The Pearson NewsFebruary 2013 FREEVolume XV, No. 7

FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL & CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Director General’sReport toCouncil

by R. T. Mills

Registration PeriodRegistration has been taking place

in our schools and at Head Offi ce for the past two weeks and, at this point, appears to be generating the number of students expected for the 2013-2014 school year. Once processing has been completed, we will have student numbers on which planning will be based.

I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate publically all school staff members for their “Open House” events and to acknowledge with thanks the extra efforts of our secretarial support staff and our Registration Offi ce during this very busy time.

Management CommitteeProfessional Development

On February 4, all members of our Management Team met in a full day workshop dealing with communication skills. Led by Bar-ry McLoughlin of McLoughlin Me-dia, an internationally recognized expert in the fi eld, all were asked to role play specifi c situations rel-evant to their assignments. The participants’ response to the day was universally and enthusiasti-cally positive.

Staff Appreciation WeekNever does a day go by without

an indication of just how accom-plished, dedicated and committed our staff members are to our mis-sion! These qualities are apparent in the staff who work our class-rooms, offi ces, hallways, playing fi elds, Music rooms, theaters, li-braries, computer and robotics lab-oratories, cafeterias, gymnasia….all are focussed on delivering to our community what is best. Although there is a special week reserved to express appreciation to them, I wish to salute them now, loudly and clearly. I encourage everyone to pause for a moment in the next day or so to refl ect on the achieve-ments of the Lester B. Pearson School Board staff and on their dai-ly contribution to our families and community. They are the best! In the words of Mother Teresa, “Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”.

CSC Winter FormalOn the evening of February 2,

our Central Students’ Committee proved once again just how ca-pable they are of organizing and carrying out a wonderful event. The evening was well attended and beautifully presented. Congratula-tions once again!

CEGEP Registration DeadlineI know that this process has been

underway for some time but wish to remind all that the CEGEP Ap-plication Deadline for the fi rst round of applications is March 1.

March BreakOur annual Spring Break takes

place this year from March 4 to 8 and hopefully will provide a re-en-ergizing time for students and staff. I wish you all a wonderful time and look forward to your return.

FINAL

Chairman’s Report

to Council

by Suanne Stein Day

Our response to Bill 14 was submitted on time to the Com-mittee on Culture and Education. Many thanks to Doug Flook, Lin-ton Garner and Rosemary Mur-phy on their contributions, and to Bob Mills and his team back-ing us up with up to date infor-mation on the excellent state of the board. We have received a lot of positive feedback on our brief and continue to be approached by the community on the topic.

Our Central Parents’ Commit-tee also went to a lot of trouble to submit a brief and for that I thank them. They have also created an online petition on the National Assembly website (https://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-3559/index.html) that, as of this after-noon, already has over 2700 sig-natures.

Central Quebec School Board have also created an online peti-tion, specifi cally objecting to the removal of the temporary ex-emption to children of the mili-tary, to be able to attend English Schools. Their petition can be seen at https://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/exprimez-votre-opinion/peti-tion/Petition-3565/index.html

We all await word of whether we will be invited to present at the hearings in March.

Also new in politics, the Direc-tor General has received offi cial word that School Board elec-tions will be held on November 2, 2014. At this point, LBPSB has been allotted 10 elected com-missioners, plus the chair, for the new council. We will continue to have Parent Commissioners – perhaps more, and LBPSB will continue to have our Student Commissioners. There may also be non-voting community rep-resentatives on council under the new model. Council will decide this evening if we ask for any derogations to the number of commissioners allotted. Most important to our community is to ensure that you are on the English community voters list. I especially encourage our young adults who have recently gradu-ated. You were probably put on the French voters’ list. Parents, if your last child has left the Eng-lish system, you may have been switched to the French voters’ list. This was supposed to not happen anymore, but you should check and ensure that you are voting for the board you wish to be voting for. There is a Voter Transfer Form on our website in the left column near the bottom. As soon as we have more infor-mation on how to verify the voter lists, we will pass that on.

Lindsay Place High School put on a Celebration of their Quan-tum project. This project put an iPad in the hands of Grade 7 students for the year. Students

by Sonia Ruivo,Assistant Centre Director,

PACC Adult Education

On February 11, Juno award-winning jazz vocalist Ranee Lee visited PACC Adult. Ms. Lee vis-ited the school as part of Black History Month Celebrations. She spoke to students about her life and her struggles as a woman,

mother, and performer. Students were riveted by Ms. Lee. She was warm, engaging and inspiring. Ms. Lee has made Montreal her home for over 35 years. She en-joys a successful career as one of Canada’s most popular jazz vocal-ists; in addition, she’s an award-winning actress, a songwriter, and a proud author of children’s books. She has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival. She’s also a highly regarded educator. She has taught at the University of Laval faculty in Quebec City for eight years, and The Schulich School of Music of McGill Uni-versity faculty for over twenty years. In 2004 and 2008 she was received the International Asso-ciation of Jazz Educators award for outstanding service to jazz education. In 2006, Ms. Lee was awarded the Order of Canada.

PACC will welcome Com-missioner Linton Garner to the school on February 27. Other ex-

citing Black History Month activi-ties include lunch time Jeopardy games and a dance competition.

by Alycia Ambroziak

A citizenship ceremony, presen-tations by the Black Theatre Work-shop and Overture with the Arts, songs, recitations, monologues and recitations are only some of the events taking place at throughout the Lester B. Pearson School Board in celebration of Black History Month.

The citizenship ceremony – with presiding judge Veronica Johnson, former teacher and assistant direc-tor of the LBPSB’s Place Cartier Adult Centre – will take place at Riverdale High School and Com-munity Learning Centre (CLC) in Pierrefonds at 1 p.m. on Feb. 28.

“We believe it’s important that we recognize and celebrate the various cultures represented here at River-dale, not only during Black History Month, but throughout the year,” said Riverdale’s vice principal, Debi Dixon.

“In our mission statement we defi ne ourselves as being a multi-cultural school dedicated to pro-moting global, intercultural un-derstanding and respect,” she said. “This is partly because our student body is made up of a wonderful ar-ray of cultures and we pride our-selves on being a school where stu-dents feel welcomed and can fi nd a sense of belonging.

