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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Council Update 2017/06/30 - #39School Council Newsletter June 30, 2017 WHAT'S NEW... WE DID IT!!! Let's all take a moment to celebrate the successful completion of another school year. Congratulations to all of the students, staff, parents and guardians, school councils and community partners who have helped our students be successful. This will be our last newsletter until September. On behalf of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, I wish you a Happy Canada Day and a safe and happy summer. Summer Activities with your Family Are you looking for summer activities to do with your family? The Parenting & Family Literacy Centres have compiled some great ideas! Check them out here. Access to School and Summer Hours at the OCDSB Our elementary schools close for the summer at the end of day on Friday, June 30th. Most secondary school offices are open over the summer months - check your school website for specific dates/availability. The Board office is open all summer long, except for a two week shut-down which runs from July 31st to August 11th. Our administration offices will re-open on August 11, 2014. However, there will be staff available for registration throughout the summ er - if you know someone who wants to register a child for September, please have them call our Admissions Division at 613-596-8730. Register All Summer Long at the OCDSB Parents/guardians wanting to register their elementary-aged children over the summer months can do so at the Board Administration office at 133 Greenbank Road. The Board office will be open for registration from July 4 to August 24 inclusive. For more information on elementary school registration click here. Secondary school offices are open over the summer months and parent can register their child for secondary school at the school office. Alta Vista Hunt Club Accommodation Review will NOT Proceed in September The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will NOT proceed with an accommodation review in the Alta Vista/Hunt Club Area this fall. The review was planned to begin in September 2017. The Ministry of Education has advised that there will be changes to the pupil accommodation review guidelines and school districts will need to review their local policies. No new pupil accommodation reviews are to begin until this happen. The announcement does not affect reviews that have already been completed. Dealing with Transitions - Kids Help Phone Many students will change schools in September. Whether they are going from elementary school to high school, starting at a new elementary school or are new to our community this can be an exciting time filled with promise and new beginnings. For some, ther e can be anxiety and thoughts of starting all over again, meeting new friends and teachers. Students may have many different feelings during the summer before starting a new school. They may be excited and scared about these new beginnings and may be sad about leaving old friends behind. All of these feelings are completely normal. It's also good to know that there is help and someone to talk to. If you know someone who needs help let them know the Kids Help Phone is there and is private and confidential. SAVE THE DATE - OCDSB Participation in Capital Pride Parade 2017 - August 27 Meeting time 12:00 p.m. - Parade runs from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Gladstone Ave. - East of Bank St Look for the Yellow School Bus in the pre-parade float line up. The OCDSB is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all students & staff and will again be participating in the Ottawa Capital Pride Parade. Each year over 100 members of the OCDSB family walk or ride the yellow school bus. Together we demonstrate our commitment to creating safer and more accepting spaces. Participants are encouraged to wear purple with rainbow accessories and come prepared for the weather (water, sun protection & walking shoes). Ministry of Education Accessibility Consultation The Ministry of Education is surveying parents, students and educators about how to support special education needs and accessible education. This survey will help to inform the implementation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and its goal of an accessible Ontario by 2025. This accessibility standard will help us address barriers in education that prevent children and students from reaching their full potential. Please consider completing and sharing this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EducationSurveyEN School Council Records and End of School Year Tasks As the school year closes, many school councils are asking about how to manage their records. Records that contain financial information, such as those that pertain to School Generated Funds, are kept for the current year, plus 6 years. As such, financial records from the 2010/2011 school year can be destroyed. When destroying records, please be sure to shred anything which contains personal or sensitive information. If you have records for destruction you can bring them to the school boxed and clearly marked school council records for shredding. School Council meeting minutes are only required to be maintained for the current school year, plus 5 years. Thus the 2011/2012 minutes can be destroyed. However, some councils maintain minutes for longer periods. As School Council minutes are of interest to the community and are to be posted to the school website. For schools - Staff meeting agendas and minutes are kept for the current year plus 2 years, allowing the 2014/2015 records to be destroyed. Audit boxes relating to enrolment are kept for the current year, plus 3 years. Audit boxes from the 2013/2014 school year may be destroyed. A schedule that determines the length of time a record should be kept is available on the