Update re: U of T lockdown today (13th June, 2016)

To all parents, Beth Mills asked us to get this message out with regards to the University of Toronto lockdown currently in progress:

Safety of our students is a top priority. TDSB is closely monitoring the situation at U of T today. Safe schools staff have been in touch regularly with 52 Division of Toronto Police and there continues to be no direct impact for LL and da Vinci at this time.

Just to add - from my own following of the situation - it's chiefly in the Bloor/Queens Park area that lockdown is in force. Hoping all are safe and well.

Save Our Vice-Principal! Please help!

Many of you will have heard by now that the staffing allowance for Lord Lansdowne and Da Vinci for next year (16/17) does not include a Vice-Principal. Many of you will also have been shocked and dismayed by this news and wonder how on earth a principal, without a VP as back up, is to manage all the business involved in running two schools.

We strongly feel that a robust letter writing campaign could make our voices heard. Although the superintendent, Louie Papathanasakis, has sent us the information regarding the various cut offs and quotas to allow for a VP, these calculations fail to take into account the extra administration involved in running two schools on one premises, don't take into account the complexities of running the International Languages program and the overall decision can be considered extremely short-sighted in removing a position that (by their own calculations) will likely have to be re-introduced in a year or two when the school grows again.

Please take the time to write a letter/email to show your support and express the need for a vice-principal at Lord Lansdowne and Da Vinci. You can download (and adapt for appropriate amoutn of children etc!) a letter we have composed here and send it, via email to pat.rocco@tdsb.on.ca , also cc in Ausma Malik ( Ausma.Malik@tdsb.on.ca ) and Louie Papathanasakis (Louie.Papathanasakis@tdsb.on.ca ). 

Most of us will have seen, at some point, a situation where the need for both a principal and vice-principal is very clear so let's do our best to SAVE OUR VP!

Ward 10 TDSB Budget Meeting

Please note that this meeting will take place on Monday, 22nd of February:

2016 BUDGET PRESENTATION with Associate Director, Carla Kisko
Monday February 22nd, 2016 NEW DATE
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
at Heydon Park Secondary School
70 D’Arcy St.
TTC: 506 Streetcar | Parking: school lot on D’Arcy

2015-2016 Budget Presentation for reference:http://www.tdsb.on.ca/ward10/Ward10/2016BudgetProcess.aspx

Share your input/ideas for the 2016 TDSB Budget Process:http://www.tdsb.on.ca/ward10/Ward10/2016BudgetProcess.aspx

When available, the agenda and minutes will be posted atwww.tdsb.on.ca/Ward10:

All are welcome! Child care provided. Refreshments served. Interpretation upon request. This school is wheelchair accessible with an elevator. If you need other accommodations please contact us in advance so we can make your visit as accessible as possible.

Help with French homework - upcoming presentation!

TDSB French as a Second Language Advisory Committee presents:

“Help with French Homework - even if you don’t speak French!”

Lord Lansdowne Jr & Sr Public School

         

     

Thursday, February 4^th, 2016

6:00pm to 7:00 pm - pizza dinner/Council mtg

7:00 - 8:30 - presentation

**Childcare is provided (no diapers please) – please RSVP to lordlansdowneschoolcouncil@gmail.com

One of the most frequent questions of parents who have a child in a French program is, “How do I help them if I don’t speak French?”.  This session will introduce you to organizations such as Canadian Parents for French, and committees such as FSLAC, which were created to ensure your child’s experience in French is a success. The rest of the workshop will focus on some tips and strategies to help your kids with homework as well as tools and resources available in the community and online.  The end of the presentation will include a list of recommended fun and educational websites and apps for tech-savvy families that love learning on their tablets and mobile devices.

Guest Speaker:  Kristina Laperle, B.A., M.Ed.

TDSB French Immersion Graduate

Parent Co-Chair, FSLAC – French as a Second Language Advisory Committee

President, CPF Toronto North – Canadian Parents for French

Quick note - extra PA day in April!

Just to get the word out - as a result of labour negotiations, there will be an extra PA day which will be on the 15th of April.

A beginner's guide to Lord Lansdowne

From talking to parents in the playground, I realise that I have learned a lot about life at Lord Lansdowne since my daughter started in SK. Some of it may be obvious, some a little more obscure so here is a post introducing some of the finer points of life at Lord Lansdowne.

My child has library on day 2 - is that not called "Tuesday"?

No, it is not. The TDSB runs on a 5 day cycle. This is, as far as I am aware, to avoid a situation where, for example, a class had gym scheduled on Monday so kept missing it due to public holidays. So, the first day of the school year is day 1 - generally the Tuesday after Labour day - which will make Wednesday day 2, Thursday day 3 and so on. This will continue until there is a PA day or holiday when a day of school is skipped so the days shift forward - got it?! No? Well, the school calendar on the home page also displays the TDSB school day and you should also have got a paper calendar home at the beginning of the year where the school day is printed underneath the date. You can download a pdf or that on the school blog here. You can also download the TDSB Google calendar if you use a Google calendar. 