“At Riverdale, there’s a place for everyone.”

Several Riverdale students will take part in the citizenship ceremo-

ny - which is taking place in con-junction with the West Island Black Community Association (WIBCA) - through songs and MC’ing. The Riverdale High School Band will play the National Anthem.

As well, Riverdale High School and CLC will host two Songs of Freedom events on Feb. 28, in partnership with its CLC partner, Overture with the Arts.

Riverdale students will go on an

educational historical voyage from slavery to the present day. Students will be performing Caribbean Dance, Songs and Spoken Word monologues alongside professional performer, Jonathan Emile, a 2011 Grammy-nominated Hip-Hop art-ist and Jamaican/Canadian who works with the Overture with the Arts group.

The matinee performance is for

23. Call 514-889-8678 or by send an e-mail to info@overturewitht-hearts.org.

Audrey Ottier, LBPSB adminis-trative offi cer and Coordinator of the Riverview and Riverdale CLC’s, said the Feb. 28 shows bring to-gether the student population and the community.

“We take great pride in our stu-dents who researched and worked

Riverdale students, while a free evening performance - co-hosted by one of Virgin Radio’s on-air per-sonalities - will be open to the pub-lic, that is everyone over 12-years-old. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., show time is 6 p.m. Following the evening show, a buffet dinner will be provided by Caribbean Tasty Treats. Admittance to the dinner is by donation only. Reservations to the dinner are a must before Feb.

diligently to educate and entertain their peers and community and celebrate our collective cultural heritage,” she said “Their own pride in themselves and their com-munity shines through and lights up the stage.”

Some of the celebrations of Black History and Culture taking place at other LBPSB schools include:

* A Black Theatre Workshop presentation of the play When El-ephant was King at Thorndale El-ementary in Pierrefonds as well as at Verdun Elementary.

* Two assemblies at Lakeside Academy in Lachine with student presentations as well as a presenta-tion by Overture with the Arts.

* African drumming workshops will take place at Wilder Penfi eld Elementary in Pierrefonds.

* A Black Theatre Company pre-sentation takes place at Westwood High School, senior campus, in St. Lazare.

* A Black History presentation, with singing, dancing and recita-tions at Greendale Elementary in Pierrefonds.

* A Youth Stars Foundation pre-sentation will take place at Spring-dale Elementary in Dollard des Ormeaux.

*A multi-media presentation discussing music as a tool for com-munication and social justice will take place at Beurling Academy in Verdun on Feb. 18. As well, some of Beurling’s students will perform dance and spoken word as part of the show.

At Orchard Elementary in Ville

A member of the Black Theatre Workshop during a presentation at Westpark Elementary in Dollard des Ormeaux.

(Left to right) Alisha Tathgur (teacher), Kara Connelly (teacher), Ranee Lee, Melissa Wallach (Special Ed. Techni-cian), Ashley Foot, (Transitions Consultant)

Ms. Lee with student Reuben Johnson

Black History Month at Lester B. Pearson Schools...

...PACC Adult’s Black History Celebrations...See BLACK HISTORY page A2

See STEIN DAY page A2

...and Orchard Elementary’s Event in Photos

A2Pearson News February 2013

To learn more about the Lester B. Pearson

School Board’s Autism Spectrum Disorders Centre of Excellence, visit:

www.lbpsb.qc.ca/eng/asdn

Strategic Direction 1Maximizing Student Success in a Culture for Learning

Strategic Direction 2Fostering and Supporting a Commitment to Professional Growth for All

Strategic Direction 3Enhancing School Collaboration and Community Partnerships

Strategic Direction 4Promoting Wellness in a Safe and Caring Community

Strategic Directions in the Pearson NewsAs you read through the Pearson News, you’ll notice that some of the articles have the numbers one through four next to them. These numbers are as-sociated with the LBPSB’s 2010-2015 Strategic Plan and its four main directions. Each month, you’ll see these numbers next to the articles found in the pages of the Pearson News and it will give you an idea of what the board’s schools and centres are doing in line with the Strategic Plan.

Stein Day, from page A1

Black History, from page A1

and teachers couldn’t have been more excited to show off their “e-learning”. They love having their math workbooks on the iPad – less weight in their backpacks and lots of apps to help them with all sorts of projects. While everyone realizes that the iPads are merely a tool and that their teachers are still guiding their learning, it’s re-ally nice to see to see the students taking ownership of their learn-ing. And the grade 6 students who visited are excited about the possibilities of learning at Lind-say Place!

CFER (centre de formation en entreprise et récuperation) River-dale has over the last few months been undergoing a very rigorous and complex qualifi cation process to get ready for the new Quebec Law on EOLE - end-of-life-elec-tronics standards allowing them to be a recommended processor and recycler for electronic equip-ment under the new provincial recycling stewardship program. An RQP, Recycling Qualifi cation Program ensures that all end-of-life-electronics are treated in an environmentally sound manner and that the health and safety of the students and staff as well as the environment is respected and safeguarded. CFER Riverdale met the accreditation standards as a private industry, they were as-sessed as any company would in the private sector, no breaks were given because we are a school. They are now rated as the only non-profi t Network amongst 3 other industry multinationals in Quebec who can call themselves a recycler of electronic products. A huge accomplishments for our CFER. Congratulations to all participants.

I’d like to thank all the princi-pals and teachers who have been inviting me to share in their re-cent school celebrations. The Lion King, The Wizard of Oz, and the celebration of Black His-tory Months that I have attended in the past few weeks have been so uplifting in this gloomy, end of winter, season. Thank you for including me in your individual communities.

Follow me on Twitter @suannesteinday

by Alycia Ambroziak

Repre sen ta t i ve s from three schools in China and the Hebei

Provincial Education Department were in Dorval last week to sign a sister school agreement with the Lester B. Pearson School Board; an agreement that will not only see Chinese students studying for a year in local high schools but will also allow LBPSB students, in both elementary and high schools, to learn Mandarin. They represented the fi rst of 23 schools in Hebei province to do so.

