SAC Meeting...September 23, 2024

SAC Cabot Education Centre September 23, 2024

Welcome: Suzie Gillis, Naomi Stockley, Lloyd Francis, Heather MacIsaac-MacKinnon, Faye Fricker, Jackie Morrissey, Valerie Shouse

Staffing:

-New staff- Lloyd Francis, Jillian Briggs, Nicole MacNeil, Daniel McGuire (Tech), Darci (mat leave for Jessica), Nathan Livingston (Science)

-2 full time sub teachers for all three schools

-Ella MacKinnon- elementary science teacher, can sub on days 6 and 8.

NSTU contract changes:

-Teachers require more prep time, 15% prep and 85% with students.

-Teachers required to work at home on storm days.

Programming:

-Cabot lost Cheryl MacDonald. She is now ECE at the elementary school.

-CYPC (Child Youth Care Practitioner) position will be posted.

-No qualified high school Music teacher so the middle school Music teacher absorbs the course (Viktor Dukansic) only Grade 8s are affected.

-Grade 8 food and nutrition course time changed- 1 hour block

-Tech program Grade 7&8 Pilot Project- materials and tools have arrived. Tommy Chubbs has gone to training, trainers coming here as well, they will design the project packets and send to students to work on.

RCMP:

-Response time has been questionable, and there are still concerns this year.

-Corey Steed said they would like more presence at the school, wants officers here during their paid time, they can work on paperwork at Cabot, school will provide a space.

-Two main officers, they want to get into the classes specifically Phys. Ed., and do some programming (basketball, archery etc.)

-Golf tournament- money raised will be spread between the three schools.

-Lock Down Drill- a bit of confusion, another one will be done as extra practice.

Transportation:

-Bus runs cancelled already this year but should not be as big of an issue going forward. We now have two spare drivers this year and one in training.

School Hours:

-Adjusted bell times, extra 10 minutes needed to be added to the school day to accommodate the elementary schools for lunch break. Cabot times 9:10-3:10.

NSISP:

-Student from France is here.

-Lloyd is the coordinator and liaison, hosts events once a month for the students.

-Cabot student is doing well so far, going on the grade 11/12 NYC trip.

-Idea: plan a culture day for her. If anyone can host, please reach out.

Substitutes:

-Our area is short substitute teachers.

-Because of the shortage sometimes this means teachers have to give up prep time so those teachers must be given back that prep time later.

-Waiting for approval for non-BEd applicants.

-Create a schedule for full time subs to help out in classrooms as student support when they are not needed to sub.

Prom and Grad:

-Shannon Donovan and Jennifer Morrison will be organizing both events.

-Photos Oct 18th at Cabot and Sunrise

-Date: not confirmed yet, depends on grading day.

New Calendar- Entire province has the same schedule, PDs days, etc.

School Maintenance:

- Cleaning and operations- we have a 3rd cleaner this year.

-Work done over the summer to freshen things up- each classroom has an accent wall.

-Garbage boxes installed outside- if they need to be moved for any reason please reach out.

-Lloyd will talk to students about littering.

-Making school more welcoming- furniture to create lounge areas that can also be used as an alternate learning space, tie into the SAC budget this year- everyone agrees.

Bathrooms:

- Complaint of no toilet paper mid-day, no soap in boys bathrooms, no paper towel- this has been addressed at a higher level as it is a public health issue.

-Vandalism in boys bathroom- no soap dispenser, keeps getting destroyed. New metal pumps that can’t be destroyed will be placed in boys washrooms. Another idea is to put a clock and sign in/sign outside of the bathroom.

SAC budget:

Currently $12,938.60 in the account- should be used to support student learning, supplement events such as the Honours Banquet, subs for teachers to go to PD to learn how to support students with math, literacy, etc. Anything to help student engagement.

Supervision Concerns:

- Lloyd is the presence outside unless he is teaching or unavailable.

-Bathroom vandalism, picnic table vandalism.

-Suggestion for Lunch Bus Grounds job-can they make this job a full time position and incorporate a hall monitor, back up secretary, extra cleaner?