My child went to Crocodile Island today, apparently. 

Crocodile Island is the raised area with trees close to the playground entrance at Spadina Circle. Obviously.

Newsletter/School Blog/Twitter/Facebook - what is going on?

Honestly? This is still evolving and input is welcome but, in brief:

• The Newsletter - we - the school council - send this out weekly via email, usually around Friday lunchtime but it does vary. It is a roundup of information about what happened in the school during the week, what is happening in weeks to come (e.g. PA days, council meetings) and what school council has been working on. We generally keep it to once a week unless there is urgent information to be conveyed or a time-limited campaign that we want to draw attention to. 
• This website and blog - run by school council to provide information about the school, school council, fundraising and school events for parents, future and present. The blog updates are similar to the newsletter and the newsletter archive is here so if you prefer not to have email from the school council, you should be able to find most of the information here. You can subscribe if you want so that you get an email alert when it's updated.
• School blog/website - this blog is run by the school and is run by the school office and one of the teachers (Mme. Aradj...when labour dispute allows). It provides updates about school events and TDSB communications for parents of students at Lord Lansdowne. You can also subscribe to this blog to have updates sent to your inbox.
• Twitter - this is the school council Twitter. It does not have a huge following but we tweet anyway about school events for those who do follow. We also retweet interesting TDSB, trustee or library tweets. The school also has a Twitter account which will alert you to school events and blog posts. Useful if you like Twitter but you won't be missing out if you are not a member of the Twitterati.
• Facebook - Some people love Facebook, some hate it. One of the parents started a Lord Lansdowne Facebook group and it can be quite useful for queries like "is pizza Tuesday on?" or "did you child mention anything about a school trip?". It's fairly active but not essential - you will not miss out on essential information by not being a member. To join, search for "Lord Lansdowne Parents" on Facebook and send a request and it should be approved pretty promptly. 

Weekly update - Indigo adopt a school, work to rule, blogs and newsletters

HELP WIN BOOKS FOR OUR SCHOOL
If you are on the internet most days, in particular for the next 2 weeks or so, please consider adding this link - https://adoptaschool.indigo.ca/eng/schools/743#.VgLvlni2NdA.facebook - to your favourites and making sure you click every day! The top 3 schools in the province will win books for their school and each click really makes a difference - we went from 101st to 84th in a matter of hours with only a few clicks. You can also make a donation of $12 to get an extra 10 "adopts" but you don't get more for bigger donations.



EFTO AND WORK-TO-RULE
Just an anecdotal update really about this. Firstly, I was chatting to Miss Mills (the principal) earlier in the week and she mentioned that the situation within the school feels pretty tense with the teachers having to be careful not to step outside the boundaries set for them by their union which, at times, is frustrating for everyone including the teachers themselves. I have spoken to several of the teachers and they definitely are doing their best to get things done within the confines of what the union rules are currently allowing. It's great to see the cross country practices, for example, have not been curtailed. It's not easy for everyone and though things from the playground seem relatively smooth, there is a lot of work going on inside the school to keep it all ticking over!

In terms of next steps, the union rep is going to a meeting on Tuesday (29th) for further discussions and I hope to hear from her soon after that and will keep an eye on the news also. Let's all hope for a resolution to it all sooner rather than later so everyone can concentrate on getting on with learning and teaching!

SCHOOL COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS & NEWSLETTER
At the moment, I have not been sending out newsletters- partly because I have had busy work weeks and feel I am still settling in to the new school term but also because we are working to compile the email list and class lists from the forms that have been returned. We have had a pretty good return rate on those forms so thank you so much for that! It's also better late than never so please feel free to send them back if they got pushed to the bottom of the pile - you can drop them off in the office if you get to the playground or ask your child to do so if you don't. Some teachers are just putting them in a pile in the classroom if they get returned to class so they should eventually get to us! We think class lists will be really helpful for all parents and are delighted to have had a good response.

Details of Settlement on 484 Spadina/Waverly Hotel and Next Steps

 Dear LLPS community,

As you will read below, a compromise settlement has been reached this morning by the City of Toronto and the Wynne Group (developer) on the 484 Spadina/Waverly Hotel redevelopment. Please read below the statement from City Councillor Joe Cressy and TDSB Trustee Asuma Malik on this settlement.

As you will read, the compromised development is shorter (15 stories compared to 22) and will have setbacks on certain floors to further help mitigate the impact of shadowing on our schoolyard. Shade on our school yard remains a concern. There will be no shadows on our school building.