“We are so delighted to host the school principals and repre-sentatives from Hebei Provincial Education Department,” LBPSB chairman Suanne Stein Day said at the January 24 signing and re-ception held at the school board’s Dorval headquarters. “Their vis-it, and the signing of these three agreements for sister school re-lationships, is a refl ection of the trust that our Chinese colleagues have in our ability to teach their students in a warm, effective, cre-ative environment.”

Stein Day noted that the agree-ment will benefi t both students from China and Canada. “The value added to our classrooms by having the Chinese students and staff participate is immeasurable,” she added. “This is a win/win sit-uation that we hope will continue for many years to come.”

Robert T. Mills, LBPSB Direc-tor General, noted that this latest agreement reinforces already-es-tablished ties with China. “This new agreement has permitted us to continue to develop relation-ships with the delegates from China as well as with Consul Zhai Jianjun, of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Montreal,” he said.

A separate partnership with Tianma School in China is now in its 5th year and two Greendale teachers will be travelling there in March to assist in teacher train-ing. As well, in June of this year, ten students from Lindsay Place High will go to China for two weeks, part of an exchange pro-gram with Luoyang School.

Last week’s signing stems from an agreement forged last year

between the LBPSB and the He-bei Provincial Education depart-ment. The agreement has four major components:* The establishment of an LB-

PSB Education Centre in Hebei Province which will organize teacher training programs for Chinese teachers as well as as-sume the responsibility for se-lecting Chinese students to par-ticipate in our secondary and vocational programs.

* The operation of two new Can-ada classes beginning in Sep-tember of this year in which Chinese students will spend one year in their homeland pre-paring for study in Canada. The following year, they will come to Canada to study in an LBPSB high school alongside our local students.

* The LBPSB, with help from the Hebei Provincial Education Department, will establish a Chinese language component – called Confucius classes – in elementary and high schools. The fi rst three schools are Lind-say Place High in Pointe Claire, St. Charles Elementary in Pier-

refonds and Terry Fox Elemen-tary in Pierrefonds.

* In all, the LBPSB will choose fi ve secondary schools and fi ve elementary schools to create educational partnerships with 23 Hebei schools which will enable students, teachers pro-fessionals and administrators exchanges and visits on both sides.Carol Mastantuono, Director of

the LBPSB’s International Depart-ment, noted that while here for the signing, administrators from the Hebei Provincial Education Department toured the fi rst three schools that were chosen under the sister school agreement as well as West Island Career Cen-tre, which offers vocational in-struction. “This is the fi rst phase where three schools of each side had the chance to meet and begin to shape their new sister school agreement,” she said. “The LBPSB International Department looks forward to working with the He-bei Provincial Education Depart-ment on this exciting partner-ship.”

by Betty MacKinnon

On Friday afternoon, Febru-ary 1,2013, seventy mentoring coordinators from across the school board congregated in the Board Room at 1925 Brookdale Avenue to participate in a semi-nar entitled “Building Collabora-tive Teams: A Capacity-Building Approach.” The keynote speaker for the afternoon was highly ac-claimed educator and former McGill University Dean of Edu-

cation, Dr A. E. Ted Wall. Dr Wall’s message centered on the importance of building effective teams. In the interactive, how-to session, Dr Wall’s presentation

modeled and discussed the use of personal, partner and small-group activities that included videos, short acronym-based pre-sentations, questionnaires and a variety of discussion techniques with the overall goal of building collaborative teams. Dr Wall took the group on a personal learning journey by looking initially at Ba-sic Teams, then at Good Teams and, lastly, at Smart Teams, the

optimal goal. Digital and print materials were provided to facili-tate subsequent use by mentor-ing coordinators and colleagues in school settings. Workshop participants were challenged to look at moving towards creating Smart Teams as they carry out their work as mentoring coordi-nators in their schools. Benjamin Zander, director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, in “The Art of Possibility” encourages his readers not to think outside the box but to jump out of the box. Dr Wall encouraged his audi-ence in the Board Room at 1925 Brookdale , Dorval, QC on Fri-day, February 1st to do just that.

In the words of workshop par-ticipants:

“Dr Wall is a man of knowledge and experience. Most of all, he is a great story teller. I could have listened to his real-life stories for hours.”

Manon ViauBirchwood Elementary School

“Mr Wall shared experiences made me refl ect on what I can do better, how I can do better and that I need to do better. Thank

you for the inspiration.”Hanna EngelPierrefonds Comprehensive High School

Dr. Ted Wall presented an en-gaging Mentoring Matters’ Semi-nar on team building on Febru-ary 1, 2013 to LBPSB Mentoring Coordinators board-wide. He provided participants with an overview of how to improve the quality of the teams we belong to in our schools. We were able, in small group discussions, to ana-lyze the value of building teams in a school setting and to see what impact we might have on those teams. Dr. Wall’s heart-felt presentation, based on years of experience in diverse settings with educators from around the world, was inspiring. Seminar participants appreciated having time to refl ect on our responsi-bility to contribute to the smooth running of our schools.

Mary CullinanMentoring CoordinatorDorval Elementary School

What a productive way to

spend an afternoon!

Ted Wall has a wealth of expe-rience and knowledge to share. It was great to learn how to build effective teams in our school communities.

Jennifer HaydenMentoring CoordinatorVerdun Elementary School

We thoroughly enjoyed the many gold nuggets Ted Wall of-fered us. There was much so much to chew on, think about and plan for. It was a good thing that we had many representatives form Dorset so that we could keep in mind that perhaps we need to take baby steps.

We felt though that we could easily present these gold nuggets to our staff and incorporate some-thing into a mentoring activity. We used Dr. Wall’s guiding prin-ciples in one of our meetings on February 8, 2013, just one week after the seminar!

Christiane LaframboiseMentoring CoordinatorDorset Elementary School

Dr. A. E. Ted Wall Visits LBPSB – Mentoring Matters

LaSalle, the theme is Hands Across the World as students learn about the infl uence of African stories, inventions, art, food and music. Students will also learn how to develop an understanding of their own history and how to commu-nicate it to others. A mural on the gym wall, with the theme What is Meaningful to Me, is being painted by grades 3 to 6 students. A gospel choir will visit the school on Feb. 21. On Feb. 26, there is a special school assembly for students and on Feb. 28, workshops with poet and trumpeter Jason Selman.

