Meeting Notice for MTSC and MTSPA

A message from the MTSC and MTSPA Chair


This is to remind you and encourage you to attend the McKenzie Towne School Council (MTSC) and the McKenzie Towne School Parent Association (MTSPA) meeting tonight, Monday November 30 at the Haultain Memorial School Library starting at 6:30pm. These meetings are a great opportunity to hear about the month's activities / achievements and efforts underway. Become informed and get involved. We welcome and encourage all parents/guardians/those involved to attend.

We will start first with the MTSC meeting. We have a guest (Lifetouch) coming to discuss Year Book and Fundraising Picture Opportunities, as well as news from the School Council Executive, the Principal, Vice Principal and a teacher (or two). And then immediately following this will be the MTSPA meeting. This will have news about the Playground, Dance-A-Thon, a Casino update, and an initial Treasurer's Report.

For more details please see the attached agendas for the MTSC and MTSPA. Also, please check out the website www.mtsparents.com. Tiffany has posted some great pictures, highlights and exciting news on the great success of Friday's Dance-A-Thon. On an administrative note, if you have not / were unable to hand in your pledge forms by / at the Dance, you still can.

If you have any questions, comments and/or concerns please feel free contact me.

I look forward to seeing you,

Sherri

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent/Teacher conferences are being held this Thursday and Friday. Beginning this morning, you can book your conference on-line by clicking here. Choose the appropriate teacher to bring up their conference schedule and select the time of your choice. Enter your child's first name and last initial only when booking your conference.

Dance-A-Thon Success!

Over one hundred and thirty people braved the cold weather and icy roads to attend the McKenzie Towne School dance-a-thon on Friday. The evening was a great success with lots of dancing, talking and fun. It was exciting to get an early look at the playground designs in the great display that Annika put together. Patrick Murphy also did a great job on the slide show of our new school. Thank you to both of you for providing those for all of us.

Special thanks go out to Chris from Wild Bill’s DJ Services for providing our musical entertainment for the evening and to Sobeys McKenzie Towne and Tim Hortons in Douglas Glen for donating all of the refreshments. The fundraising committee would also like to thank all of the people and businesses that donated items for our silent auction and to Haultain for the use of their school for our event.

We were able to raise approximately $6100 towards our playground with over $700 of that amount being raised by grade 1 student Eloise. Great job Eloise! In addition, our silent auction was successful in raising approximately $800. To date, we have raised over $23,000.00 towards the playground project.

Many thanks to all of the school staff, students and parents who supported this important fundraiser. The dance moves were excellent and there was some great school spirit on display. I hope everyone had a fun time and will look forward to the next event, in our new school!

School Council and Parent Association Meeting

Our school council meeting is being held on Monday November 30th, beginning at 6:30 pm in the Haultain Memorial School library. This is likely to be the last meeting we ever hold in this location, and we encourage all parents to attend. The McKenzie Towne School Parent Association will hold its meeting directly following the council meeting.

Hope to see you all at the Dance-a-Thon tonight and at the meetings on Monday!

The Dance-A-Thon is just around the corner!

We are excited to be holding the first ever McKenzie Towne School dance-a-thon on Friday November 27th from 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm in the Haultain Memorial School gymnasium. If you haven't yet RSVP'd for this fabulous event, it's not too late! You can still complete the RSVP form on the left side of this screen.

We've got a great professional DJ and our special guest entertainment is sure to delight parents and students alike. There will also be some amazing items up for auction, such as tickets to a Calgary Flames game, products and services from local businesses and a family movie basket. Those attending the dance-a-thon will also get an early glimpse at possible playground designs
for our new school.

The dance-a-thon is a great opportunity to get to know other parents, teachers and staff of our new school. So bring your family for an evening of fun and fundraising!

Hope to see you there,

Tina Pratt
Fundraising Director
McKenzie Towne School Parent Association

Key Communiqué

This bulletin comes from the CBE's Communications Advisor and is to be shared with the school council and parent community.

