Author: fraymond
Free Zoom Webinar for Parents, Guardians & School Staff: Tuesday, November 10, from 7 to 9 PM, online through Zoom
With special guests, Erica Tomkinson and Kelly Connolly, the Drug Awareness Resource Team (DART) of the Western Québec School Board (WQSB)
Join us for a chat with Erica and Kelly, who will share information on the role of the DART Team within the WQSB community, provide an overview of Cannabis 101 and the developing brain, and highlight strategies to help us talk to our kids about substances and substance use.
To register for this Zoom Webinar and for help connecting online, please contact us at 819-557-0615 or info@centreconnexions.org.
This webinar is offered by the Connexions Resources Centre, with the support the Western Québec’s D.A.R.T team, the Western Québec School Board, Health Canada and the Community Health and Social Services Network.
Dear Families,
I hope you are all doing well.
Here are a few updates:
COVID-19
- We currently have ZERO active Covid-19 cases in our school
Student Absences
- If your child is absent from school, please remember to notify our attendance secretary Ms. Jessica Pilon by email at jpilon@wqsb.qc.ca or by phone at 819-684-7474 ext. 437010
- It is very important to understand, that only students who have received a medical exemption or who have been told by Public Health that they must self-isolate will have access to guided/structured distance learning
- If your child is staying home for another reason, they can follow along independently by accessing the online resources provided by teachers but they will not receive guided instruction or support
- Students are not allowed to complete evaluations from home
Extra-Curricular Activities
- The WQSB has taken a firm position on Extra-curricular activities and Athletics
- We will not be offering these things at this time
- This decision was made by the WQSB for the health and safety of our students and staff
- We have been told that this decision will be re-evaluated in January
Governing Board
- Thank you to all the parents who participated in our recent Annual General Assembly where our2020-2021 Governing Board was formed
- Our first meeting will be held at the beginning of October
Resource Support
- On Monday September 28th our resource room will officially open
- We have created a plan to safely deliver academic support for our students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)
- Students can access the resource room if they have a current IEP and if the teacher has determined that the student would benefit from individualized support
- Students accessing the resource room will be socially distanced (1m) from other students and will be required to wear masks at all times
- Once the resource teacher has provided support, the student will return to their regular classroom
- The resource room will be open every day
MS Teams
- Our mission is to foster a safe, caring, and respectful community in which everyone learns and achieves individual success.
- Some students have started using the ‘chat’ feature on MS Teams to communicate with classmates
- While we encourage collaboration and academic discussions, it is important for our students to understand that a school-based platform should not be used for social purposes
- We will continue to educate our students about this topic Please discuss this with your child and share our message
Photo Day
- Remember that our school photo day is Tuesday September 29th
- Retakes will be on October 20th
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend – the weather looks amazing.
Take care and stay well.
Tara Laine, Principal
Symmes Junior High School/D’Arcy McGee High School
819-684-7472 x 437001
Our mission is to foster a safe, caring, and respectful community in which everyone learns and achieves individual success.
Dear Families,
I hope you are all doing well.
Here are a few important updates:
COVID Cases
- We currently have ONE active case of COVID-19 in our student population
- The student has been self-isolating and following all of the directives of Public Health since September 12th
- We have followed all of the directives given to us by Public Health and we have a group of students self-isolating as a precautionary measure
- We have been reassured by Public Health that our school is considered SAFE and LOW-RISK
Distance Learning
- Please know that only students who are required by Public Health to self-isolate, or those that are medically exempt have access to guided/structured distance learning
- Students who are absent for other reasons can access teacher websites/platforms but are responsible for completing the work independently
Annual General Assembly
- Reminder that our joint Annual General Assembly will take place virtually next Wednesday at 6:30pm
- You must RSVP with your full name, the name of your child and your child’s grade in order to receive a link to the meeting
- For Symmes parents, RSVP to: symmesaga@gmail.com
- For D’Arcy parents, RSVP to: darcyaga@gmail.com
Virtual Meet-the-Teacher
- In lieu of an in person ‘meet-the-teacher’ night, you can expect to be contacted by your child’s teachers
- They will provide you with a breakdown of the academic and behaviour expectations for their class
Resource Model
- We have been working on the safest way to deliver resource support for our students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
- We are planning to have a ‘soft-opening’ of our resource room on September 28th
- More details will be sent in next week’s update
School Bus Protocols
- Bus drivers have submitted their seating plans to the school board and to us
- It is critical that students sit in their assigned seats and ALWAYS wear their mask
- This is required in order for us to follow up in the event that we have other positive COVID cases
- We are asking for the students support to report to us when another student does not wear a mask
- Please talk to your child about helping to keep everyone safe
Vaccinations
- Due to a reorganization that is happening with school nurses, the grade 9 vaccinations that were scheduled for November have been delayed
- As soon as we receive any news, we will share it with you
Technology Training
- We have completed our technology training with grade 7, 8, 9 & 10 students
- Grade 11 students will receive training on Monday, September 21st
- The focus of the training has been: accessing MS Teams, Microsoft emails and Office 365 accounts, email etiquette, how to attach and share documents & basic word processing skills
- Please continue to send your child to school with their device
Lunch Time and Off-Property
- Students have been reminded to not trespass on the school board parking lot or the construction sites nearby
- Please re-enforce this message with your child
- We are strongly encouraging students to wear masks and practice social distancing if they choose to leave our property at lunch
- Local police have started issuing fines for individuals who are not following the guidelines of Public
Health outdoors
- They are focusing their efforts on areas close to high schools, colleges and universities
- We continue to be very proud of the students behaviour when they are inside our building and on our property
Upcoming Dates
- September 23rd – 6:30pm – Annual General Assembly (virtual)
- September 29th – Photo Day
- October 12th – Thanksgiving – no school
Things have been difficult this week with the notification of a confirmed positive case of COVID-19. Our team handled the situation quickly and we were ready to enact our local protocols immediately after receiving the news on Tuesday night. We received a lot of positive feedback from Public Health, the WQSB and our community.
