IN THIS ISSUE

Profiling Excellence: A Story of Life-saving CPR Top

It’s one of the most remarkable stories at HWDSB, the events that unfolded the evening of Dec. 15, 2008 as graphic and web designer Sarah Lennox heard her husband crash to the floor of their Binbrook home.

A young and fit police officer, now age 30, Jeff had been wrapping Christmas presents for Sarah in the basement when he began to feel strange. He came upstairs, moving his arm to ease the pain. Then he collapsed, and tumbled downstairs to the landing.

“His heart attack was an absolute fluke. He was so healthy that it took a massive blood clot to block his artery,” said Sarah, who as worked for more than a year as part of the Director’s staff.

Sarah grabbed the phone, called 911 and ran to Jeff. She unlocked the door for paramedics. And, when the operator asked if she knew CPR, something clicked: Sarah had learned CPR as a camp counsellor and for a job application. She still remembered it.

“I had taken CPR through St. John’s Ambulance within the last two years, so I was still certified. I had also taken it as a YWCA camp counsellor, for youth and toddlers,” says Lennox, who won a Profiling Excellence Award at the Jan. 25 Board meeting.

She placed her hands on Jeff’s chest and began to pump, to the beat of the Bee Gees song Staying Alive. (A funny tip she remembered from a previous CPR lesson.) Paramedics arrived and took over, but medical staff credit Sarah for her quick reaction. She saved Jeff’s life.

“I’m an advocate for CPR but I know that in the majority of cases it is not done right,” said Lennox, who is now busy outside of work helping Jeff recover from the anoxic brain injury caused by the heart attack. “If it’s done perfectly, it’s great, and is very important when dealing with children. But unlike on TV, people don’t just wake up like normal after receiving CPR.”

Read more about Sarah and Jeff’s story, and the importance of CPR, in the February 2010 Canadian Living magazine article, The Kiss of Life.

Haiti Relief is Personal for Staff, Students Top

When Grade 7 Ryerson Middle School student Jamie Mclachlin heard about the earthquake in Haiti, his thoughts immediately turned to his grandfather. The man, who was volunteering in Haiti when the quake hit, inspired Mclachlin to help.

“It was important for me to start a fundraiser at Ryerson to support my grandfather and the relief effort in Haiti.  Ryerson was amazing in their support,” Jamie said.

It became one of many stories from across the Board, as individual staff members and students drew upon their own time, energy and talents to help Haiti’s relief effort.

McLachlin’s family helped with the fundraising efforts by supplying a pizza party to the class that raised the largest sum through their classroom coin drive.  A Toonie Tuesday let students who donated a toonie listen to iPods. Teachers banded together in a student/teacher volleyball game, with admission going to the fundraising efforts. Ryerson raised $3,210 for Haitian relief. And McLachlin’s grandfather? He was okay after the quake and stayed in Haiti 10 more days to help.

Delta secondary teacher Kevin MacLean put his musical talents to work by helping organize a concert/fundraiser featuring his band, The Kevin MacLean Band, as well as bands Finger Eleven, Dodger and more.  It raised more than $12,000 dollars through ticket sales, a silent auction and sponsorships, said MacLean, who threw a similar event after a 2004 tsunami hit Thailand.

At Helen Detwiler elementary, teacher Brent Martin was motivated to act, but found that he had been beaten to the punch. “I emailed our principal and asked if I could organize a fundraiser. Fortunately for me, two of our students, Adam and Omar Masri sent the exact same email,” Martin explains. With Martin supervising, Adam and Omar created a Powerpoint presentation shown to the entire student body.  They set out with a $1,000 goal but raised $2,300. Students were awarded a Hat’s Off Detwiler Day – they could wear hats after beating their fundraising goal.

Award Helps Saltfleet Students Pursue Tech Careers Top

Saltfleet  secondary’s design lab will receive leading-edge technology as one of five Canadian schools chosen by Future Shop to receive $50,000 Future Generation Tech Lab donations.

“This program is designed to give back to the communities we serve, as well as help reduce both the digital and economic divide within secondary schools,” Todd Empey, Future Shop vice-president of operations, said.

One of 43 applications, the Stoney Creek school will be able to upgrade its existing technology design lab, with 3-D software, a 3-D printer for creating models, a CNC router for cutting 3-D wood shapes, as well as a supporting laptop and Smart Board.

“I’ve been at this for 12 years and the field has been changing so quickly,” said design and tech teacher Dan Knezevic, who credits his associate teacher Warren Reynolds for preparing an outstanding proposal.

