2020-2021 Bayview Secondary School Council Minutes - YRDSB
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2020-2021 Bayview Secondary School Council
Minutes
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020
Time: 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Place: GoToMeeting
Co-Chairs: Rev. Philip Der (Chair), Ben Schu
Co-Secretary: Helen Teng, Sharon Wang (Minutes taker)
Attendance:
Administration: Arlene Higgins-Wright, Stacey Sadacharan (VP)
Absent: Brad Clayden (VP), Seiji Ishiguro (VP)
Teacher Rep: Lara Joffe Student Rep: Nathaniel
2019-2020 Council: Ben Schu, Philip Der, Maggie Deng, Helen Teng, Sharon Wang, Farida
Kafaei, Ian Kallmeyer, Janet Deng, Jennifer Hsieh-Chung, Jennifer Fang, Jennifer Shen,
Joanna Yu, Joanne Pan, Lida Moradkhani, Mike Xie, Patton Su, Rob Chen, Sherry
Zhang, Sophia Su, Tom Zhuang
Regrets: Ed Zhai
Absent: Yan Wang
Other Parents: Total 76 other parents at the peak time.
Minutes
1. Attendance
2. Welcome
Before the meeting started, principal Arlene Higgins Wright provided parents the suggestion
to mute their microphones and also mentioned that this school council meeting was only for
the parents who have child(ren) at Bayview Secondary School. Philip gave the welcome
greeting to everyone, and introduced himself and Ben, who are both the BSS school council
co-chairs. Philip mentioned that he would be leading this meeting. Philip also quickly
introduced the BSS school council executive team.
3. Approve Agenda
Approve agenda item: Helen motioned to approve agenda; Maggie seconded.
4. Approve Last Minutes (September 24)
Helen motioned to approve agenda; Maggie seconded. Jennifer Fang mentioned her last name
was misspelled on page 3. Principal Arlene Higgins mentioned we had other parents not in
school council in the last meeting. We needed to ensure we had the consent to show their
names or just remove the sections (attendance section) that had non-school council parents’
names on it. Philip mentioned if anyone didn’t want the name to be published, please put a
request on the chat window. Philip mentioned the updated minutes would be posted on the
school website.
Page 1 of 85. Student Council Report
Philip congratulated Nathaniel, who is now our new president of student council. Philip asked
Nathaniel to post the student council report in the chat window.
The following messages are from the council meeting chat window regarding the student
council report:
Nathaniel: This month, Student Council (StuCo) has been busy with running this year's
Elections. Elections took place on October 22nd, and the new council is now elected.
In the past week, we have been planning for Halloween, and we are hosting a pumpkin
carving competition that students can participate in. We have a sponsor from Panago Pizza,
and they have given us a certificate that we will give to the student who wins.
Nariman Ansari: That’s great. Can virtual school students be involved in any council
activities?
Nathaniel: Yes, virtual students can participate! As well, we will let students submit photos of
their Halloween costumes, which will be showcased on our social media. Aside from
Halloween events, StuCo has just been busy with startup events. All students (including
virtual) have access to a google form that is on our social media, so it is accessible to
everyone. We will screen all submissions so that they are compliant with board guidelines.
That's about everything for this month's report.
6. Take a Group Picture for School Council 2020/2021 – screen shots
Philip asked all the school council members to show their faces on the screen and took a
group picture by screen shot. Philip also mentioned the picture would be posted on the school
website.
7. Teacher Rep Report
Principal Arlene Higgins-Wright mentioned Ms. Joffe was not present at that moment. She
could take back notes for her if any.
8. Principal Updates
a. Welcome / Overview – presentation by Arlene Higgins-Wright
b. BSS stats: Students 1666 – adaptive 1331; virtual 335
c. School Climate:
a. For students, we had the Terry Fox Walk and Student Council Elections.
b. For parents, we had Grade 9 Parent Pre-Recorded Virtual Meeting. The school
admin had the opportunities to connect with parents for questions live. Some
parents thought that was a wonderful idea to have the connections with school.
Some good feedbacks that we would continue with this process.
d. Staff
a. Adjustments. We see staff every now and then. It’s the adjustment for teachers
to adapt the new model.
b. Staff Meetings. We have the opportunities to see staff on the staff meetings.
