Community Clean-up Day Saturday, June 16th

Do you take pride in your home, yard, or community? Do you cringe at the sight of garbage piles left in the alley? Do you have a pile of junk you'd love to get rid of? Would you and your family like to help keep the community clean? If you've answered yes to any of those questions, keep Saturday, June 16th open. (If you answered "no" to all of them, keep playing them online video games). There will be free "junk disposal" available at the Queensland Community Centre from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and while some items are NOT permitted, many items are. Volunteers will also meet to address park litter and some local graffiti. Students at HMS will be pitching in with a school yard clean up during the week prior, and if the kids are willing to do their part... how about you? Help us show care for our community. Click HERE for more details on the Community Clean-up Day, (or HERE for help with that video game addiction).

CBE Parent Meeting About Fees

Calgary Board of Education held the final of 8 division meetings in the last two weeks tonight, to solicit parent input on fee structures for the 2012-2013 school year.  It was a well represented and lively meeting, consisting of  board staff, trustees, students and well over 50 parents.  The bottom line of this meeting was to find out if  you think fees should be user based, meaning fees will only be paid for the services you use.  If you choose to send your child to an alternate program (eg. Willow Park, French Immersion, Spanish Immersion, etc.)  then you pay for the bus service or if you choose to use the lunch program then you will pay for that service.  Some great concerns and ideas were generated out of this meeting, here are a few ideas and comments:
 - many areas have no schools but will still be charged for bussing should they choose an alternative program.
-  promises made by the CBE in the past have not been honoured, therefore how can we trust what they say this time.
-  the user pay system is the begining of a two tier education system.
-  what about the families that would like to choose an alternative program, but now could not afford it.
-  many wondered how the fees are being calculated.
-  french is an official language therefore should not be considered an alternative program.
-  there will no longer be a family fee cap, meaning it doesnt matter how many children in a family, each child will have to pay the same
-  public education is exactly that, public education and all programs and services provided by the CBE should remain equal.
-  could there be a deal worked out with Calgary Transit to help reduce costs.
-  are there any ideas about how to generate money to help subsidize the "gap".

These are just a few highlights, there was a lot more passionate discussion.  The Calgary Board of Education also stressed the fact that this was a very time sensitive issue, and a decision will have to be made very quickly in order to prepare fees for the upcoming school year.  There will be a final opportunity to shsare your views at a system wide meeting meaning Thursday May 31st, 7:00-9:30 in the Western Canada High School (641 - 17th Ave SW).  CBE has asked for your opinion and this would be an excellent platform for you to give it!  See you there.

Shona

#bully PROOF

This week on CBC news network, Mark Kelley looks into the reality of bullying in Canada. The documentary series, called #bully PROOF, airs every night this week from 6pm- 7pm.  To watch the You Tube trailer, click here.

Technology enhances, but doesn't replace great teaching

With everything from smartphones, and tablets to iPods and SMARTBoards, technology's role and potential in teaching and learning changes almost as fast as the products themselves. While technology certainly can impact learning and change schools, it can't replace great teaching, writes Brandon Busteed in this blog post about The Atlantic's recent Technologies in Education forum. Like technology, which often engages, inspires and individualizes instruction, the best teachers consistently establish relationships, inspire students, and get to know students individually, Busteed writes. "Simply put, great teaching is about emotionally engaging the learner in a way that is individualized." Click HERE for the full article.

Raising an Honest Child

Raising a child to always tell the truth should be straight forward.  Yet children (and adults) can fall short of the truth at times.  This article from Yahoo! Voices offers helpful steps to raise an honest child.  Click here and let's keep them honest!

Labour leader worried CBE is becoming ‘dysfunctional’

CALGARY — A cadre of union leaders say they have growing concerns about the conduct of Calgary public school trustees, pointing to the debate over a five-month-old tweet as a symptom of worrisome discord.

On Tuesday night Calgary Board of Education trustees deliberated three hours behind closed doors about a tweet linking to incorrect information trustee Sheila Taylor made in December, and a related dispute over who should sign a letter requesting a newspaper correction.

They came to no conclusion, and a decision on whether Taylor will be stripped of her role as audit committee chair has now been bumped to May 22.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Labour+leader+worried+becoming+dysfunctional/6633962/story.html#ixzz1v8tpqJ8W

Calgary public school employees to take strike vote today

By Richard Cuthbertson, Calgary Herald

Nearly 5,000 employees of Calgary's public school system are headed for a strike vote today, frustrated they have been working without a contract for 18 months.
CBE staff association chair Lois Robb said union members - who include everyone from lunch supervisors, educational assistants to psychologists - have been without a deal with the Calgary Board of Education since their agreements expired in August 2010.
A CBE spokesman said the school board won't be commenting on contract negotiations.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Calgary+public+school+employees+take+strike+vote+today/6635937/story.html#ixzz1v8t2eu4C