The technology will support students interested in engineering, architecture, industrial design and woodworking. Computer-aided design is now expected in a wide variety of fields, Knezevic said, and being able to create rapid prototypes will offer students excellent preparation for their future.

“The grant will engage students to inspire creativity by introducing the best, most interesting and latest technology to students in the course. The grant may make the course more interesting and fun to students interested in the field,” one student said in the application.

Applications will open in September 2010 for 2011 recipients. Learn more.

Schools Rally for Haiti’s Recovery Top

The devastating earthquake in Haiti has seen an unprecedented response from organizations and governments worldwide. Likewise, HWDSB schools are also doing their part to help.

HWDSB has donated more than $68,000 to the Canadian Red Cross, a sum that will rise as individual schools make direct donations to the agency. As just one example, G.R. Allan elementary is about to donate $4,000.

Many schools were involved in the Coins from Caring Kids initiative, which involved the Hamilton Police Service. At Prince of Wales elementary, students raised $1,770 selling hot chocolate, as well as through a coin drive that had students bring a coin – ranging from a penny to a toonie, depending on the day of the week.

“I never expected that our school would raise this much. My students are still talking about Haiti and asking when we can sell hot chocolate again,” says Kelly Boyle, a Grade 5 teacher at Prince of Wales.

At Westmount Secondary School, the Student Promoting Leadership Action Team’s (SPLAT) Cross Your Heart campaign raised more than $700 dollars. Created by Grade 9 SPLAT member Susie Wilson, it saw SPLAT and social justice students cut out paper hearts which were then available for sale to the student body. After purchasing a heart, students wrote messages on them and posted them on a school Wall of Hearts.

Hess Street School raised $500 dollars through a Hoops ’n Hot Dogs event. It brought together the sale of hot dogs and a basketball game with prizes. A Roxborough Park elementary coin drive has collected $300.

A Q&A with… Flag Football Star Jenna Woodworth Top

Jenna (pictured far left) is a flag football player at Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School, who recently returned after scoring the winning touchdown for the winning Detroit Lions at the NFL Flag Football National Tournament of Champions in Miami, Florida. Here, we ask her about the experience.

Tell us about your sport. How did you get involved in flag football?
In grades 5 and 6, a teacher at my school started after-school, intramural flag football. I had never played before, but I have always enjoyed the game of football. I really enjoyed this new experience so I joined a league out of school with some of my school and dance friends… In August I got a phone call to try-out for a 12-to-14-year-old girl’s team. I realized that I loved football and I wasn’t just going to give it up.

How did you make it to the National Championship?
We had a regional tournament in Detroit where we won three games in a row with no points scored against us, so we got the chance to go to Florida for Nationals. We represented the Detroit Lions in Florida. We played five games. The first three determined who we played in the quarter finals. We ended up in fifth place, so we played the fourth-place team. We played a strong game, won and moved on to the semi-finals where we played the Cowboys, which had some of the strongest offensive players and were in first place.

Our defence shut down these talented offensive players ending with no points scored against us, and our offense played smart, controlling the time and moving up to get our winning points. We came out winning semis which meant moving on the championship game the next game against another team we had already lost to. We played a very intense game with the score still being 0-0 at half time, but shortly into the second half I got a short pass and got our winning touchdown. Our team played amazingly well and even though we were in fifth place we didn’t let that bother us, and ended up winning the championship.

For people unfamiliar with flag football, what surprises them about the sport?
I would have to say the skill level. When people think of football they usually think of tackling and about how tough the sport is. When they hear ‘touch’ or ‘flag football’ they think differently. Just because there isn’t tackling doesn’t mean it’s an easy sport to play. It takes a lot of training, and skills to play successfully. I started playing for fun. Now I’m very serious about it and I’ve learned so much from my coach and I enjoy it a lot.

Mountain’s Caring Community: Pizza, a Drink and Conversation Top

Pizza was on the menu. Caring adults and hungry students were on the guest list.

Those were a few ingredients as Mountain secondary hosted a lunch for members of its unique mentorship program. Run by Mountain’s Community, Culture and Caring team, the Caring Adult Lunch drew many of the 42 teens and 35 staff involved an initiative that matches staff with students in grades 9 and 10.

“We want every student who arrives here to feel welcome at our school,” explained organizer Melissa Gauley, a Grade 9 teacher. “This gives them an adult they can go to when they have a question or concern.”

As a system school, Mountain’s Grade 9 students can arrive from schools across all HWDSB. To ease the transition, staff and students pair up, often due to shared interests. For example, a teacher of hospitality may team up with a student taking a cooking class.