System Orientation Session - Follow Up:

Thank you to all who participated in the webinar. If you missed it you can check it out here. It was a great opportunity to try something new and we hope you found it useful. I am working on getting written answers to a few more questions that were asked using the chat feature, and will post them online next week.

The details for the next System Session are as follows:

• When: January 27, 2010
• Where: Central Memorial High School
• Time: 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:00)

Area Meetings:

Area	Date/Time	Location	Topic
I	TBA	TBA	TBA
II	Thursday, January 21 & Monday April 19 with	Mountview Centre 2004 - 4 Street N.E.	TBA
III	TBA	TBA	TBA
IV	TBA	TBA	TBA
V	TBA	TBA	TBA

Fine Arts Curriculum:

Alberta Education is revising the Fine Arts programs of study. A K–12 Arts Education Curriculum Framework will provide vision and direction for new programs of study. The draft K–12 Arts Education Curriculum Framework proposes a unified vision for Arts Education in Alberta, across the four arts disciplines from elementary through senior high. It outlines opportunities for learning in, about and through the arts.

Alberta Education has been gathering feedback from interested Albertans and have decided that more time is needed to respond to the draft framework, so the timeline for feedback has been extended to January 31, 2010.

You have the opportunity to add your feedback, suggestions and comments to the online discussion questions here. Two new questions have been added.

Read the Arts Education Fact Sheet or visit the Alberta Education Website for more information.

Stakeholder Consultations on School and Playground Zones:

Alberta Transportation is conducting stakeholder consultations regarding School and Playground Zones. They are proposing to initiate changes to standardize the start and end times for school and playground zones and increase safety across the province by providing consistency for motorists, parents and children.

Click here to see the stakeholder letter from the department that includes their schedule of consultation dates.

Changes to Diploma Exam Dates in January/June 2010:

Click here to see the changes to the Diploma Exam dates, and click here for more information on Diploma Exams from Alberta Education.

Removal of Written Response in Math/Science Diploma Exams:

In Alberta, the mathematics and science diploma exams will no longer include a written component. The exams in these subjects will be composed of multiple choice and numerical response questions. Students in math and science 30 classes this year will be affected by this change.

if you have any questions about this change, you can contact Ken Marcellus, Director of Mathematics and Science Diploma Examinations at (780)427-0010 (toll-free in Alberta) or ken.marcellus@gov.ab.ca.

Key Communicator Steering Committee:

There are some vacancies (Areas I, II & IV) for the Key Communicator Steering Committee this year. We are meeting Friday November 20th for our first meeting of the year to evaluate the System Meeting and help plan the next one in January. If you are interested, please email me for details.

CBE's 125th Anniversary:

On March 2, 2010, the Calgary Board of Education will reach a remarkable milestone as it proudly celebrates the 125th anniversary of its constitution as a public school board.

Throughout the 2009-2010 school year, the CBE will be honouring the significance of the anniversary with a variety of activities.

We invite everyone to celebrate in the way that means most to you. Dust off your fond memories of teachers or students who made a difference in your life, dig out your school year books and take a moment to chuckle at your hair and clothes, tell your children about when you were in school, touch base with the school(s) you attended, or participate in one or more of the activities and check out the 125 Website to keep up-to-date on the activities.

Excellence in Teaching Awards:

Nominations are open for the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Awards.
Albertans are urged to recognize dedicated teachers and principals for the exceptional work they do with K-12 students across the province. Nominations for the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Awards are now being accepted.

A nomination package, including details of eligibility and selection criteria, is available at www.education.alberta.ca by clicking on the “Teachers” tab and then on “Excellence in Teaching Awards.”

Nominations can be submitted to Alberta Education until February 5, 2010.

Registration Forms:

Thank you for submitting your forms. I have received forms from the majority of schools. If you still need to submit yours, here is the form. Please ensure that it is filled out and faxed to 403-294-8172 Attn: Katie.

