Meeting of the Board of Trustees

At the September 28, 2021 Meeting of the Board of Trustees...

Chair Petrella welcomed Aidan O’Brien as the 2021-22 Student Trustee.

Committee and Staff Reports

Updated Policies and Procedures

Trustees approved the revised Distribution of Materials Policy 400.08, revised Information and Communications Technology Use Policy 600.02 and new Records and Information Management Policy 400.13.

Student Trustee Report

Trustees received the Student Trustee Report that included:

“There was a consensus from all schools that the return to school went very smoothly.  Students said that only having two classes a day was very nice because they found that they could focus more on school and that they were also looking forward to only having two exams at a time.  There was a great deal of excitement about the return of school sports and other extra curriculars.

Our Student Senate met with Dianne Wdowczyk, Mental Health Lead, to discuss work to address mental health in our schools.  We learned that the Board had received feedback from over 1,000 students from a mental health survey. Members of the Student Senate provided feedback on how the Board could get more student input next time.  She also let us know that they are providing virtual teaching sessions to help students learn more about their mental health.  A YouTube video called ‘#HearNowOntario’ is available for all students. 

The Student Senate held a discussion about the new TikTok trend ‘Devious Lick’ where students are vandalizing and stealing items from their school.  This is a problem happening at all schools and has resulted in the closure of some washrooms at Assumption College School.

Assumption College School is participating in Orange Shirt Day every Friday in support of “Every Child Matters”.  2020-21 graduates will be returning for convocation this fall.  Finally, the annual grade 9 colour night was postponed to October. To get the grade 9 students comfortable in the school the prefects and student council members have been doing classroom visits to help get the kids engaged.

Holy Trinity is striving to make their school as inclusive as possible by creating posters and videos to further educate their student body on topics regarding Black Lives Matter and Indigenous culture.  They have also facilitated welcoming activities for the grade 9 students.

St. Johns College is looking for a way to start a peer mentoring program to help their struggling students.  Aidan O’Brien recommended to get in touch with Dean Nagler from Assumption College School who leads the prefect program for further information.  St. Johns College has hired a professional photographer for school sporting events for the yearbook because there are no fans allowed in the stands.”