Westpark Elementary in Dollard des Ormeaux has already enjoyed a presentation from the Black The-atre Workshop and a grade 6 cul-tural exchange project in March with Orchard Elementary in Ville LaSalle is in the works.

“The purpose of the visit is for our students to learn about Black History month and for Orchard students to learn about the Holo-caust,” said Westpark Principal Maria De Wolfe. “I am very happy to be part of this exchange that will bridge two very different worlds.”

Riverdale High School is also preparing for anti-racism week with a Unity Wall and an assembly and show on March 21. Students from Leave Out Violence (LOVE) will perform a skit with an anti-racism theme and help coordinate activities. Other activities that week include a presentation by a spoken word artist as well as a contest for students who created their own anti-racism messages in the fi elds of performance, writing and visual arts.

The students’ works could then be incorporated into a digital book as a written statement and artistic legacy to Riverdale’s commitment to eliminating racism.

LBPSB Signs Agreement With Three Schools in China and the Hebei Provincial Education Department

Pearson NewsA3February 2013

Below is a list of Commissioners along with their home telephone numbers and school board locals.

Home 422-3000 Ward Communities Commissioner Phone # Local 1 Verdun/Nuns’ Island Douglas Flook 514-293-2417 4001 2 LaSalle South Sergio Borja 514-366-1611 4002 3 LaSalle Northeast Ruben Fazio 514-365-1638 4003 4 LaSalle West/Ville St-Pierre Frank di Bello 514-951-5834 4004 5 Lachine Patrick Whitham 514-800-9240 4005 6 Dorval Barbara Freeston 514-636-9315 4006 7 Dollard-des-Ormeaux East Rosemary Murphy 514-620-8012 4007 8 Roxboro/Pierrefonds East Craig Berger 514-421-6570 4008 9 Pointe-Claire East Linton Garner 514-696-7892 4009 10 Pointe-Claire West Marc Lalonde 514-426-7124 4010 11 Dollard-des-Ormeaux Center Ruth Dangoor Gdalevitch 514-906-7320 4011 12 Pierrefonds/Île Bizard Susan Williams 514-620-4745 4012 13 Dollard-des-Ormeaux Center/West Martin Sherman 514-684-2742 4013 14 Dollard-des-Ormeaux W./Kirkland E. Joe Zemanovich 514-624-2376 4014 15 Beaconsfi eld North Don Rae 514-697-9878 4015 16 Kirkland West Suanne Stein Day 514-887-8876 2322 17 Pierrefonds West Luisa Bulgarelli-Vero 514-694-0475 4017 18 Ste-Anne/Baie d’Urfé/Beaconsfl d S./Senneville Judy Kelley 514-697-7619 4018 19 Île Perrot Susan Bartlett-Lewis 514-453-6650 4019 20 Les Cèdres/Vaudreuil-Dorion Angela Nolet 514-453-5462 2299 21 Hudson/St-Lazare Daniel Olivenstein 450-458-1413 4021 CPC Secondary Representative Nan Beaton 514-713-3892 4026 CPC Elementary Representative Domenico Pavone 514-566-8869 4027

Executive Committee March 14, 2013 5:30 p.m. Board Room Council of Commissioners March 18, 2013 7:30 p.m. Board Room

Do you have an article to submit for

the Pearson News?Please send your articles and pictures to

your Principal who will forward them to us. Questions or comments? Email Dan Mullins at dmullins@lbpsb.qc.ca

by Alycia Ambroziak

Students attending the Riverdale High School CFER program have a lot to be proud of; not only have they stuck to their studies, they have gained experi-ence in a real revenue-generating recycling busi-ness.

And now they have achieved ac-creditation by the Quebec government as green recy-clers.

“ A f t e r months of ar-duous work and prepara-tion, the CFER Riverdale has successful ly completed the evaluation for the Recycling Qualification P r o g r a m , ” said Antoi-nette Scarano, work-place-ment Coordi-nator in the Educat ional Services de-partment of the Lester B. Pearson School Board.

“We are very proud of our staff and students,” she said of River-dale’s CFER (Centre de Formation en Entreprise et Récuperation, a work-placement program aimed at students who, for many rea-sons, were not succeeding in the traditional education stream.

Students who complete the three-year CFER program receive a Ministry of Education certifi cate attesting that they have worked in a recycling facility. At that point, some students decide to enter the workforce while others choose to further their education by ei-ther going to adult education to achieve a grade 10 or 11 certifi cate or going to vocational school.

Of the 21 CFER programs across

the province, the Riverdale CFER program, which was established in 2007, is the only one offered at an English school.

The Quebec government Recy-cling Qualifi cation Program (RQP) certifi cation is important because it defi nes the minimum require-ments for end-of-life-electronics

(EOLE) processors and recyclers to be considered for use under the provincial electronics recycling stewardship program.

An RQP certifi cation ensures that EOLE products are managed in an environmentally sound man-ner that safeguards worker health and safety as well as the environ-ment from the point of primary processing to fi nal disposition.

Scarano noted that CFER River-dale met the accreditation stan-dards as a private industry.

“They were assessed as any company would be in the private sector – no breaks were given be-cause we are a school,” she said. “We are now rated as part of our CFER Network as the only non-profi t network among three other industry multinationals in Quebec who can call themselves a recycler of electronic products.”

Students at Riverdale’s CFER Program divide their time between classes and dismantling IT prod-ucts such as computers, monitors and even cash registers, which are shipped in regularly from such stores as Bureau en Gros and the SAQ.

Instead of having these by-prod-ucts placed in landfi lls, they are sold as recycled materials – and that generates modest revenues for CFER Riverdale which is a non-profi t organization.

Those revenues are used to help the local community. For exam-ple, CFER students regularly visit local elementary schools, seniors’ residences and municipalities with a message of community and eco-responsibility.

“The environmental lessons be-ing learned are real and valuable to the students and important to our environment,” said Mark Hanna, president of the Board for

CFER Riverdale.Students say Riverdale CFER

has been critical in changing their lives.

“When I fi rst came to Riverdale CFER I was a mess - I would lie and steal and I was insecure and believed there was nothing I could accomplish,” said one student who did not want his name published.