The events of this last week have been an excellent reminder that we are all in this together. Thank you for your ongoing support during these challenging times.
Have a nice weekend,
Tara Laine, Principal
Symmes Junior High School/D’Arcy McGee High School
819-684-7472 x 437001
Our mission is to foster a safe, caring, and respectful community in which everyone learns and achieves individual success.
Dear Families,
I hope you are all doing well.
I wanted to address a rumour that is currently circulating in our school regarding Covid-19 cases. We currently have ZERO confirmed cases in our school. As per the protocols, if we receive confirmation of a positive case, we will inform our community immediately. Please speak to your children about this and reassure them that we are following all the correct procedures.
This email is also an invitation to our upcoming Annual General Assembly on Wednesday September 23rd at 6:30pm. At this virtual meeting, we will be electing the members of our Governing Board for the 2020-2021 school year. If you are interested in attending, you must RSVP in advance.
For Symmes parents, please RSVP by email to: symmesaga@gmail.com For D’Arcy parents, please RSVP by email to: darcyaga@gmail.com
In order to ensure a safe virtual meeting, the following information is required with your RSVP:
- Your full name
- Your child’s full name
- Your child’s grade level
- You can put all of this in the subject line of the email
For proper voting procedures, if there are 2 parents in one household that wish to attend the meeting, they are both entitled to a vote. It would be best if each parent sent a separate RSVP and attended the virtual meeting on separate devices. Please let us know if that is not possible.
The deadline to submit your RSVP is Monday September 21st at 4pm.
We will send out a link to the virtual meeting once all of the RSVPs have been collected.
If you would like to nominate someone to sit on our Governing Board, please include the full name of the individual as well as the name of the child they represent in the RSVP. Being a part of the school’s Governing Board is a great way to get involved in school governance and to have a voice.
If you would like to put your name forward to the School Board as a possible representative for the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) please let me know.
Take care,
Tara Laine, Principal
D’Arcy McGee High School ~ Symmes Junior High School
819-684-7472 x 437001
Friday, September, 11, 2020
Dear Families,
It’s been another busy and exciting week at Symmes-D’Arcy McGee! We finally welcomed back our grades 9, 10 and 11 students and we have had our full population at school all week. Similarly to our junior students, our high schoolers are quickly adapting to the new protocols and routines. We continue to observe patterns and are adapting things as necessary. Most of the building blocks for our back-to-school plan have been successful and we are very proud of our staff and our students for working together to make things run as smoothly as possible.
