on what is a very difficult and necessarily passionate matter. Some remain disappointed that a review will not start next year and I understand that but this really is the community consensus. I urge all interested citizens to engage with the Board’s Schools for the Future next year and also the local community’s dialogue future directions. It will be an interesting preparatory year. If you have a suggestion or a concern, or would like to be added to my e-newsletter list, then please contact me via rob@ocdsbzone9.ca or at 323-7803. Meeting and document info available at www.ocdsb.ca Protect Your Hearing Cont’d from previous page and we care about keeping our community as healthy as possible. We support Ottawa Public Health’s initiative to try and raise awareness about the possibility of hearing loss or damage caused by excessive sound. Let’s all listen to the music safely, enjoying our events for years to come,” said Elaina Martin, founder and producer of Westfest, Westboro Village’s Festival of Music, Art and Life. People of all ages, including children and teenagers, can develop noiseinduced hearing loss. According to Statistics Canada, more than one million adults across the country reported having a hearing-related disability, a number more than 50% greater than the number of people reporting problems with their eyesight. The Hearing Foundation of Canada reports that noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common types of hearing damage. Being aware of the risks and taking preventative steps is the best way to protect you from noise-induced hearing loss. For information, visit ottawa.ca/health.
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Page 5 and 6: July 2010 OSCA PRESIDENT’S REPORT
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Page 37 and 38: July 2010 117ABBOTSFORD HOUSE By: J
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Page 41 and 42: July 2010 Big “0” Cake 0 fat. 0
Page 43 and 44: July 2010 By Anant Nagpur I just re

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