“I thought I was an idiot because I could not handle regular high school,” he said. “CFER helped me be the person I am now because I am self-confi dent - I have learned a lot about life and the different paths there are in achieving my goals.”

“I am very proud to be in CFER,” added the student who plans to fi nish high school and then work for a trucking company while tak-ing a business course. His ultimate goal is to start his own trucking company.”

Other students also had a lot of praise for the Riverdale CFER pro-gram.

“Before this program I was not going anywhere - I failed every grade from 7 to 9,”said one stu-dent. “I was an outcast for a while … but then came to CFER where there are many benefi ts such as giving you training in what you want to do later in life.”

Another student said Riverdale CFER has helped him in many ways.

“Riverdale CFER is one of the best schools I’ve ever been to,” said the student. “I used to get upset and hit things and get sus-pended… but last summer, I got a job in the school because my be-haviour was excellent .

“The summer job made me feel very honoured,” he added. “River-dale CFER is amazing.”

by Alycia Ambroziak

“ M y kids are so proud

of me.” – that’s what Tina Grant said Wednesday (Feb. 6) as she and 20 other Lester B. Person School Board employees received Attestation d’etudes profession-neles (AEP) certifi cates for in-school daycare educators.

Grant was in the fi rst group of Lester B. Pearson School Board employees to receive an AEP – a certifi cate which all in-school daycare educators will be re-quired to have by 2014.

The AEP is designed to provide training for some jobs which pre-viously required no specifi c train-ing, such as the before and after school daycare programs.

Robert T. Mills, director general at the LBPSB, addressed the group

which had gathered at the school board’s Dorval headquarters for their graduation ceremony.

“What you have learned will benefi t you and it will benefi t our students,” he said. “It’s a win-win situation.”

In Grant’s case, the Pierrefonds resident works as a lunch-time supervisor at St. Charles Elemen-tary but looks forward to becom-ing an in-school educator.

Her new certifi cation allows her to become a daycare educator for students aged 4 to 12 years.

“I will apply to work as a before or after school educator,” said Grant adding that her daughters – one is a student at Concordia, the other is a student at the LB-PSB’s Pearson School of Culinary Arts – were very supportive dur-ing her studies.

“The roles were reversed – I’d

come home and they’d remind me to do my homework,” Grant said with a laugh.

The program, which began in November, 2011, requires 390 hours of training and can be com-pleted on a full or part-time basis. Competencies included the safety and well-being of children, activi-ties focusing on social, emotional and moral development as well as psychomotor and cognitive development as well as activities related to meals and snacks.

Teacher Rena Walters said her fi rst group of LBPSB students were a determined group.

“They continued with their jobs at our schools while taking this year-long course – they were real groundbreakers,” she said, add-ing that she is looking forward to the next session of classes which begins later this month.

Chris Gelinas, a student in the Riverdale High School CFER program, hard at work disman-tling IT equipment. Riverdale CFER, a work-placement program, has just received Quebec government accreditation as a green recycler.

by Alycia Ambroziak

A 20-meter long cloth

banner, gallons of red paint and rollers – that’s what students and staff at Beaconsfi eld High School used during the Paint Your Hand to Take a Stand campaign to pro-test the practice of using children

as soldiers in at least 14 countries around the world.

The campaign took place at the school from Feb. 4 to 7.

The banner was on display un-til Feb. 12 – the date that Red Hand Day is celebrated world-wide - when the mayors from Beaconsfi eld and Baie d’Urfé came to the school to sign letters written by students to embassies whose countries have not yet rati-fi ed the United Nation’s optional protocol which prohibits the use of children in armed confl ict.

An estimated 300,000 children – some of whom are forcibly re-cruited - are engaged in armed confl icts world-wide, according to the Unicef website; Unicef is one of a number of international organizations that actively cam-paign against the use of children as soldiers .

Some child soldiers are as young as 10-years-old.

Copies of the letters from stu-dents at Beaconsfi eld High, along with banner, will be sent to the

United Nations on Red Hand Day. In 2002, then UN Secretary Gen-eral Kofi Annan pledged that the entire UN system would work with the Red Hand Day campaign to stamp out such abuse.

The goal is for every country in the world to ratify the optional protocol by the end of this year – a goal that will likely not be

reached considering the number of countries, including Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that still use child sol-diers.

But that should not stop people from trying, according to BHS Social Sciences teacher Sandra Reynard, who led the school in participating in its fi rst Red Hand Day Campaign.

“I am committed to exposing our students to the global impact of collective action ,” she said. “If the evil of a few can affect the many, then the humanitarian ef-forts by our 1,200 students can affect the world.”

And for student Mia Stankovic, the Paint Your Hand to Take a Stand campaign at the school is a step in righting an injustice.

“If we bring awareness to this global injustice, we the few, can help the many who suffer,” she said. “For the sake of those who have lost their childhood as a re-sult of this issue, it can no longer be ignored.”

Student Success, Certifi cation at Riverdale CFER

History Teacher Sandra Reynard (in red) with her Secondary 4 Ethics students who organized the Paint Your Hand to Take a Stand event at Beaconsfi eld High School.

www.pearsonskills.com

Excellence in Vocational Training and Adult EducationVisit our website:

Left to right: Gloria Keenan, Lester B. Pearson School Board director of adult education and vocational training, Johanne Levac, manager of daycare services at the LBPSB; AEP graduate Tina Grant, LBPSB Commissioners Don Rae and Rosemary Murphy.

AEP Graduation Ceremony at LBPSB

Red-Handed at BHS

A4Pearson News February 2013

Do you

have an article to submit to the Pearson

News?Please send your articles and pictures to your Principal who will forward them to us.

Questions or comments? Email Dan Mullins at dmullins@lbpsb.qc.ca

By Michael Rabinovitch & Nathia Messina

The Lester B. Pear-son School Board ’s fi rst-ever Ju-nior Leadership Day saw grades 5 and 6 students from 20 schools across the board taking part in workshops aimed at teaching them skills that will last a lifetime.

“Students had a full day of work-shop sessions ranging from digital citizenship to how to get involved in high school life,” said Nathia Messina, principal at St. Edmund Elementary in Beaconsfi eld where

the Feb. 8 event took place. Students from fi ve LBPSB high

schools were on hand to help make the day a success.