OCDSB website (Classification and Retention Schedule) . Corporate Records welcomes questions with regard to document maintenance and can be reached through email at Corporate.Records@ocdsb.ca School Council Year-End Financial Reporting All school councils must prepare and submit an annual report on their activities (including fundraising activities). To make the exercise easier the Finance Department has produced a template that school councils can fill in. A memo with this information was sent to school principals this week. Please note that individual school councils will not be identified in the District's financial statements as the amounts are consolidated with those from all other school councils. The school's budget is based on school enrolment. The table assumes that your school council's financial reporting year will end on July 31st. If your school council has a June or August year-end please provide the information based on your year-end and amend the dates shown in the table. Please ensure your opening balance for this year matches your closing balance from the previous year's report. Your opening balance plus your funds raised less your funds spent should equal your closing balance. School Name School Council Chair Opening balance of all reconciled bank accounts, investments and cash on hand on August 1, 2016 $ The amount raised by school council during the year August 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017 $ The amount spent by school council during the year August 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017 $ Closing balance of all reconciled bank accounts, investments and cash on hand on July 31, 2017 $ Please send the information by email to yearendfinancials@ocdsb.ca by 22 September 2017. In cases where your school council's banking arrangements are administered by the school, the school council is not required to provide this information please advise Michelle Klein at michelle.klein@ocdsb.ca BOARD AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS Meetings that Matter.... The final Board Meeting for the 2016-2017 school year was held on Monday, June 26th at 7:30 p.m. at 133 Greenbank Road. Watch the meeting on our YouTube channel here. Watch Boardroom Meetings again on our YouTube channel here. Boardroom Highlights can be found here. EVENTS AND REMINDERS Places to Go...Things to Remember Summer Language Programs and Camps - Fun with Languages! Give your child the opportunity to have an enriching and fun language learning experience this summer! The OCDSB offers various International Language classes over the summer. These language classes are free for students currently enrolled in Ontario schools. Classes run from July 24-28th in the mornings (9:30 a.m. to 12 noon). Please call 613-239- 2703 or check here for details on both of these programs. Canada's Outstanding Principals - Nominations open late August Canada's Outstanding Principals recognizes outstanding contributions of principals in publicly funded schools. It honours principals from every province and territory in Canada who demonstrate innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and who have done something truly remarkable in public education. Nominations for Canada's Outstanding Principals will be accepted starting late August 2017. For more information, visit: www.thelearningpartnership.ca/COP Fresh from the Farm: Healthy Fundraising for Ontario Schools! Since Fresh from the Farm's launch four years ago 665 Ontario schools have collectively distributed over 1.6 M pounds of fresh, Ontario-grown fruit and vegetables to Ontario families with total sales over 1.7 M dollars. What profit does the school make?  40% of total sales  Average school makes a profit of $1000, selling an average of 150 Bundle A and 60 Bundle B  Highest volume school in 2016 made profit of almost $9,500 Enrol today 2 until October 2. For more general information click here. NCC Young Entrepreneur Program The National Capital Commission has launched a pilot program encouraging young people between the ages of five and 17 to open up their own business. Kiosks will be permitted along select NCC roadways during three of the Nokia Sunday Bikedays between June 18 and Sept. 3. Locations include the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, the Sir Georges-Étienne Cartier Parkway and Colonel By Drive. The first thing you need to do is register here and ensure you have your parent or guardian's permission to participate. Next, it is recommended you participate in a short workshop for young entrepreneurs, delivered by JA Ottawa, at NCC headquarters. Once you've completed your training, a young entrepreneurs permit will be issued, which entitles you to operate a kiosk for three Sundays on one of the NCC's parkways. Stay Connected OCDSB staff, students and community members can view the District's website. Keep in touch by following us on Twitter, visiting our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and watching our videos on YouTube. Have a good weekend. Thanks, Michele About this Newsletter We get a lot of feedback about the newsletter and we are always happy to hear from you. Anyone can receive the newsletter. If you are not on our distribution list and would like to be please click here or email Communications@ocdsb.ca. Many people forward the newsletter to others in their community. If you forward this message, please delete all of the text from the "forward e-mail" link at the bottom left of the newsletter (just outside of the purple border). Otherwise, anyone who receives the message can click the opt-out button at the bottom of the newsletter and will actually unsubscribe your name from our distribution list. This may explain why some regular users are being dropped from our distribution list. Michele Giroux Executive Officer, Corporate Services Ottawa-Carleton District School Board 613-596-8211 ext. 8607 michele.giroux@ocdsb.ca