February 4, 2008 | Vol. 20, No. 04

WHAT'S INSIDE?

20^th AGM & PROGRAM 2008
OPSBA in the MEDIA
Environmental Education: Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future
Ministry of Education UPDATE
Youth & Community Policing Committees Present a Joint Conference
Calendar of Events

At OPSBA

20^th AGM & PROGRAM 2008
Thursday, 12 – Sunday, 15 June, 2008

Sheraton on the Falls Hotel and Conference Centre
5875 Falls Avenue, Niagara Falls, Ontario

HOSTED BY OPSBA’S CENTRAL WEST REGION

Join your colleagues to celebrate our 20^th ANNIVERSARY!

At the AGM we will determine our priorities and directions for the coming year, elect our officers and plan for the future. This event also includes a comprehensive professional development program of stimulating, challenging, and inspiring speakers and in-depth workshops, as well as abundant networking opportunities for trustees.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Dr. MICHAEL THOMPSON -- psychologist, school consultant, an internationally renowned speaker and author or co-author of seven books, including the New York Times bestseller, “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys”.

DAVID WARLICK -- Our Students • Our Worlds
This presentation, by 30+ year educator, author, and technologist, will explore some of the changes and challenges in education and arrange them as a set of converging conditions that will provide direction for retooling our classrooms for the 21st century.

Make plans now to attend!

Welcome reception:  Thursday, 12 June 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

Conference ends:  Sunday, 15 June 2008 at 11:30 a.m.

Check OPSBA’s Fast Reports for regular updates and future announcements.

The Registration Form and the Preliminary Program will be available online in April.

For more information: Gail Anderson, Executive Director, ext.109, ganderson@opsba.org; Ernesta Graham, Events Coordinator, ext.115, egraham@opsba.org; or Susan Weinberg, Policy & Professional Development Coordinator, ext.128, sweinberg@opsba.org

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OPSBA in the Media

Black-focused schools unlikely to spread, McGuinty says
As reported by Karen Howlett, Globe & Mail, February 6

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has changed his stand on whether the Toronto District School Board's plans to create a black-focused school would spread to other cities, signalling that his government is struggling to deal with the contentious matter.

Last Friday, Mr. McGuinty warned other school boards in Ontario that he would not hesitate to intervene if they followed Toronto's lead. He made the comments a day after he said he would not overrule the Toronto board's plan to create the province's first publicly funded black-focused school even though he opposed it.

Yesterday, however, Mr. McGuinty said he now agrees with Kathleen Wynne, his Education Minister, who said it was highly unlikely that other school boards would seek to open black-focused schools.

"Based on everything I've heard and learned from my minister, that's not something we expect to see by way of development in other communities," he told reporters.

Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory criticized the Premier for flip-flopping on the issue when what he should be doing, he said, is looking at the best tools to help all students do better, particularly those in the black community.

"Mr. McGuinty's had more positions on this than the Kama Sutra," Mr. Tory said yesterday.

Mr. McGuinty acknowledged that the plan to open a black-focused school is deeply divisive. Trustees of Canada's largest school board narrowly voted last week in favour of opening an Afrocentric alternative school to help fight an alarming dropout rate among Toronto's black teens.

The Premier has also made it clear that his government will not provide extra funding for the new school, and TDSB trustee and board vice-chair Michael Coteau said yesterday that the board is not expecting any new money. However, that would not derail the board's plans, he said.

The Afrocentric school would be similar to other alternative schools in Toronto that are housed within existing schools. The provincial government provides about $9,526 a year for each pupil, regardless of whether the student is in a mainstream or in an alternative school.

"This is a board decision," Mr. Coteau said. "When a student transfers from one school to another school, that money follows them."

Mr. McGuinty praised the Toronto board for wanting to improve students' performance. But he said the board's plans to do so by creating a black-focused school is at odds with his government's goal of creating a cohesive society in which pupils learn together. A similar debate during the provincial election last October helped Mr. McGuinty sail to a second majority largely on the wings of Mr. Tory's widely assailed policy on faith-based schools.

Colleen Schenk, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, said she is not aware of other school boards looking to follow the TDSB's move, but the matter could arise at the association's future meeting.

"I don't believe that other boards are looking at Toronto's program choice as a way to meet their student achievement objectives because they just don't have that [student] diversity," Ms. Schenk said.

For more information: Jeff Sprang, Director of Communications & Media Relations, ext.111

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Ministry of Education UPDATE

Environmental Education: Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future

The Ministry of Education is providing funding of up to $23,500 per school board for implementation of the Roberta Bondar Report! The purpose of this new funding is to give schools and school boards the ability to develop, introduce, or further enhance board, school or classroom and student based projects which support the Ministry of Education's environmental education initiative as outlined in Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future. A memo to Directors of Education outlines the criteria for proposals.

Proposals must be submitted electronically to CODE by February 29, 2008 for review.

See
Ministry of Education Memorandum

For more information: Susan Weinberg, Policy & Professional Development Coordinator, ext.128

Memo Summary: January 2008

See
http://cal2.edu.gov.on.ca/jan08.html

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NOTICES

Youth & Community Policing Committees Present a Joint Conference

The Youth and Community Policing Committees of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police present “Protecting Our Future Working Together,” a Joint Conference from April 7 to 8 at the Sheraton Fallsview in Niagara Falls. Designed with collaboration and partnerships in mind, this conference looks at issues ranging from high profile, school-based shootings to solutions for complex community problems. Keynote speakers include Kevin Cameron, M.Sc., R.S.W., a member of the Canadian Threat Assessment Training Board and Richard Filion, Director General Dawson College, Montreal.

See
Conference Brochure, including registration form

For more information: Rita Plaskett, Events Manager, Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, phone 416.926.0424, ext.23, fax 416.926.0436 or email events@oacp.on.ca

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Calendar of EVENTS