Page 2 of 8e. School Model – “Adaptive”
a. Rotation #4 (Tuesday, October 27th – Monday, November 9th) After this
rotation students will have the opportunities to see the teachers of the second
time.
b. Technical issues – School council indicated some people had issues hearing
students or students had issues hearing teachers. So, the school will provide
the headsets for teachers, that may be helpful. If not, please feel free to email
the teacher.
f. Health & Safety Measures
a. Principal Arlene Higgins-Wright mentioned it was one of the concerns raised
by the school committee’s executives. She reiterated the school process.
i. Self-screening for staff, students, visitors (signage). She reminded
parents to call ahead before any visiting. In this case, school could
make sure the person is available.
ii. Masks, Cleaning & Disinfection
iii. Protocols for Symptomatic Students/Staff
iv. Visitor Log, Directional Signage, Cohorts, Hand Hygiene (sanitizing
stations)
v. Exit Times (reminders, closest door/fire exit, interior doors, classroom
density, off-site quickly, parking lot protocols) She also reminded the
parents on the call to remind the kids to exit the door closest to the
class room, same as fire-exit-thinking. There may be an individual
standing at the interior door to remind students exit at the closet door.
We are looking at the traffic flow to make the decision. She also
reminded parents the parking lot protocols; to help the traffic moves
better.
g. School Improvement Plan – the following are the school priorities.
a. Professional Learning: Digital Literacy & Assessment & Evaluation
b. Equity: Anti-Black Racism & Anti-Indigenous Racism
c. Mental Health & Well-Being: PA Day Training
h. Extra-Curricular Activities- Supervision is required
a. Virtual Clubs
i. Voluntary participation
ii. Supervision online is mandatory
b. Volunteer Hours (The expectation is modified. 2020-2021 Grads only requires
minimum 20 hours due to the pandemic. For those are not graduating, the
eligibility restriction has been waived (at principal’s discretion). Students can
do things to support family, like walking younger siblings to school etc. If
students are not really sure, they can always email the questions to the school
counselors.)
i. School Funds
a. Student Engagement Fee not being collected at this point. The money we have
will continue to support the families as needed.
b. Cost recovery basis (e.g. Math Contest)
Page 3 of 8j. School Events
a. Large scale gatherings will not be permitted
b. Parents Night (Virtual calls)– Thursday, October 29th
c. Graduation (Details to follow) – Tuesday, November 24th
k. Notification of Potential Exposure Letter
Principal Arlene Higgins-Wright explained the letter sent out to the parents the day
before. The letter was not about a confirmed case. It’s a probable case.
a. “Probable Case” – Individual(s) who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-
19 who have, in the 14 days prior to symptom onset, had close contact with a
confirmed case or have travelled outside of Canada (YRPH)
b. “Close Contact” – People who are within 2-meteres of an individual for more
than 10 minutes, who provide care to them or live in the same household;
people they have had close physical contact with, such as shaking hands or
who they have accidentally coughed, sneezed or spit on while talking to
(YRPH)
The letter was just to share that Public Health was investigating a potential case. At
that point, the understanding was the case was outside of school. The risk to others
was low. The building was open. Any information public health needed to share with
the community would come to school. If you have not directly heard from the public
health or the principal, then your child(children) is not considered a close contact.
l. Questions for Principal (‘Q’ means questions from parents, ‘A’ means answers/ unless
it’s indicated answered by, it’s answered by the Principal.):
Q: Heard there were two cases last night. Is it true?
A: At this moment, the public health only shared with one case.
Q: In other schools, they shared whether it was student vs. staff info for the possible
or confirmed case. What is the reason not shared at Bayview?
A: The letter sent out (the night before) was came out from the public health. Thus,
what I can tell is the individual has not been at the school since October 20.
Q: Can you share anything extra information after yesterday’s email?
A: Anything like the letter we shared with the families have to come from public
health. I am waiting for the information from public health in order to share with
families.
Q: Regarding PE class, my daughter has been in PE class two and half hours without
mask. I have a concern about it.
A: If you could, just email me and share the specific questions. We can have a
conversation outside this school council meeting.
Q: Do we have an estimate from now on, how soon we can get this kid confirmed
with the positive or negative.
A: Public health is working with the individual and family. Once that information
gets to the public health. They will share the information with me and provide with
Page 4 of 8the further direction. School and public health work hand in hand. The school will
take the direction from public health. If any information to follow, they will share it
with me. Then I will share it with you.
