Back to School 2012

It was a nice sunny day with a nice soothing breeze thrown in last Wednesday, as it was the annual ritual for thousands of Quebec students, including over a thousand of them in Verdun in our three local English schools, and the usual tears of separation anxiety in a few cases that could be seen in a few parent’s eyes.

But for the most part, it was a case of renewing acquaintances with old friends, meeting new ones, and the customary curious nature of which teachers would be returning and not back from the previous year.

And this year, all 3 schools are celebrating anniversaries of sorts. Over at Riverview, it’s year no. 85 as the school opened for business way back in 1928. The first part of the building was the Bannantyne wing. Principal Deborah Gross, welcomed about 220 students in this her 5th year.

Over at Verdun Elementary, with the departure of former David Chisholm going to a position at the Board Head Office, it was a new leader at the helm to welcome back staff and around 250 students (kindergarten to grade 6).

Miss Jennifer Kurta, formerly vice-principal at LCCHS in LaSalle, also had the pleasure of working in almost a new school yard, totally repaved and resplendent with trees and shrubbery in a spirit of going green. We will have a more in-depth report on this, when the school puts on a little official opening. The yard also has play areas complete with artificial turf.

And at Beurling Academy, along with VE, they started their 10th year of providing educational services to the local population. BA Principal David Abracen, who will have been at the helm for half of the school’s existence at the end of this current school year, welcomed back about 600 students and for the 5th year in a row, welcomed back the new Sec 1 students for a tasty BBQ hot dog lunch to help ease in the new students in the transition to a big city high school.

With all schools celebrating milestones, and keeping in mind this reporter’s penchant for getting big name visitors, especially in the case of Beurling Academy, to drop by to talk to students, one never knows who might be on the list this year.

Meet the teacher and General Assembly evenings

Besides the back to school jitters, September is also the month, when new committees are formed from PPO’s to new Governing Boards. The Education Act requires all public schools to have a General Assembly of Parents by September 30th to elect parent-members to the GB’s and from those parents, the electing of a parent-rep to the sector or regional parents’ committees of the LBPSB. Failure to elect Governing Boards means the Principals assume the duties of this important school body.

It has been the practice for most schools to hold the assemblies during the Meet the Teacher evenings where parents get the chance to see meet and greet teachers and to ask questions of a general nature and to hear the various course outlines for the year and expectations of both parties.

Next week, the two local elementary schools will hold their evenings first. On Wednesday the 12th, Riverview will be holding their evening, to be followed on the following night on Thursday the 13th at Verdun Elementary.

Beurling Academy will hold their big night the following week on Thursday the 20th. At BA as well, parents will also possibly notice some physical changes. The former garages in the back along with the wrestling room and the dance studio have been taken over by the plumbing and ventilation vocation program which saw construction types busily working during the summer months.

Parents should have received various notices and paperwork to notify them of these important meetings. They are also indicated in the student agendas and the general school calendar for the year.

School fees and School calendar

School fees are another area of attention for all parties. School fees, even though loathed by everybody, must be paid as these offset the cost of consumables, and also there are sports fees and fees for other cost heavy programs like music and the visual arts.

Paying these fees are of utmost importance as other programs can be affected thus forcing administrators to possibly reduce in other areas, therefore affecting the student populations as a whole.

Schools have been increasingly looking at ways to collect such fees such as holding back STM bus allocations in high schools to holding back lunch room privileges in the elementary schools, and of course, the boards are also increasingly using collection agencies. So we urge all parents to pay these as quickly as possible.

Finally, it is equally important to obtain a copy of the school calendar. Besides the usual statutory holidays, there are 12 ped days during the school year, nine of which are the same board wide, but three are chosen at the local level, which varies from school to school.

For those of who of you who take vacations during the longer breaks, the Christmas break is from Dec.22nd to January 6th inclusively and the March break is from March 2nd to March 10th inclusively and the last day of school is on June 21st. Have a safe and happy 2012-13 school year.