Students from Pierrefonds Com-prehensive high school ran four different break-out sessions, cre-ated a video of the event and also helped behind the scenes to orga-nize the day. As well, leadership students from John Rennie, River-dale, Beaconsfi eld and Macdonald High Schools animated their own break-out sessions.

Messina said the idea for hold-ing a leadership day at the elemen-tary school level came from fellow principal Michael Rabinovitch of Beechwood Elementary in Pierre-fonds.

“Michael’s vision was to start introducing positive leadership at the elementary level and focus on developing skills such as com-munication, teamwork and lead-ership and how these skills are impacted by the technologies our students now use in their daily in-teractions,” said Messina.

“We thought it was a great idea and decided to go ahead with a pilot project this year,” she said, adding that the next Junior Lead-ership Day will be held at Beech-wood next year.

Rabinovitch said the event is a team affair that was inspired by the Canadian Student Leadership Conference which is geared to se-nior high school students.

“We thought that many of these kinds of workshop skills could be adapted towards elementary-age students,” he said adding that or-ganizers at fi rst thought that this year’s project would be on a small scale, involving maybe four or fi ve schools, but the response was overwhelming, with 20 schools wanting to take part.

“The goal is to bring all of our elementary leaders together and to give them the chance to meet and share their leadership expe-riences,” said Rabinovitch. “We hope the leadership skills they learn here will continue on to high school and ground them as they grow into our positive leaders of tomorrow.”

M e m -bers of the Rio

Tinto Alcan cycling team – who raised more than $7,000 for Edge-water School in Pincourt as a part of the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie – recently presented the cheque to Principal Liz Rivard (far right) and phys. Ed teacher Tina Taschereau (middle). The Défi Pierre Lavoie began in 1999 as a one-man fund-

raising project in the Saguenay re-gion after two of Lavoie’s children died of lactic acidosis. It was re-named the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie when the annual cycling event was extended throughout the province in order to encourage elementary school children to adopt healthy life habits. Rivard said the money given to Edgewater Elementary will be used to purchase physical-edu-cation equipment.

Red en-velopes, a slide pre-sentation,

and stories about China – and it all culminated in the construction of a large handmade paper dragon that was paraded Tuesday (Feb. 19) by kindergarten students through the halls of Mount Pleasant Elementary

in Hudson, much to the delight of students and staff. Kindergarten teachers Johanne Lacelle-Lavallée and Pascale Jauffroy, along with Spiritual Animator Jason Cordery, continued an annual tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year with their students. Chinese New Year offi cially ends on February 25th, the next full moon.

by Sonia Ruivo,Assistant Centre Director,

PACC Adult Education

PACC Adult students had a fun-fi lled week celebrating school perseverance. Students were given the green and white ribbons which commemorate school perseverance. The gym was the centre of the action. Stu-dents enjoyed lunchtime yoga, salsa dancing, soccer, and a tug

of war competition with teachers and staff. They were also treated to some goodies: hot chocolate, Val-entine Day candies and Jamaican patties. There was a Family Feud game, which students really en-joyed. Samantha Bourdeau, PACC 2007 valedictorian, spoke to stu-dents about her school experienc-es. Samantha is headed to univer-sity in the fall. Students were also treated to a special presentation by McGill University student teach-ers who presented some innovat-ing teaching methods.

Mount Pleasant Elementa-

ry School students Jack Simpson, Nathalie Horvath-Abbott and Lukas Heward with some of the Valentine cards they made. Their cards, along with others made by students at the Hudson school, will be given to patients at the Lakeshore General Hospital on Feb. 14. For the past 15 years, Mount Pleasant Elementary stu-dents have provided the Women’s Auxiliary at the Lakeshore Hospi-tal with 250 cards and crafts for Valentine’s Day. The cards and crafts are placed on all the dinner trays for patients to enjoy.

by Alycia Ambroziak

By day, Andrew Walsh is

a data processing technician for the adult vocational sector of the Lester B. Pearson School Board – but on evenings and weekends, the 28-year-old spends much of his time volunteering with the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment of Canada and his com-munity church.

And it was for that volunteer work that Walsh was recently awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal at a special ceremony presided over by Quebec Lieutenant Governor Pierre Duchesne.

“I knew I had been nominated by both my church and regiment but I wasn’t actually expecting to get the award,” said Walsh who plays the bagpipes with the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment.

“It was a very nice surprise.”Walsh’s father, Allan, who

works as a Technical Support Manager at the school board, said he was impressed with the cali-ber of Jubilee Medal recipients at

the Feb. 17 ceremony which took place at McGill University.

“I was so proud to see the com-pany that he was keeping,” Walsh Sr. said adding that among the recipients were noted doctors, re-searchers and authors.

Indeed, Walsh is one of 60,000 Canadians who will have been awarded the honour over the past year in recognition for their contributions to Canada. The Diamond Jubilee Medal program,

marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, will close on Feb. 28 of this year.

Walsh said he really didn’t know much about the bagpipes when he joined the Cadet Corps of the Black Watch.

“But then I was exposed to the music of the pipe band,” he said adding that he had already made his way to Quartermaster of the Cadet Corps when he began tak-

ing bagpipe lessons. It took about six months of les-

sons and a lot of playing to be-come Pipe Sergeant of the Cadet Corps. Then, at age 16, he volun-teered with the Black Watch Reg-imental Band, where he has been ever since.

Walsh, who gives free bagpipe lessons to many young cadets, noted that as a volunteer with the Black Watch, he must go through the same rigorous training as en-listed soldiers.

“The difference between volun-teers and enlisted soldiers is that we’re not called upon for active duty and we don’t get paid,” he said. “But we do go through the same physical training.”

Walsh also does a lot of vol-unteer work, including playing the bagpipes, at the Resurrection of Our Lord parish in Lachine, where he is the caretaker.

“Like a lot of pipers, I have a ci-vilian tartan when I play outside the regiment,” Walsh said noting that a lot of the volunteer work he does at the church involves banquets and fundraisers as well repair work.

“I’m very happy to do it,” he added.