I think this is a pretty good settlement—perhaps the best we could have expected considering the circumstances—and a testament to the hard work of our community. I want to single out our champion, Amy Furness, but also give tremendous gratitude to countless of other parents who have spent dozens of volunteer hours in preparation for and at the Ontario Municipal Board hearing.  

It is important to note that this settlement was reached during confidential discussions over the past few months between the City of Toronto and the developer, and that the LLPS School Council was not invited to participate in these discussions.

I will spend the morning at the OMB to get further clarity on this settlement as well as next steps. I will pass along the information as I get it.

As you will remember, the TDSB bowed out of the OMB discussion in exchange for a sum of $1 million from the developer. We understand that the TDSB will still receive much of this funding, even though a compromise was reached and the building height reduced.

We need to ensure that this funding goes 100% to our school and community to help us redevelop our playground and site so that we can still save as much of our sunshine as possible. Please stay tuned for further details on this, but we already know that we will advocate alongside our Trustee, Asuma Malik, and City Councillor, Joe Cressy.

I welcome you sharing your reactions and questions to this news. Please feel free to Tweet them (to @TorontoLLPS) and share them on our Facebook group using our hastags: #saveoursunshine #484spadina #trinspa

Thanks,

Miriam

LLPS School Council Chair

Documents relating to today's settlements can be viewed here

PS. I have heard that there will be an announcement at 2pm today on the potential strike action (word-to-rule) planned for Monday. We will keep you posted with details and how it will impact next week. Stay tuned.

Nepal earthquake - relief effort

Ms. Mills asked us to pass on the following information about how Lord Lansdowne and the TDSB are reacting to help and acknowledge the terrible earthquake that happened in Nepal. I know many of you will be supporting the efforts to help in your own way and I am sure you will be pleased that the children of Lord Lansdowne will be aware and helping too. From Beth:

It has been difficult to hear the reports and see the images emerging out of Nepal following the devastating earthquake. Sadly, the death toll continues to rise each day, thousands have been injured and an estimated 8.1 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance: food, shelter, primary medical care and clean water. Families in our own community are affected by the devastation.

-        Flags will be lowered to half-staff at each of our schools on Monday, May 4th.  We will also observe a moment of silence throughout the Board that day.
-        We will be supporting the Canadian Red Cross in their relief efforts. Proceeds from our next three pizza lunches (May 5,12,19) will be donated to the Red Cross.
-        The organization already has teams on the ground in Nepal providing assistance to those in need. To contribute online, visit the TDSB website at www.tdsb.on.ca.  You can donate at school or our regional offices (5050 Yonge Street, 1 Civic Centre Court and 140 Borough Drive).
-        For all donations in excess of $20, made either online or by cheque, tax receipts will be issued by the Canadian Red Cross. The TDSB fundraising appeal will run until May 25th. The federal government has announced that they will match all eligible donations made by that date.

Program Area Review - where will all the students go?!

As most of you will be aware, the English stream in Lord Lansdowne, grades JK to 6, will be taking up a new home in Kensington Community School in the autumn. Many of you will also be aware that this was a solution arrived at with the involvement of parent councils from Da Vinci, Kensington and Lord Lansdowne schools. In fact, the original proposal included the Da Vinci school moving to Kensington to allow for expansion but this part of the proposal - mainly for financial reasons, we are told - was not accepted.

However, the Program Area Review has been reconvened to further sort out the issues of accommodating growing numbers of students in the area, the supposed under-utilization of Kensington and so on. Kensington has been under threat of closure!  Lord Lansdowne has been bursting at the seams! Parent input and community involvement is really valuable to this process.

If you would like to review the documents regarding this and send some feedback, if you have any, you can read them here (documents relating to the upcoming meeting on the 28th of April) and also here (broader information about the topic and more documents!) and send feedback to Miriam, our council chair here.

If you are totally confused but quite interested in it all, you may be interested in attending Ausma Malik's SPACE FORUM on the 30th of April at Ryerson from 6pm to 9pm, childcare will be provided. (If the link doesn't work at first, try right clicking and "open in a new tab" on your computer...)

French as a second language resources

Did you know about FSLAC - the TDSB French as a Second Language Advisory Committee?

They have regular newsletters, the latest of which you can find here as well as links and other resources which you can find on their main page.

This website also has a French resources page as befits Lord Lansdowne school as a French hub!

TDSB Excellence Awards - let's get Lord Lansdowne recognised!

The TDSB has a campaign to allow parents, pupils, community members - pretty much anyone - to nominate teachers or programmes in schools to receive excellence awards.

I think it would be great to get a few nominations in for Lord Lansdowne School stars. I have a few in mind, personally, but if there is anyone or any programme you think worthy, then go for it!

Feel free to get in touch to ask further questions! Find a co-nominator for your chosen nominee and get going!



