No zeros, mandatory school fees don’t belong in Education Act, MLAs say

By Sarah O'Donnell, Calgary Herald

 

Alberta MLAs have rejected attempts to rejig the Progressive Conservatives proposed Education Act to include a ban on mandatory school fees, enshrine a teacher’s right to assign a grade of “zero” or to reference to the province’s human rights laws.Opposition parties introduced several amendments to Bill 3, the Education Act, during a debate that started Tuesday morning and lasted until about 1 a.m. Wednesday.
The act, which will replace the School Act that has governed Alberta’s K-12 education system for more than two decades, is the third version of the proposed changes to be introduced in the legislature in the last two year.

Read more here.

Halloween!

As you know, Halloween is on Wednesday and Haultain will be celebrating it!  Please remember that the school is accepting donations this week for the Coins for the Cauldron campaign.  Also, your child can bring in their decorated pumpkin on Wednesday morning to display for the school. Don't forget to bring them home at the end of the day! Students can change into costumes at lunch and will be able to show them off in the assembly in the afternoon.  Costumes portraying gore or violence are not permitted.  Mrs. O'Connor would like families to keep nutrition in mind if snacks are being sent to school that day, as well as to continue to pack good food for recess snacks and lunches this week.  Keep those kids' bodies fueled for learning!

Today's Parent magazine offers helpful tips for an easy, fun, healthy and safe Halloween this year.  Everything from recipes, costume ideas and simple pumpkin carving tips, to more serious issues such as safety on Halloween night and the maximum age children should be to still trick or treat.

Check out the stories here.

Alberta's New Education Act

On Tuesday, Alberta's new Education Act was introduced in the legislature.  The new bill contains anti-bullying measures, acknowledging that all education partners, including parents, students, teachers, administrators and trustees, need to work together to ensure a safe learning environment. Bill 3 formally recognizes the role of parents as a child's most important teacher.  In the new act, the mandatory age a child must stay in school was raised from sixteen years to seventeen.


Read all the details here.

Excercise Programs in Schools

In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Dr. John Ratey reveals how exercise improves brain performance.  According to Ratey, research proves that rigorous movement before learning helps create optimal brain function.  In response to Ratey's research, five Canadian cities have implemented exercise programs to improve academic performance, behavior and concentration of students.  Read the full story here. 

Ratey's website, www.sparkinglife.org, focuses on transforming America's sedentary lifestyle.  The goal of the website is to improve children's capacity to learn by helping bring movement back into their schools and lives. The website claims that exercise reduces the negative effects of stress, manages mental health issues such as ADD, anxiety, depression and maintains cognitive ability.

CBE Privacy Breach

A Calgary Board of Education employee's laptop, containing over 2,000 student report cards from kindergarten to grade 9, was stolen from a vehicle this month.  The report cards contained students' photographs, identification numbers and high school students' phone numbers and home addresses.  The full story from the Calgary Herald is here.

Calgary teacher saves choking student's life

from the CBC website

Girl choked on sandwich during a science class at William Aberhart High School

A Calgary teacher is being credited with saving a student’s life after she started to choke on a sandwich during class.

Gerry Doak, a Grade 10 science teacher at William Aberhart High School, is crediting some lifesaving training for how the situation played out.

Two weeks ago, a student started choking during Doak’s morning class.

“It's sort of like sort of hollow gulp and you're aware that there's no breath getting through,” said Doak.

Read the full story here.

 

Council and Association Meeting

Hi, Parents - just a quick note to remind everyone that the Haultain Parent Council/Association meeting is this Thursday at 6:30 in the library. The agendas for the meeting are being made today and tomorrow. If you'd like to attend the meeting and present an issue in person, let me know and I can schedule some speaking time to interested parties. Please use the 'Let Parent Council Have Your Feedback!' link to the right of the page to email me with requests.