LBPSB Employee and Piper Andrew Walsh Receives Diamond Jubilee Award

Quebec Lieutenant Governor Pierre Duchesne and Andrew Walsh at the Feb. 17 ceremony awarding of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Junior Leadership Day Pilot Project Proves Popular

Rio Tinto Alcan Raises $7,000 for Edgewater

Chinese New Year at Mount Pleasant

PACC Adult: Hooked on Schools

Mount Pleasant Valentines for Lakeshore Hospital Patients

Pearson NewsA5February 2013

by Chrystal Henderson, Beurling Academy

O n F e b r u -ary 11, 2013 on an icy,

rainy night approximately 500 parents came together at the Sheraton Laval to see Barbara Coloroso work her magic. Other boards located off the island watched the workshop online. Earlier in the day she had a workshop for teachers at the same location. This was the fi rst workshop for parents hosted by the Leadership Committee for English Education in Quebec (LEECQ).

The workshop was entitled Par-enting with Wit and Wisdom. Barbara began by telling us we need to teach our children to think. She then went on to tell us we have not been doing that. We tell them to think for themselves and then we do all the thinking for them. Did you remember your gym clothes? Did you re-member your report? If you do all the thinking for your children now someone else will do the thinking for them later.

We have to be careful that we don’t raise children that are hat-ing, hoarding, and harming. These behaviours hoarding and harming cause hurt, but they are not necessarily acts of cruelty or evil in and of themselves, they can rip apart the fabric of human re-lationships. Harm—the betrayal of trust. When a trust is betrayed, the ties that bind us together are tattered and severed. Hoarding is about me, mine, and more—to the detriment of us, ours, and enough. Hate is not the opposite of deep caring; it is the absence of deep caring. It can appear in different forms—as contempt, bigotry, degradation, exclusion, revenge, or bullying.

Barbara told us there are three types of parents; Brick Wall, Jel-lyfi sh or Backbone. The jellyfi sh parent will see that the child has left the gym clothes at the house and rush over and beat the bus to the school before the child even knows they have forgotten them. The backbone parent will tell them “I know you can handle it” and allow them to fi x the situ-ation. The brick wall parent is an authoritarian. The the structure of the family is rigid the parent has all control and power, the punishment is humiliation.

Barbara mentioned that we scream at children as if you have reverse. The action cannot be undone so now you have to fi x it. She told us about an incident with her daughter. Barbara had made a cake for her mother’s birthday. The cake and icing took two hours to prepare. Her daughter picked up the cake to show it to her friend. The cake

went one way and the platter went the other. The new reality is the cake is on the fl oor. You have to live with the new reality and accept it and solve the prob-lem. There were a few ways the problem could be solved. Go to the party without a cake, stop and the store and buy the cake. The best solution was to allow the daughter to fi x the problem her-self. There was a ton on icing on the cake. They picked the cake up off the fl oor, removed the ic-ing and did the icing over. The problem was fi xed.

Barbara told us we need to stop giving mini-lectures. An exam-ple was when a child leaves the house without the proper cloth-ing. When they come back and say they are cold we go into a lec-ture. I told you, you needed to wear warmer clothes, now you’re going to be sick.

Confl ict is inevitable, violence is not. Teach children to take a time out. When they are calm they will be able to handle the situation. Taking a time out is an adult method and they will be able to use that skill when they are older. When you have had your own time out and you real-ize you made a mistake about a decision go back and tell them. A time out is having the opportu-nity to calm down and plan how to fi x it.

There is a difference between discipline and punishment. Pun-ishment is adult oriented, impos-es power and arouses anger and resentment. Discipline in not judgemental, arbitrary, confusion or coercive. When we discipline children we show them what they have done, give them ownership and let them solve the problem. If possible they should help the person they hurt. We leave them with their dignity intact. We have to use the Three R’s- restitution, resolution and reconciliation we have to practice RSVP- for conse-quences. Consequences need to be reasonable, simple, valuable and practical.

Barbara told us there are six critical life messages: I believe in you, I trust you, I know you can handle it, You are listened to, You are cared for, and You are very important to me.

Everyone needs help some-times. When she left the car on with her keys in the car and the door locked she called her hus-band. He said he would be right over. This is not the time to tell the person “I know you can han-dle it.” Sometimes you need to run over and help

To be a better parent or person you need to take a ½ hour per day in quiet contemplation. It will give you energy for the day that you need to develop a back-bone.

Thank you to the LEECQ. This was the fi rst workshop for par-ents hosted by the LEECQ. We hope it will be the fi rst of many. We are so happy you thought of us.

T h e windows in the li-

brary at Birchwood Elementary are clear glass right now.

But within a few weeks, they will be transformed into a blaze of co-lour as fi ve large panels of stained glass designed and painted by stu-dents will be put into place.

Called A World of Coloured Glass – Our Life at Birchwood, the panels are all themed to show stu-dent life at the St. Lazare school, which students and staff moved into in December, 2011.

Each 3 by 8-foot panel has been drawn and designed by students who have been working since early January with art teacher Erin Wainwright and a group of volun-teer parents as well as with artist Nicole Tremblay – and the draw-

ings and colours are as vibrant as the students and their teacher.

“Every Birchwood student from Grade 1 to 6 has worked on this project,” said Principal Coleen Turner, who came up with the idea for the stained glass windows when she fi rst saw the space in the mezzanine area of the school. “The windows were just a wide open space crying out for colour.”

And colour they will have.At fi rst glance, it’s the vibrant co-

lours of the panels that are striking but a closer look shows the creativ-ity of the student drawings. One panel depicts the beginning of the school day, with students arriving at the school and a bright yellow school bus; another panel has a musical/arts theme with instru-ments, dancers and singers - and a globe to show how music and the

arts bring people together. Anoth-er panel shows a teacher at a smart board, a skeleton, computers and, at the bottom, the cafeteria – all things crucial in a student’s day.

The library panel, which will be placed in the centre of the library windows, shows students and the librarian and of course, a lot of books. And the fi nal panel deals with sports, all kinds of sports, from a hockey goalie, to badmin-ton to every kind of sports ball ever made.

For Grade 6 student Chloe Viel, the project has brought out more than just a stained glass panel.

