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We're looking for two to four parent or guardian volunteers to join Dovercourt's Caring and Safe Schools committee. If you're unfamiliar, each school in the TDSB must have in place a team responsible for fostering a safe, inclusive, and accepting school climate. Per TDSB recommendations, this committee should include at least one student and must include at least one parent, one teacher, one non-teaching staff member, one community partner, and the principal. In the TDSB, this team also includes the school’s positive space representative and school equity representative. The Caring and Safe Schools committee works together to ensure a positive and peaceful school. They work to ensure the school is meeting the standards of a Safe Schools Plan, which includes prevention strategies and peaceful problem solving. Our committee will also work with community partners to attract students into positive activities, and encourage students to help each other through programs like peer mediation, counselling, theatre performances and classroom discussions. The commitment is minor: You simply need to attend a meeting once every month or so and to provide feedback and observations as needed. If you're interested in joining Dovercourt's Caring and Safe Schools committee, please email us at [email protected], or contact Principal Ellis directly. Thank you for helping make Dovercourt as welcoming and safe as possible!  Mark your calendars! Dovercourt's annual school Movie Night is taking place on Thursday, March 6. We're shaking off the winter blahs with free popcorn, pizza for sale, and a showing of The Wild Robot. Details:
Join us! Please email us at [email protected] if you'd like to volunteer! Ontario is having a provincial election on Thursday, February 27th. As your School Advisory Council we are expected to enhance the accountability of the education system to parents and caregivers. Facts:
Education is very much an election issue. To find out more about each political party’s stance on education, consider checking out the non-partisan Ontario Public School Board Association website. They are compiling information about each party’s platform related to education. You can see it here. How to vote: If you’re eligible and registered to vote, you can do so in two ways:
You can find your polling station here. You can find out more about your eligibility requirements, polling locations, and more at this Elections Ontario link. Get out and vote!  It's the dregs of January, but we've got sunshine on the brain—which means we're starting planning for Spring Fling this year. If you're unfamiliar or new to Dovercourt, Spring Fling is Dovercourt SAC's biggest event of the year. It's meant to bring our community together, celebrate our school, and raise much-needed funds to help our students. Plus: It's a lot of fun! (You can check out our recap of last year's event here.) We have a date for this year's event: May 30th. We have lots of enthusiasm. Now we need to get to work to make it happen! If you're interested in helping to organize this year's event, please join us for our Spring Fling kick-off call on Monday, February 3, at 7:00, via the online meeting platform Jitsi.
What we'll cover:
What we need:
Please join us at 7:00pm on Monday February 3rd. Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions.  We've created a Dovercourt team for Coldest Night of the Year on February 22nd. Together with thousands of Canadians across the country, we're walking and fundraising to support and serve people and families experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness in our community. Funds raised in our team's efforts will go to Sistering, a local organization providing 24/7 shelter. Team Dovercourt will meet at 4pm on February 22nd at Dufferin Mall and join the other groups for our 2 or 5 km walk. Both kids and adults are welcome (and encouraged) to sign up. You can get involved in two ways:
Please join us as we raise awareness and funds for this important service in our neighbourhood! If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].  Are you a grant expert? Do you want to become one? We're looking to assemble a small volunteer task force of parents or guardians to help us research and apply for grants that can benefit our school community. Duties might include brainstorming a grant strategy, researching available educational and enrichment grants for our school, and preparing applications for grants. If you have skills and time to contribute, please email us at [email protected], or join us at our next SAC meeting.  The TDSB's Parent, Caregiver and Community Engagement Office has made us aware of two opportunities for parents and caregivers to help shape board policies. Please read the following and consider having your say. 1. Learning Opportunities Index Policy (P067) The Learning Opportunities Index Policy (P067) is currently being reviewed. The revised draft Learning Opportunities Index Policy (P067) (the “Policy”) is meant to affirm the TDSB’s commitment to achieve equitable academic opportunities. This Policy will assist with steering additional resources to schools serving students who face greater challenges and to make sure that all students have access to educational resources. The revised draft Policy also aims to support student learning experiences through equitable allocation of resources to schools and to provide direction to staff regarding the use of the Learning Opportunities Index (LOI). The objectives of the LOI are:
The TDSB would like to share the draft Policy with you and seek your input. You can find the draft Policy posted for your review at the TDSB's Policy Consultations page, or directly at this link. Please share with us your thoughts, questions and recommendations on the draft Policy by email to [email protected], or via this online feedback form, on or before March 24, 2025. 2. Dealing with Abuse and Neglect of Students Policy (P045) The Dealing with Abuse and Neglect of Students Policy (P045) is currently being reviewed and reconsulted for 30 days. The revised draft Dealing with Abuse and Neglect of Students Policy (the “Policy”) is meant to support the Toronto District School Board’s commitment to educate school communities about their Duty to Report, incidents of suspected, witnessed, and/or disclosed neglect and abuse of children to the Children Aid Societies. The draft Policy also centres around the principles of human rights, in alignment with the Human Rights Policy (P031) and the Human Rights Code, to provide a culturally safe, nurturing, positive, and respectful learning environment focused on preventing abuse and neglect for all students, including Indigenous, Black, and newcomer students. In addition, the revised draft Policy includes provisions related to:
The TDSB would like to share the draft Policy with you and seek your input. You can find the draft Policy posted for your review at the TDSB's Policy Consultations page, or directly at this link. If you have any questions related to the review and consultation of the Policy, please contact at: [email protected] on or before February 24, 2025. Every year, the TDSB requires the school council and/or parent representatives of every school to complete a School Statement of Needs (SSON). This document is meant to outline the parent/community priorities for the school, which the superintendent will use to identify a principal, in the case that one needs to be appointed. It is an annual record of the main priorities of the parent community and the school board for that specific school. Dovercourt SAC drafted our SSON for 2024/2025 in the fall of 2024, building on previously identified priorities established for our school, and asked our school community for feedback at the same time. We approved the SSON at our January SAC meeting, which took place on January 16, 2025. You can see a final version below.  Thanks to everyone who braved the cold to come out last for our first Dovercourt Tech Talk on January 23—and to those who tuned in to the livestream. It was an important and eye-opening conversation about how our kids use their devices—and how they can do so more safely. Thank you to Ms. Ellis for such a terrific presentation, and to Ms. Holly for providing childcare. A few follow-ups:
 The School Advisory Council (SAC) is putting together an event on January 23rd at 6pm for parents and guardians to talk about technology and kids. This event will be in person in the staff room on the main floor of the school, with pizza dinner and childcare available. You can also attend virtually, via Jitsi, at this link: https://meet.jit.si/ReliableAdministratorsEliminateMightily We plan to cover topics like screen time, social media, internet dangers, and technology support—but we want to hear from you. Please click here to complete a 3 question survey to tell us what topics you want to talk about! |
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