Q: Can you tell the confirmed student in which class? Arlene, would you be able to
disclosure if it's a staff member or a student.
Answered by Philip: No confirmed case, just a possible case.
A: I can’t identify the class and the individual. The class would have been impacted
has been notified by public health. Grade 9, only one cohort, 15 students (have
impacts.)
Q: How the school will manage the attendance in light of the ongoing situation of
COVID-19. For those following the adaptive model, in case they need to stay at home, will
that impact the reporting card etc.
A: It may. We do recognize that some parents/students (adaptive model) don't feel
comfortable to be in the school. The expectation is they(students) are at school. We do
not have the expectation for the teacher to create the additional work. For the students
are opting to not coming to school if they are not comfortable, in terms of the report
card & attendance report card, it will be noted they are not in school on the days they
are supposed to be there. But it's still quite possible that the students are still be able to
keep up the work. If the students are not attending the in-person class, there are 10
days out of the semester. It's 10 days out of the semester. But not to suggest everyone
stays at home.
m. Some of questions for Principal/School on the chatting window:
Q: My son is in virtual school and he wants to learn more about school clubs.
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: We do have some virtual clubs running. He is
welcome to join any that he is interested in. Please have him reach out to the teacher
supervising the club. Feel free to email me at stacey.sadacharan@yrdsb.ca to let me know
which clubs he may be interested in joining.
Q: Is it another chance to virtual interview with the teachers. As you know now, they
are fully booked for 29th October night.
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Yes, please email your child's teacher to set up a
virtual interview or phone interview.
Q: Just to confirm, is there any cohort in quarantine at this time? Meaning not
attending school.
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Yes, we do have a cohort in quarantine, which is
under the direction of York Region Public Health.
Page 5 of 8Q: When will the students register to rejoin the school in person. and would they start
in January? this is regarding virtual students?
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Students can change from the virtual to adaptive
model or vice-versa at the end of semester one. They would start in their new learning model
in semester two which starts on February 2nd.
Q: Will school board facilities / organize platform which is similar to university/
college info night?
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: The board will likely send a survey for parents to
request a change in learning model (virtual/adaptive) in the coming weeks.
Q: If COVID-19 situation becomes worse, but school still open, does student have a
chance to shift face-to-face model to online model in next semester, say Jan. 2021?
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Unfortunately, students are unable to switch to our
virtual school as we are many weeks into courses. When the board sends out the survey, you
are welcome to request virtual school for semester two. you can also contact the alpha VP to
be put on a waiting list for our virtual school for semester two.
Q: if I can ask similar question: if things get worse, would the current adaptive teaching
-learning move to virtual teaching with our own Bayview teachers instead of school board
virtual learning.
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Hello Ms. Pan, any decisions about changes to
learning models would be communicated to us by the board. This has not become an item of
discussion yet.
Q: Does school have any plan to improve the communication between classmates? how
to help them get familiar with each other faster?
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Students are welcome to communicate with one
another according to their chosen virtual platform. Unfortunately, due to our physical
distancing guidelines and safety protocols, we are not permitted to have student gatherings at
this time.
Q: Is virtual school going to be an option that is available to IB students for semester
two? @Lara is there any discussion about 2021 school year, if the Covid condition continues?
Answered by Lara Joffe: Regrettably, IB will not be available as an online option this
year. In light of Covid, the IBO regular updates schools on protocols and procedures to
support the evolving needs of schools. We will continue to work with them as needed.
Q: I hope school can cancel all face to face class, all students go to the virtual school,
only this can safe and fair, can you pass my message to government?
Suggested by Rob Chen: Hi Jessica, you may contact your ward councilor for that.
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Hello Jessica. We can understand your concerns. You
are welcome to reach out to your local MPP. Thank you, Mr. Chen, the ward councilor is
another route for communication.
Page 6 of 8Q: How can I contact alpha VP to get on the waiting list?
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Seiji Ishiguro: A-J; Bradley Clayden: K-R; Stacey
Sadacharan: S-Z (by last name). Any student has the option to get on the virtual school
waiting list for Semester 2. Please email the alpha VP directly. Thank you. email:
firstname.lastname@yrdsb.ca
Q: We found it is really hard to book university tour for students, will school have any
resources for students?
