Board Meeting – Public Session Thursday, March 24, 2011 Board Room – 8:00 p.m. Pages 1. Roll Call 2. Approval of Agenda 3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest 4. Report from the Board Meeting – Private Session, March 24, 2011 5. Student Trustee Report – Lee Shelson 6. APPLAUSE! 1-2 7. Ontario Public School Boards’ Association Report 8. Special Announcements 9. Approval of Minutes of the February 24, 2011 3-18 Board Meeting 10. Routine (*) & Non-Routine Presentation of Minutes and Reports of Board Committees: (a) Joint Board Consortium Minutes, 19-23 Wednesday, February 16, 2011 (*) (b) Parent, Family and Community Engagement 24-29 Advisory Committee Minutes, Wednesday, February 16, 2011 (*) (c) Special Education Advisory Committee Minutes, 30-35 Thursday, March 3, 2011 (*) (d) Chair’s Committee Minutes, 36-46 March 7, 2011 (*) Pages (e) Policy and By-Law Committee Minutes, 47-79 Monday, March 7, 2011 • Non-Routine Recommendations # 1-6 (f) Proposed Development Application, D01-10008/ 80-83 D02-10024/D06-10076, Town of Richmond Hill (*) (g) Proposed Development Application, D02-10026/ 84-86 D03-10003, Town of Richmond Hill (*) (h) Proposed Development Applications, Z.10.031/ 87-94 19T-10V004 & Z.10.034/19T-10V005, City of Vaughan (*) 11. Elementary School Boundary Changes, Cornell 95-99 Village Public School and Unnamed Cornell Northeast Elementary School 12. Elementary School Boundary Changes, Moraine 100-106 Hills Public School, Windham Ridge Public School and Unnamed Oak Ridges West #2 Elementary School 13. Elementary School Boundary Changes, Hartman 107-111 Public School and Unnamed Bayview Northeast Elementary School 14. Elementary and Secondary School Boundary Changes, 112-125 Black River Public School, Bogart Public School, Fairwood Public School, Keswick Public School, Keswick High School, Mazo de la Roche Public School, Mount Albert Public School, Poplar Bank Public School, Queensville Public School, Stonehaven Elementary School, Sutton District High School, Terry Fox Public School, and Unnamed Newmarket Southeast Section B Elementary School 15. Amendments to Board By-Laws Report 126-167 16. Information and Inquiries 17. Meetings and Events (*) 168 18. Adjournment March 2011 Applause! Alexander Mackenzie Production of Beauty and the Beast In December, Alexander Mackenzie High School in Richmond Hill staged an outstanding production of Beauty and the Beast. Over 60 students were involved in the stage spectacular, which ran for four performances at The Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. Two sell-out shows were staged for Central area elementary schools, which was key to building relationships with feeder schools. An additional two performances were staged for over 750 members of the community, which contributed to further developing the school’s positive profile in the community and building relationship with the school community. The production was an outstanding opportunity to allow Alexander Mackenzie students to shine within the community, showcasing the strengths and talents of their school in the public eye. Cast and crew for the production were sourced not only from the musical theatre class, but included the whole school. Work and rehearsals began in September as part of the musical theatre class, but quickly extended across the school and outside of class time. Students went well above and beyond expectations, working tirelessly onstage and offstage. In addition to performing, students took on additional roles painting, sewing, creating posters and programs and building sets. A live student orchestra performed along with the acting cast. And the cast was not just limited to students. Joining the performers was vice-principal, Joe Foti, and his eight-year-old daughter. Congratulations Alexander Mackenzie High School! Universal Time Clock App Rony Besprozvanny, a Grade 9 student at Stephen Lewis Secondary School, had trouble waking up in the morning. His response was to create a unique application - the Universal Alarm Clock, designed for use on Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The application enables the user to set the clock and send customized texts in a 12- or 24-hour format with a choice of sounds and background images. It is designed to set reminders up to one year in advance and indicate what you should be doing at the time designated in the message. To date, there have been over 6000 downloads of his device. Rony has been featured on the iPhone Canada website, as well as in the Thornhill Liberal newspaper. Rony says he has always been interested in technology and has learned four different programming languages on his own. When asked about his motivation and career goals, he stated, “I want to change the way people use technology and create useful, interactive apps. I’m passionate about technology and want to develop user driven products and games in my own company.” Between planning future apps, maintaining his average above 80% and doing his homework, Rony has a bright and busy future ahead. Congratulations Rony! March 2011 Applause! Daily Planet Takes