My Archives: June 2003
Friday, June 27, 2003
From her press release:
Lynn has been a fantastic Trustee, for Lady Evelyn, our "zone" and the the whole board.
Lynn Graham, trustee with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (Zone 9, Capital and Rideau-Vanier Wards) has announced that she will be seeking a fourth and final term as trustee on the OCDSB. “I have decided to be a candidate in November’s municipal election”, she said, “because I think my experience will be valuable as democracy is restored to public education in Ottawa. Trustees should now be entitled to resume their full responsibilities under the Education Act because the OCDSB budget is balanced for 2003-2004.”Posted by Richard Deadman @ 10:01 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, June 26, 2003
The board supervisor, Kyle Murry, has approved this years budget, which includes:
The full budget is available at the board's web site (in pdf).
- maintain the Bill Mason and MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centres for 2003/04 school year. It is expected that current efforts to increase revenues to support these Centres will continue. Gross amount, which includes costs funded by projected revenues, to the $150,000 already in budget for a total of $404,853.
- Special Education - add up to 6.0 noon time feeding skills assistants, to be shared by Crystal Bay, Clifford Bowey and Centennial. Add 1.5 Educational Assistants to be shared by the Clifford Bowey and Centennial pool programs. Add an additional $2.5 million to the $3.6 million already included in the staff recommended budget
Posted by Richard Deadman @ 07:10 AM EST [Link]
Friday, June 20, 2003
The Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association (OCSTA), Ontario Public School Boards' Association (OPSBA), and Council of Directors of Education (CODE) have weighed in on their take on the Fraser Institute Tests. In response, the CEO of EQAO (the body that gives the tests) has also offered an opinion. Read on for the Press Release and Letter... [more]
Posted by Richard Deadman @ 11:52 PM EST [Link]
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
So, the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think-tank which admits that they are not "educational professionals", releases a ranking of schools based on a flawed analysis of a flawed test. A test which the provincial government states should not be used for school rankings. While this is not really surprising, what is suprising is that the Ottawa Citizen should dedicate a whole section to the rankings. [more]
Posted by Richard Deadman @ 09:45 AM EST [Link]
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
The Alternative Schools Advisory Committee presented their year-end report recently to the trustees. ASAC is a committee of the school board with members from each school council that is directed to advise the board on matters pertaining to the Alternative Programme.
Posted by Richard Deadman @ 08:51 PM EST [Link]
Monday, June 9, 2003
The Montreal Gazette recently ran an article about the new curriculum being tested in Quebec, and how it is based on the ideas of intrinisic motivation, integrated "holistic" learning and group projects... taken directly from Alternative Schools.
Posted by Richard Deadman @ 10:06 AM EST [Link]
Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Last Thursday the National Post published an article entitled Academics give a failing mark to traditional student assessment. Apparently more and more acedemics are coming to the realization that traditional grading may not be the best way to motivate and assess students.
From the article:
When teachers throw out the traditional classroom model of using numbers and letters to assess student performance, students become more self-reliant in their learning habits and the teacher-student relationship can be dramatically transformed...
and"Students became less competitive, less concerned with being compared to others or 'not measuring up.' They saw the teacher not as someone finding fault, but as a person supporting and recognizing their learning," said the reportPosted by Richard Deadman @ 02:12 PM EST [Link]
Monday, June 2, 2003
The June Council Newsletter should be coming home in the next day or so. In the meantime you can view it on-line in PDF format.
Don't forget about the council meeting this Thursday Night -- Baby sitting will be included.
Posted by Richard Deadman @ 03:19 PM EST [Link]
OSOC is holding a fundraiser on Friday, June 6 (7:00 pm) at The Royal Oak (Canal at Pretoria). Calling all dart players, and those who have never played before. Tickets are $20.00 and include non-alcoholic drinks, munchies and darts. There will be a silent auction, as well.
Let’s get a Lady Evelyn team in place – I’ll buy the beer, if we can get a team or two together. Call me if you are interested: Cathy Robinson (home: 233-5892 or work:230-9666). If you can’t participate, perhaps you would be willing to sponsor a Lady Evelyn Team by donating a few dollars … please help out. OSOC does great work for our schools, our children, our community. They can’t continue without our help. I have a few tickets set aside -- now we just need the team.
Posted by Cathy Robinson @ 02:08 PM EST [Link]