Answered by Stacey Sadacharan: Unfortunately, University/College Information
nights have been cancelled until further notice. Please have your child read the weekly
Guidance Message that is sent out every Friday for more information.
Suggested by Joanne Pan: Previous years' university and college fair open to all grades.
Answered by Principal Arlene Higgins-Wright on the phone: Suggest to contact the
student guidance contact. They have the email sent out to students every week. If you still
need help, please contact student guidance department. The head of the department is
Maureen Garito, Ms. Garito.
Teacher’s rep Lara Joffe gave some information after the 3 committees election was
completed. She mentioned that today we had one of our first lunch and learn session for grade
12 students to learn about the university admission. We had 150 students at that session. We
are going to have a second session tomorrow at lunch time. Please remind them. The links to
those sessions have been emailed to students through the guidance email that Ms. Gorito sent.
And the next week we will have a similar session. Students are getting the information as
they need, resources that universities are sharing. Please encourage kids to look at the email
sent by Ms. Gorito and the guidance team.
Philip then suggested to move on to the next agenda.
9. Executive Report
Philip mentioned the executive team met 3 weeks ago. The COVID 19 concerns had been
discussed. School has already mentioned they would work with public health together. In the
meanwhile, we will wear masks and try our best to wash our hands, etc. School executive team is
hoping that school council could be the channel that if parents have any questions/concerns.
Philip went through the report and it was confirmed by the group. Philip also mentioned that “If
any parents have any questions, they could email the school council. The school council members
are supposed to be 6-20 people. Currently we already have over 20 people. When voting, we will
only allow those voting members to vote. However, all parents are welcome to join our school
council meeting, which is usually on Tuesday.” He said the school council would like to fund the
school departments. The funding application templates had already sent to the principal, and it
was sent to the heads of departments. We will approve them at our December meeting. Philip
also introduced the purposes of the 3 committees (please see section 11.). Moved by Jennifer,
Seconded by Maggie.
10. Financial Report
- Please see section 11.d and also the attachment at the school council meeting agenda.
Page 7 of 811. Business
Philip mentioned at the beginning of the election, only school council members could be the
chair, any parents were welcome to be the member of the committees.
a. Election of Engagement Chair and Committee
i. Organizing workshops to engage parents (e.g. parents’ night.) Engagement
chair can help organizing the event. It will be discussion on the topics of the
events.
ii. Jennifer Fang mentioned that she was nominated to be the parent
representative and parent engagement advisor council of the board. She could
work together with the engagement committee.
iii. Engagement Chair (self-nominated and elected): Lida Moradkhani
iv. Members (self-nominated and elected): Arlene Amitirigala & Lei Chen
b. Election of Parent Support Group Chair and Committee
i. It’s hard to chat with 300-400 people. We had 8-9 people per group using the
different language (Mandarin, Korean, Farsi, English and others using their
mother togue.).
ii. We will train the group leaders to have a small group to support parents.
iii. Parent Support Group Chair (self-nominated and elected): Jennifer Hsieh-
Chung
iv. Members (self-nominated and elected): Patton Su, Tom Zhuang, Jian hua Li
c. Election of Fundraising Chair and Committee
i. In the past, we could raise few thousand dollars. We were very grateful to
have Ward 3 Councilor Castrol Liu helped to arrange Ward 3 BBQ event for
the last 6-7 years. He helped to raise about 7000-8000 dollars. School council
really appreciated his help. This year the BBQ was cancelled due to the
pandemic. We can ask each family to donate 10-20 dollars through school
cash online. Suggestion raised to have a tax receipt to help raising fund.
ii. Fundraising Chair (self-nominated and elected): Sharon Wang
iii. Member (self-nominated and elected): Joanna Yu & Janet Deng
d. Treasure Report & Budget Update
Maggie reviewed the Treasure and Budget report. 2019/2020 total revenue is
$10,544.12. Compared with the last year’s budget is very similar. The funding
request from school is spent $ 3,000 dollars. The total expense is about $3,922. We
have about $4,500 account payable to things like Mobile Video Switcher, Poster
Printer and Math digital stylus pens. The balance of 2019-2020 school year is about
$2,083. It has been carried over to the 2020-2021 school year. We will get $500 from
the school board funding. The proposed expense for the school council this year was
presented. This is our first official draft. We will approve when we receive funding
requests from various departments.
12. Other Business
a. Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 08 at 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
b. Shared the Group Picture
Adjourned
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