SCDSB Board Meeting Dec. 15, 2010 – 6 p.m. The inaugural meeting of the new Board was held Dec. 15th. Items covered included trustees assignments to committees and appointments. In addition, a significant discussion took place around the topic of Grants for Student Needs (GSN’s). The Minister of Education Leona Dombrowsky requested input from trustees [...]
Pre-Inaugural Meeting SCDSB
December 7, 2010
The pre-inaugural meeting was held last evening for the Simcoe County District School Board. Trustees took the oath of office and elected the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board. Fresh starts allow for significant hopes and dreams for the future and I think this new Board collective shares many. I saw and heard extensive good-will [...]
Board to Stream Board Meetings on Internet
October 29, 2010
It was a subdued Board meeting this month – Oct. 27th - one key item that may be of interest. Headline worthy indeed, is the fact that the SCDSB has decided to stream board meetings on the internet. This has been a long time coming and I am thrilled the motion to stream the SCDSB [...]
Student Fees & Fundraising Guidelines
October 17, 2010
B-memos are directives that come from the Ministry of Education (MOE) to all school boards in the province. They are public documents and explain what is on the front burner at the MOE . B-memos often signal a change in direction or a reinforcement of specific government policies. The Sept. 14, 2010 B-memo #11 – [...]
Opening French classrooms a hit
September 20, 2010
The story “A classroom makes all the difference for teacher” (Simcoe.com) on the subject of opening previously closed classrooms, is probably one of my favourites for 2010. Sometimes change take time to grab-hold and effects to be seen. Excellent initiatives in differentiated learning that were started over the last three years, are just now showing [...]
Revised Elementary School Health Curriculum
August 11, 2010
The “Revised” New Ontario Health Curriculum for grades 1-8 was recently made available to the public. There was a great deal of discussion about the report’s content when it was first released last April. At issue was whether the newly added sex education component was appropriate, if so at what age should the information be [...]
Cuts To Early Daycare Program Sites – Low Numbers
August 4, 2010
It’s not surprising that the SCDSB has decided to cut all but one of the EDP programs for 2010-11. Families don’t see the value in paying $25 a day to have before and after day-care when they had similar care the year prior for approx. $15/day.
Budget Debate Part 1 – School Basic Budget
June 11, 2010
The key focus of the evening was dealing with the ever shrinking school basic budget, the potential use of locked-empty classrooms and a warning about the potential short fall this September in the funding of the Early Learning Program.