Note of Student’s Computer and Robotics Programming Connor Nijsse, a Grade 11 student at Sir William Mulock Secondary School, recently caught the eye of Daily Planet producers when he programmed a computer that can operate a robot from anywhere in the world. Connor developed the programming after a discussion with his teacher, Geri-Lee Godkin, who teaches his Entrepreneurial Studies class. “He asked about some idea generation possibilities and I mentioned thinking about what bothers you, or watching more closely what people spend their money on,” said Geri Lee. “He observed teenagers at the mall noticed that they were spending money on the photo booth.” The next day, Connor had already written the code on his laptop and was able to demonstrate a program which counted down from three to one and then captured the user’s photo five times. Connors work was so impressive that producers of Daily Planet featured him and his work on their TV show. Connor certainly has an amazing future ahead of him as he continues to experiment and explore with technology. Congratulations Connor! North Star Award March’s North Star is Sheila Dobson of Sutton District High School. Sheila was nominated by Candice Mott. This is what Candice said about Sheila: “Sheila Dobson is a teacher at Sutton District High School and teaches my daughter, Kayla. Kayla is 15 and has Down's Syndrome. This year we had a very tragic death in our family early in December 2010. An immediate family member who lived within our home and under our care experienced a fatal accident. The family member was our beloved Aunt Penny a 45-year-old woman living with both Down's Syndrome and Alzheimer's. She was a beautiful, caring and integral member of our family. Kayla witnessed the accident and was very, very emotionally affected by both the incident and, of course, her death. Sheila Dobson has provided a level of support and care that is remarkable. Sheila actually attended the funeral to provide emotional support to Kayla and when Kayla was undecided about attending the burial services, Sheila offered to bring her to the cemetery. As it turned out, Kayla did decide that morning while at school that she did want to come to the cemetery. On her prep period, Sheila brought Kayla to be with her family, and afterwards, Kayla was determined to return to school, so Sheila first took her to Tim Horton's for a hot chocolate and ‘talk’ and then returned her to school. The ongoing support involved weaving coping strategies and grief counseling into Kayla's program. As a fellow educator, I am in awe of Sheila's personal attention and devotion to the health and emotional well-being of my daughter. Sheila deserves recognition beyond our family's gratitude.” ROUTINE YORK REGION DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD BOARD MEETING MINUTES - PUBLIC SESSION FEBRUARY 24, 2011 The Board Meeting - Public Session of the York Region District School Board was held in the Board Room of the Education Centre, Aurora at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, February 24, 2011 with Chair A. DeBartolo presiding and the following members present; Trustees L. Carruthers, C. Chan, N. Elgie, S. Geller, D. Giangrande, J. Hertz, G. Kerr, J. Nathan, A. Tam, M. Van Beek, and A. Yeung. Also in attendance: Student Trustees M. Bun and L. Shelson APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair A. DeBartolo informed trustees that ‘Declaration of Conflict of Interest’ had been added to the agenda and that it would be added to all Board private and public committee meeting agendas. In accordance with the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, all trustees who have a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any matter being discussed by the Board are required to declare a conflict of interest and state the nature thereof. The Board By-Laws have been amended accordingly, and have been included in the February 24, 2011 public Board Meeting agenda package for trustees’ consideration. (*)1. Moved by M. Van Beek, seconded by L. Carruthers: That the agenda be approved with the following addition. • Declaration of Conflict of Interest - Carried - DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST Chair A. DeBartolo asked that any trustee who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any matter being discussed by the Board during the meeting to state their conflict and the nature thereof. No conflicts were declared by trustees at this time. RISE AND REPORT – FEBRUARY 24, 2011 BOARD MEETING – PRIVATE SESSION (*)2. Moved by N. Elgie, seconded by L. Carruthers: 1) That the York Region District School Board approve the recommendations in the Human Resource Services staff report. 2) That the York Region District School Board receive the Student Discipline and Suspension Reports for information. BOARD MEETING MINUTES – PUBLIC SESSION PAGE 2 FEBRUARY 24, 2011 ____________________________________________________________________ 3) That the York Region District School Board approve the recommendations regarding the property matters as outlined in the staff reports.