A pillar of Ontario’s Student Success initiative, Community, Culture and Caring sees staff and students foster student engagement, develop a sense of belonging and create a school environment that recognizes the unique nature of the secondary school experience through the eyes of the adolescent.

Ariel Varga and Autumn Stewart, both in Grade 9, found it handy to have Grade 10-11 teacher Sue Dokis to turn to. They may have had social or personal issues to discuss. They were arriving from schools as far away as Prince of Wales, so knew few people in their incoming class.

Principal Wanda Bielak said that Mountain, which prepares its students for the world of work and adult independence, has a unique relationship with its students. As students pass Bielak, nearly every one says, “Hi.” Many stop to chat. Being accessible is important, she says.

“We are not a large school but each of our students requires a lot of our attention,” she said. Bielak notes that the adult-teen connections build on factors that influence student retention: a sense of belonging, well-being, safety, acceptance and formal attachment to one significant adult, in this significant transition period.

“The research is clear that students need to make a connection in the first few weeks of Grade 9. This is the kind of program that makes that happen.”

Health-care Grads Caring for our Future Top

The program is intense: during a one-semester dose of learning, Grade 12 students work the same shifts as their health-care mentors and attend incidents like a bone marrow transplant, a surgery, or even the end of a patient’s life.

“There really isn’t anything like it,” teacher Teresa Anziano says of the Health Care Support Services Program, which HWDSB runs in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences.

Last month, 18 students from nine schools were certified by the system school-to-work program, which uses Chedoke Hospital as a classroom and co-op placements at HHS hospitals.

“It takes a lot of courage for a student to leave their home school,” Anziano said. “The program lets them find out whether they really like working in health care, and all the different jobs there are beyond doctors and nurses.”

The fall 2009 semester gave the recent grads the added experience of doing co-op placements during the H1N1 crisis. They received the shot as front-line health-care workers, Anziano said, an example of how seriously the students are taken.

“It really opened my eyes when I learned how hard they really work and what they really have to do and why at the end of the day they really are stressed,” Westdale student Jennalee Jeffrey said. “This program has just given me more of a drive to go into health care. I have never liked having to wake up early and go to class during any other subject but, during our classes at Chedoke, I looked forward to going.”

Free Eyeglasses For City’s Youngest Learners Top

Hamilton is the only host community in Ontario to pilot a program that encourages eye exams and provides free eyewear to children in their first year of school.

Eye See…Eye Learn is a pilot program being run by the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO) to encourage proper eye care and diagnosis.

“We know that one in six children has some form of vision problem and that 80 per cent of classroom learning is visual,” said Lindsay Collins, special projects co-ordinator at the OAO.

The pilot, which runs until June 2010, underscores the need to diagnose and treat vision problems early, through a comprehensive eye examination by an optometrist. It aims to increase the number of junior and senior kindergarten children examined within their first year of school and to track the incidence of vision problems.

“At HWDSB, we know that vision problems that go undetected in childhood can often lead to life-long deficiencies in learning skills and performance. We are thrilled to be part of this pilot project, which will give our youngest students the opportunity to reach their potential by seeing clearly in the classroom and in everyday life,” said Krys Croxall, superintendent of education, elementary program and assessment.

For details, contact the OAO or call 1-800-540-3837. Brochures have been sent home with students.

Virtual Views Featuring Student Trustee Haakim Nainar Top

Whatever! That is a sentiment that is too often expressed by students, ironically, in regards to areas that affect them. One important area is education. As one among many of the youngest custodians of public education in Ontario, I have had the satisfaction of being part of this system. I have learned that the student voice is no monolith, but it is important to find threads of unity.

This year, Student Senate has been a priority for me, as a messenger to and from this body of students. It is crucial that Student Senate be an effective body representing the student voices of Hamilton. The draft Nutrition Policy has been the most interesting piece discussed. Watching students question the Board architects of the policy demonstrated how essential the student voice is. It also increased the necessity for me to be an effective representative in the boardroom.

These days, there is much discussion of individualized education, a concept essential to student success. It means providing student with options to realize their full potential. Studies show that each student has his/her own unique method of learning. Accepting that fact and finding ways to accommodate that is the first step in promoting student success.

Student success is a mutual endeavour. As critical stakeholders in public education, students must complement teachers and parents in ensuring that education is tailored to the needs and aspirations of students and society. Turning a “whatever” into an “OK, but I think that…” is a communal responsibility.

Also, I will be involved in the organizing of an intra-Board leadership conference for students. This should be an event ready to bring students and teachers together to inspire students to become more active in their schools. As a student trustee and a student, I hope the coming months further this change. I hope I will be able to say that I have been a part of that change.

Haakim Nainar
Student Trustee (Westdale)