“It ‘s cool to share the work and cooperate, - no one person did it all,” she said of the stained glass panels, which also include lower panels of children reading. “We all shared to make this big project

come together.” Some of the other students work-

ing alongside her were just as en-thusiastic.

“This was interesting and creative – and it was fun to work on such a big project instead of painting on small paper,” said Ian Hamilton as he and fellow students Daniel Gal, Ryan Kim and Amy Daoust applied some fi nishing touches to the pan-els.

In fact, Turner noted that the stained glass won’t be the fi rst big project taken on by students at the school; a year ago in February and March, all students, including kindergartners, created a colourful mural depicting the four seasons at the school, with the help of artist Marcio Melo.

“Birchwood belongs to us all,” she said.

By Ingrid Farkas

J a n u -ary was a very ex-

citing month in Grade 6 at Ev-ergreen. Through an innovative programme offered by the Lester B Pearson school board, students were given the opportunity to design, build and program their very own robots.

After attending a workshop in the Fall, Grade 6 French teach-ers Nicole Bastet and Marie-Eve Frenette thought it would be a brilliant idea to introduce their students to the technology of computer controlled robots in a truly hands on way. They sub-mitted a request to reserve one of a limited number of robotics kits

and anxiously awaited their turn. Their patience was rewarded in January when Sophie Lussier, a Math and Science consultant for the school board, brought the kits to Evergreen and gave an introduction to robotics to help kick-off the month-long unit.

To begin, students were given the task of creating their own ro-bot that they could control via software on a laptop. They had to use mathematical, artistic, build-ing, written and programming skills. A challenging task – no doubt - but working in groups of three ensured success through collaboration. Each student was able to contribute based on their individual strengths. Once the robots were operational, the next

challenge was to program them to navigate an obstacle course. The fi nal task was for students to create their own challenges... some groups had their robots circling the library!

Both teachers were thrilled with the results and quickly saw that this cross-curricular activity appealed to all students.

“Everybody was really en-gaged.” said Mme. Bastet.

It was apparent that the kids were quite tech-savvy and re-quired very little direction from their teachers. Students worked independently and were given the chance to think outside the box. They could move around the classroom freely and express their ideas in a truly creative

manner. It was an ideal way for students to develop their already growing appreciation and un-derstanding of technology in to-day’s world.

The project was such a suc-cess that it prompted Evergreen to apply for a grant in order to obtain their own robotics kit. Mme. Bastet was happy to report that they received the grant and as of next year will have their own kit to use in all grades.

The world we live in is rapidly advancing and it is important for our students to keep pace with developments in technology. Evergreen takes great pride in initiatives such as these which aid in fostering this modern need.

Evergreen Asks: What Can You Learn From a Robot? Barbara Coloroso’s Workshop Draws a Crowd

Students Design Stained Glass Windows at Birchwood

iii itititiiitttt

A6Pearson News February 2013

What are the Sec.3 and 4 Visual Art students at Pierrefonds Com-prehensive High up to?

A trip to the Montreal Museum of fi ne Arts is always a mind ex-panding experience. In Decem-ber the Sec. 4 P.C.H.S. Visual Art students visited the Impression-ist Exhibition and participated in a corresponding workshop. The Docents complimented our students on their impeccable at-tentiveness and thoughtful ques-tions. This group of students are now creating their own Im-

pressionist artworks showing a real understanding of this impor-tant art movement. In February, the Sec.3 students will visit the Peru Exhibition, which will be the jumping off point to their ad-venture through Aboriginal art.

By the end of these units, these students will have researched the topic, applied their knowledge on their own artwork, evaluated it and fi nally refl ected on the whole experience.

Two Impressionist style images created by our students.

What are the Sec.2 students up to?

Black history Month takes place in February. Sec. 2 students were

introduced to the worldwide Vi-sual Art contributions of the Black Community, both historically and of today. After researching, the students formed groups of com-mon interests. They are now in the midst of creating storyboards which explain their chosen pieces and creating art work which is based on their favorites. They re-searched, are applying the learned knowledge, will evaluate and then refl ect on their experiences. Class presentations of their work are planned for the fi rst week of Feb-ruary. See images on page below.

Pyzankas, those lovely deco-rated eggs, are the March cultural project for Sec.2

15 Minutes of Fun!Fifteen Minutes of Fun was the

theme of Family Literacy Day at Riverdale High School and Com-munity Learning Centre (CLC) in Pierrefonds on Feb. 2 – an event which drew in more than 150 par-ents and children.

Families at the event, sponsored

by Literacy Unlimited, were invited to visit activity stations – manned by volunteers, including students from Riverdale High School - where they did puzzles, crafts and games.

Each participant received a “Pass-port to 15 Minutes of Fun” and col-lected stamps to be traded in for gently used books, donated by Born To Read.

Literacy Unlimited, a partner in the Riverdale CLC, joined with two

other CLC partners, Brookwood Basketball and Born to Read, to make the Family Literacy Day event a success.

Parents also received a handout reminding them that engaging in fun literacy activities as a family is benefi cial to children and also helps keep parents’ skills sharp. For more suggestions on how to encourage family literacy go to www.Family-LiteracyDay.ca

by Mme Pressoir,Grade 3 Teacher,

Beechwood Elementary

Wanda Bedard, founder of the 60 million girls Foundation, left for Sierra Leone on February 7th, 2013. She, along with three other members of the foundation, vis-ited the Koinadugu region where the foundation is supporting a two-year project with its partner, CAUSE Canada.

They had the opportunity to visit a few of the 15 schools and meet many of the students and teachers. They were able to wit-ness, fi rsthand, how this particu-lar project can transform the lives of individual girls and their entire communities.

Wanda brought books and soccer balls for the children, as well as letters from Beechwood Elementary! The grade three stu-dents, with Ms. Kayleigh’s help, wrote letters to the students of Sierra Leone describing what our winter is like. The students of Si-erra Leone were thrilled to receive letters from Canada! And, as the temperature in Sierra Leone is about 30°C in February, the chil-dren’s description of our winter was quite a contrast to theirs!

The Visual Arts at PCHS Connecting Students Across the Globe

FAMILY LITERACY DAY at Riverdale High School and CLC

See what’s going on at the Centre of Excellence here:

http://cemh.lbpsb.qc.ca/index.htm