Points to note:

•  closing date for nominations is the 20th of March
•  The link to nominate is here
• Keep in mind the Years of Action goals as well as the five strategic directions noted on the page and relate your blurbs to that
•   Each nomination requires :

           1. Two nominators each of whom provides a 250 word or less description of the work the programme/person does that makes them worthy of the award
           2.  A statement of recognition that can be up to 500 words

Fix Our Schools

Interested in the condition of TDSB schools - in terms of repairs and maintenance?
This campaign newsletter here might be of interest.

The rally mentioned is already over but contacting the relevant people could be helpful.
Lord Lansdowne school seems lucky enough to be in relatively good repair....but it is certainly important to have ALL schools being healthy, happy and safe places to learn.

New Ontario Curriculum for Health and Physical Education

This new curriculum for Health and Physical Education for elementary students was originally due 5 years ago but was shelved.
It was released today - the document can be accessed here

A useful parent guide to the new curriculum can be found here

Information Night about Changes to Special Education

Beth Mills has shared information about this information evening.

You are invited to a meeting to clarify some important Special Education processes used by the TDSB to support students: the Individual Education Plan and Identification, Placement and Review Committee.

The board is moving to reduce the number of intensive support classes for students with special needs, so parents may be particularly interested in attending this session, to find out how the changes could impact their child, whether in an intensive support class or a regular class.

It will take place on

Tuesday, 24th of February

7pm-9pm

at Bloor Collegiate Institute

(1141, Bloor Street West)

Registration is not required but if you require childcare or an interpreter, please call 416-394-3763 or 416-394-7413 to let them know.

Information and Updates from TDSB regarding Immunizations and the Measles outbreak

Hi there - Ms. Mills has asked me to share the following information from the TDSB in relation to immunizations and the measles outbreak. Hard copies of the letters should be arriving in backpacks too!

From the TDSB

ü  The TDSB takes its lead from Toronto Public Health with regards to vaccinations.
ü  The TDSB helps with the exchange of information between parents and Toronto Public Health.
ü  Toronto Public Health oversees vaccination requirements, including exemptions which can be granted on medical, religious and philosophical grounds. For those wishing to be exempt, a form must be submitted to Toronto Public Health — not the TDSB.
ü  It’s important to note that parents must submit vaccination information to Toronto Public Health. Every time a child has a needle, a parent should let them know.
ü  The immunization/vaccination rate at each school is a snapshot in time and does necessarily reflect the current rate — as students may have received the required immunization/documentation within days of the compiling that information.
ü  The data that has been circulated among media recently is as a result of a Freedom of Information request to Toronto Public Health and does not necessarily reflect current rates.

If you have additional questions, please contact Toronto Public Health.

Thank you

Documents from Toronto Public Health

Toronto Public Health Immunization Document

Toronto Public Health Letter to Parents

Latest invitations to engage from Ausma Malik

Ausma Malik has really been making efforts to reach out and engage with the Lord Lansdowne community. See below from her:

1. Please take a moment to share your thoughts on the future of the TDSB with this short survey, and share with others: http://bit.ly/TDSBsurvey 

2. I will be hosting two community consultations to discuss the Minister’s directives and the future of the TDSB. Poster attached, for notice boards.

Date: Friday January 30 2015

Time: 12:30pm – 2:30pm

Location: RedFish BlueFish Creative Cafe

73 Harbord St (near Harbord and Spadina) - http://bit.ly/1C7VQuL 

Child friendly space. Refreshments provided. 

--

Date: Monday February 2 2015

co-hosted with Marit Stiles, Trustee, TDSB Ward 9 & Jennifer Story, Trustee TDSB Ward 15

Facebook Invitation

Time: Drop-in from 5:30-6:30pm

Consultation from 6:30pm-8:30pm

Location: Dewson Street Junior Public School

65 Concord Ave (near College and Ossington) - http://bit.ly/1thfem0 

  Child care provided. Refreshments served.

  Translation upon request. Please email: ausma.malik@tdsb.on.ca

--

3. Our February Ward Council meeting is:

Thursday February 12th (Please note: This date is new)

from 7:00pm-9:00pm

at Essex Public School (To be confirmed)

        50 Essex St (near Christie, between Dupont and Bloor) - http://bit.ly/15LLTWF 

There will be a special presentation from TDSB staff about the upcoming TDSB budget.

Childcare is provided. Refreshments are served. Everyone is welcome!

This venue is accessible & barrier-free. 

In addition, working with the Ward 10 Council Steering Committee and at our last meeting,  we set the dates for our Ward Council meetings for the rest of term.

They will be from 7:00pm-9:00pm, with locations to be determined: 

- Thursday March 12

- Monday April 13

- Tuesday May 12

Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time at: ausma.malik@tdsb.on.ca, or 416.397.3100