Kennebecasis Valley High School
Parent School Support Committee
Minutes of Regular Meeting
April 9, 2003

Present: Betty Locke, Marilyn Holder, Brian Flewwelling, Tammy Oliver, Katelynn Craig, Robert Munro

Absent: Nick Papadopoulos, Claire Barefoot, Shara Munn, Darrell Belyea, Rodrigue Hebert

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Call to Order

Betty called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.

Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved as presented.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the February 5^th and March 12^th meetings were approved as circulated.

Correspondence

Correspondence was received from the Community Asthma Care Centre regarding KVHS's exam exemption policy. Students are reluctant to attend clinics in order to meet attendance requirements for exam exemptions. The letter suggested that a note signed by a health professional be accepted as a valid reason for absence. Mr. Munro reported that previously excuses were accepted but the system became unmanageable. This is a staff policy therefore Mr. Munro felt that the staff should be involved in changing it. The issue was raised at a staff meeting and consideration will be given to changing the policy if there is an educational aspect involved with the appointment. Mr. Munro will be meeting with Dr. Sanderson from the asthma clinic.

A letter was received from the Sussex High School PSSC regarding the Grade 11 Math program and the timing of Parent Teacher meetings. This was deferred to next month's agenda. Betty asked for statistics on Grade 11 Math results to consider when dealing with this letter.

Library Update

Some books came in after the Talk Mail message but has since slowed down. Tammy put up posters in the Library and Shara will finish hers. Marilyn will do another Talk Mail when directed by Tammy.

Air Quality

Mr. Munro reported that there have been no staff complaints re health concerns

Volunteer Forms

There were only a small number of volunteer forms returned to the school. The volunteer form will be posted on the school web site.

Principal's Report

A pilot project called "School to Work Transition" will be funded by the Provincial and Federal governments under Training, Employment, and Development from which $200,000 has been allocated. This project was developed as a result of 70% of students in N.B. not going on to post-secondary education. A resource room with personnel will be available to assist students in making the transition to work and to make them aware of what opportunities are available. The center will be open in the evenings and during the summer for community access. Diane O'Connor, former resource and methods teacher, will be the coordinator. Resources are being set up now. It will be open for the remainder of this school year and all of the next. Employers will come into the school and make presentations.

Mr. Munro presented Report Card 2002 for Anglophone School Districts. He reviewed English and Math results.

KVHS was a finalist again this year in the Smart Ask! competition in which 128 teams participated. An assembly was held at the school to congratulate the team.

The scheduling process for next year's courses has begun. Relevant information is entered into the computer, such as the number of students for each course, and a tentative school schedule is generated from which students create their individual schedules.

The school is short 15 minutes daily from the provincially recommended maximum instructional time. The school is considering instituting a 15-minute reading program at the end of Period 1 for next year.

Mr. Munro reviewed an overview of the External Review results. Detailed results with written comments will be given to Mr. Munro at a later date. Mr. Munro is very pleased with the results.

The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) published an article entitled "Making the Grade: Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools". High schools in N.B. were ranked 1-71 with KVHS rated #14 and the top "large" school. Mr. Munro cautioned against comparisons as the report was based on very limited criteria.

Tammy Oliver and John Howe will be presenting the program "Recognizing, Reaching Out, and Building Resiliency" to grade nines on April 14^th and 17^th.

Students' Report

The students reported that the school was exceptionally cold this winter. Mr. Munro reported that it was an unusually cold winter and that the school's 3 boilers were down to 1 at one point during the winter.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:42 p.m.

Next meeting May 14, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.