Here are some important updates:
Lunch Time/Students Off Property
- Many students are choosing to leave school property during lunch
- We are running into issues with students returning late due to the long and unmanageable lines at the local plaza
- We cannot justify a late entry to school because of these lineups – it is a health and safety issue due to the supervisors sanitizing hands and supporting social distancing – these supervisors are not present after the bell rings and we cannot ensure a safe re-entry to school when students are late – they are also missing valuable teaching time
- We recommend that students bring a NUT FREE lunch/snacks to help us avoid this issue or purchase food here (see below)
- In order to be good neighbours within our community, it is important that students follow the health and safety guidelines mandated by the province
- If students are not able to comply with social distancing guidelines while out in our community, we may be forced to keep students in their classrooms during lunch
- Lunch time continues to be an area of concern without a perfect solution – we don’t want to keep students indoors all day, but they must behave respectfully when out in the community
- As you likely know, our region has been recently declared a ‘yellow’ zone and the government has asked local police to start issuing fines when people are gathering against the guidelines
- Please talk to your child about this issue
Cafeteria Services
- Our cafeteria provider has started a mobile delivery service for students and staff
- Employees are bringing carts through the hallways during the first half of lunch (when students are permitted to stay in their classrooms to eat)
- They are offering a selection of sandwiches, baked good and a variety of drinks
- Purchases can be made with cash or debit/credit – the tap feature is available on the machine
Student Technology Workshops
- Next week our students will be going through technology training
- They will learn how to access their WQSB email addresses, learn about the Microsoft Teams platform as well as some basic word processing and email etiquette
- Please send your child with their chromebook/laptop next week if they have one
Parent Technology Survey
- Please take a minute to complete this important parent survey regarding technology – the link will expire on September 18th:
- (link expired)
Annual General Assembly
- In the interest of health and safety, and to protect our building, we have decided to conduct ourAnnual General Assembly ONLINE
- We will be hosting ONE meeting on Wednesday, September 23rd at 6:30pm
- I will send out an email invitation to the Annual General Assembly next week
- In order to attend the meeting, you must RSVP in advance with your first and last name
- We will send out a link to all parents who RSVP by Monday September 21st at 4pm
- Only parents who have their first and last names displayed will be admitted into the meeting on September 23rd
Governing Board, SEAC & Parent Committee
- The primary purpose of the Annual General Assembly is to elect representatives to sit on our Governing Board, Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) and our Parent Committee
- I have attached the functions and powers of the Governing Board to this email for your reference This a great way to be involved in the governance of the school and to have a voice
- If you would like to nominate a parent to sit on our Governing Board, please send me an email with the NAME of the parent as well as the NAME of the child the parent is representing
- We will vote on our Governing Board members at the Annual General Assembly
- The representative for the WQSB Parent Committee must be a Governing Board member and will be determined at the Annual General Assembly
- SEAC is a WQSB Committee, not a local school level committee – if you would like to be a part of SEAC, please send me an email and I will submit your name to the school board
Updated Covid Protocols
- I have attached some updated Covid protocols that were just released from the WQSB Please review the documents
- I have also attached self-care guides for parents and a document that may help with the decision making process about sending your child to school
- We encourage you to use the following self-assessment tool for screening your child for symptoms:
- Attached is a WQSB attestation form for the return to school after your child has been sent home by us due to symptoms of Covid testing – please use this updated form in lieu of the form sent in the last parent update
Virtual “Meet-the-Teacher”
- Due to the current situation, we are not able to host our traditional ‘Meet-the-Teacher’ evening 2.
- Your child’s teachers will be reaching out to you via email in the coming days to introduce themselves to you and share their academic and behaviour expectations
- Our mission is to foster a safe, caring, and respectful community in which everyone learns and achieves individual success.
Building/Construction Update
- Our portables have arrived!
- The construction company is working hard to have these ready for our students soon
- Because of the ongoing closure of the gym hallway, we had to temporarily re-locate a few classrooms
- We are grateful for the patience of our students and staff as we manage this situation
Upcoming Dates
- September 18th – PD Day
- September 23rd – Annual General Assembly/Governing Board, Parent Committee & SEAC elections (virtual)
- September 29th – Photo Day
I hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend. Take care,
Tara Laine, Principal
Symmes Junior High School/D’Arcy McGee High School 819-684-7472 x 437001
Our mission is to foster a safe, caring, and respectful community in which everyone learns and achieves individual success.
Dear Symmes-D’Arcy families,
I hope you and your families are all doing well and have had a lovely summer.
I want to start by acknowledging the challenges that parents, students and staff are currently facing with the return to school during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The health and safety of your children is our top priority and all of the steps we have taken in our planning has had this at the forefront. School will look very different this year, but we are confident that with creativity, flexibility and understanding, Symmes-D’Arcy McGee will continue to be an excellent place to learn and grow.
Please read our “Back To School Plan: 2020-2021” as well as the the documents from the Minister of Education regarding our return to school 2020. Please take the time to go through this information with your children. If they know what to expect when they return to school, it will be a much smoother transition for everyone.
It is critical to understand that as the situation and guidelines evolve and aspects of the plan could change. We will communicate any changes to our parent community as soon as possible.
If you would like to apply for a medical exemption from on-site learning, please see the information and form kit.
Despite the challenges and changes for the upcoming school year, we are excitedly looking forward to having the students back in class.
I have so much confidence in our students and in our staff – we are all in this together.
Thank you for your ongoing patience and support.
Take care and please stay safe,
Tara Laine, Principal
Symmes Junior High School/D’Arcy McGee High School