CAPSC:

CAPSC is Calgary’s city-wide, public school parent association. CAPSC’s primary goal is to keep parents up to date and involved in their children’s education, and to help make individual school’s Parent Councils as effective as possible. CAPSC provides parents with resources, learning and sharing opportunities. They represent parent concerns to the CBE and all levels of government. For more information or to subscribe to their newsletter, visit www.capsc.ca.

School Council Development

School Council Development (SCD) provides workshops and resource materials to assist school councils.

School Council Development provides the following services:

• Workshops for school councils anywhere in Alberta
• Toll Free School Council Consultation Line - 1-800-661-3470
• Instructor training to deliver workshops to school councils
• Resource manual and materials for school council

Alberta Education

School Council Resource Manual

Minutes of School Council and Parent Association Meetings of Sept. 14, 2009

The minutes of the McKenzie Towne School Council establishment meeting that was held on September 14th were ratified during the Council meeting on October 26th and can be viewed here. The minutes of the first Parent Association meeting held that night can be viewed here.

Our next School Council and Parent Association meetings are scheduled for November 30th beginning at 6:30 pm in the Haultain Memorial School library. We encourage all parents to attend.

McKenzie Towne School Dance-A-Thon

Join us for our first ever dance-a-thon fundraiser! We’ll have great music from a professional DJ, refreshments and activities for the whole family! There will also be some great items up for bid and a sneak peek at some potential playground designs. A special prize will be awarded to the student who raises the most money in pledges. Come on out and have some dancing fun and raise some money towards a school playground!

When: Friday November 27, 2009

What Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Where: Haultain Memorial School gymnasium, 605 Queensland Dr. SE

Theme: School Spirit – come dressed in the McKenzie Towne School colours!
(school colours are cranberry and dark grey)

Pledge forms will be sent home next week and should be used to record donations received in support of our playground dance-a-thon. Additional forms can be downloaded here. All pledge funds raised will go directly to the building of a playground at our new school. If each family is able to raise $250 for this event, we will be able to achieve our goal for the playground very quickly. Everyone is welcome; donations will be accepted at the door for anyone who wishes to attend but has not collected pledges.

Remember, any pledge or donation of $25.00 or more will receive a tax receipt. Pledge forms and raised funds will be collected at the dance-a-thon or can be returned to Haultain School by Nov. 27, 2009. Cheques should be made payable to: Parks Foundation-McKenzie Towne School.

Email fundraising@mtsparents.com with any questions or if you would like to donate an item for bid.

November Newsletter and Calendar

The November school newsletter is out and can be read on-line by clicking here. You can find the November calendar here. Please note the next gabuccino is scheduled for Novemer 12th from 2:00-3:00 pm at Haultain Memorial School staff room.

Dear Parents,

If you haven’t thought about it already, you certainly will when the children move to the new school and there is no playground. Many of you like us, may have assumed that building a playground at the school is the CBE’s responsibility. In fact, it is the responsibility of the parents, though we are supported (not financially) in our efforts by the CBE and the Parks Foundation Calgary. We’re sure you will be pleased to hear that a playground committee was officially formed in September, though work has been underway since May. We have a dedicated team of 8 people who have accomplished much already:
· initial designs have been requested and received
· grant research and applications are underway
· requests for corporate donations are underway
· a fund for managing playground monies is in the process of being setup

As well, the students of the school have participated in a survey, many thanks to the Grade 3 students for handling this! Ask your child about it and get excited, you too will receive a survey later this year.

Accomplishments aside, our playground build goal of September 2010 is proving to be ambitious, particularly with regards to securing money. As many of the same faces on the playground committee also appear on the fundraising committee, we are lacking the bodies required to achieve two big goals:
· fundraising $35, 000 by December 31, 2009
· a September 2010 playground build

We encourage you to participate wherever possible. Notices will go home requesting donations from your employer, in-kind donations and your participation in fundraising events. Please consider helping out in any one of these manners or joining the playground or fundraising committee. Together we can accomplish our goals!

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind Regards,

Annika Clennan
Playground Committee Chair
playground@mtsparents.com

Tina Pratt
Fundraising Director
fundraising@mtsparents.com