-Write a letter to Center for Ed- explain where we live, our unique location and demographic, ask for equity, no secretary back-up and difficult to fill the LBG position as it is only 3 hours spread out and on-call/casual- not appealing or feasible for many who must commute from remote communities.

-Ask RCMP speak to kids about vandalism and criminal consequences.

Policies:

-Cell phone policy: grade 6 cannot have phone at all, Grade 7 up they can’t have it in class at all.

-1 st strike- take the phone, 2 nd strike-take phone and get a phone call home & half day in school suspension, 3rd strike- take phone, call home & full day in school suspension, 4th strike- 2 days out of school suspension.

-Bus- they can have phones on the bus but no photos or recording.

-Attendance Policy- if student misses 20% of class they can lose the credit (discretion of admin for certain circumstances). Any students who miss 5-10 days unexcused absence will be referred to admin and they make contact with home. Then referred to Attendance support worker.

School events: 

-Whole school assembly on first day went well. Hold whole school assembly once a month (announcements, housekeeping, a fun activity).

-Maritime Center for African Dance, drumming and storytelling. Concerns this year-the cost, most students have seen the same presentation since primary, they don’t bring anything with them (speakers, visuals), they wanted to work with students for less than the allotted time frame paid for, there were no visuals to go with the storytelling. They did not respect the “no scent” policy.

-Terry Fox walk- last hour of the day Sept 25th, Twonies for Terry, back up for bad weather is the gym.

-Orange shirt day also Sept 25th

-Pink Shirt Day- Sept 19th

-Student Council- middle school and high school will be combined this year. Once elections are done, we will get a SAC member.

-Career Fair- 02 class

-Huckle Buckle Art show- Oct 17, students will have a set time in class to do art for this

-NSCC- grade 10 and 11 will go to the new campus Oct 17

-Trip to Centre 200- Friday Oct 18th to see Chris Hatfield, Astronaut

-Cabot Trail Writers- a writer will come and speak to middle school

-Oct 23- look at different universities

-Madd Canada- asked us to schedule an event but RCMP will speak to the students instead.

Sports:

-program is up and running

-Senior girls volleyball- Suzie

-Middle girls volleyball- Naomi, Lisa and Emma

-Middle boys- Michael

-Cross country has begun

-Golf

-Uniforms-40$ rental fee that will be returned when uniform is returned.

-School based sports games hosted at Cabot- Home Ec room not to be used. Staff room can be used to sell products. Hospitality room only for parents and students.

-Contract for coaches and students- if student has a unexcused absence on Friday they cannot play on weekend games, if suspended they can’t play, academics need to be good to play.

-Write a letter asking for fair representation- can we host some games here so our students’ families can see them play and we aren’t always travelling, its unequitable that Cabot students have to travel so often and others do not.

-Storms- If school is cancelled here, students are not allowed to travel for sports.

Honours and Distinction:

-went over well last year.

-Some schools are holding off on doing the celebration until the fall so they can use the full marks from the end of the year.

-Moving the event to the fall will also help keep students engaged until the very end of the school year.

-Criteria how the marks are calculated needs to be discussed.

Smoking area:

- brought it to Michelle Coleman, gates are removed, tried to move students

-away from front of the school but it’s the only place at the front.

-Kids will go to the highway or the woods. Highway is too dangerous and woods is a fire hazard.

-Will allow them to smoke slightly off property but still in eyesight in case of emergency.

-Vape detectors not consistently working in bathrooms- false positives.

Sign needed for gender neutral bathroom “One person at a time”.

Lloyd will talk about this with kids.

SSP Goals:

-60 or 90 day cycles.

-Math Goal (learn steps to show your work properly)

-Literacy Goal (reading and comp)

-Well Being Goal (racism, discrimination)

Mary Ross Barker Trust: 

-Jenna reached out to see if it is possible to apply for funding for the school for sports equipment.

-Jenna and Heather received a response including information required to submit proposal.

-We can apply for supplement $ for missing items and prep work for the Outdoor volleyball court.

-We are asked to work with PE teacher to make a list of items needed for sports. Cannot fund travel, personal items (uniforms).

-They would prefer one application as opposed to many small applications.

-Coaches, staff and H&S create wish lists with items wanted.

Regional SAC meeting date TBD-end of Oct/beginning of Nov.