Final http://www.lbpsb.qc.ca/eng/asdn/index.asp The Third Annual

The Pearson News
Final
Volume XVIII No. 7
Mars/March 2016
GRATUIT/FREE
Director
General’s
Report to
Council
The Third Annual Pearson Educational Foundation Fun Run
DU DIRECTEUR
FROM THE
by Michael Chechile
I would like to take this time
to formally welcome all of our
students, staff and parents back
from the Easter Break. I am sure
you all enjoyed the time with
family and friends and that everyone is ready for spring!
This month I took some time
to visit some of the schools that
make our board so amazing.
I was able to attend an eyeopening presentation at St.
Charles Elementary given by
Brian Ewenson, one of the top
aerospace experts in Canada
and NASA’s space programs.
Mr. Ewenson assured the students that no dream is too big;
he himself dreamed of working
in aerospace at the age of four.
It is this kind of optimism and
confidence that we need to be
instilling in our students. Reach
for the stars!
I also had the opportunity to
teach a tenth grade English class
at John Rennie High School.
They worked in groups and used
their knowledge of Google Apps
in Education to explain what
‘student voice’ means to them.
The integration of Chromebooks
across the board, around 3000,
has helped teachers incorporate
technology into their teaching
in unique, phenomenal ways.
The students of Mrs. Briggs’ class
discussed the importance of
student voice in a mature and
insightful way. I look forward to
receiving their GoogleDocs and
reading their comments and
suggestions on how to make
their voices heard throughout
the school board.
I visited Lindsay Place High
School during Superhero day.
The day emphasized the inner
superhero qualities. Our staff,
students and Lester B. Pearson
School Board community all
make up a team of superheroes
who work day in and day out to
make our board a fun, inviting
and educational environment to
learn in.
On Thursday, I had the pleasure of reading to the Grade 1s at
Clearpoint as part of their reading week. I was so impressed at
how attentive the students were
and how they quickly understood the moral of the story.
I would like to congratulate
the MacDonald High School robotics team, who won second
place in the CRC Robotics Competition. Not only did they compete against other high schools
from other school boards, but
also against CEGEP-level teams. I
See CHECHILE page A2
The third annual Pearson
Educational Foundation Family Fun Run is going to be held
on Sunday, May 1 at Centennial
Park in Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
The 2km course will be six dollars and the 5km course will be
$12. All proceeds go to the Pearson Educational Foundation,
which offers financial support
to academic and extracurricular programs across the Lester
B. Pearson School Board. They
also help supply winter clothes,
breakfasts and hot lunches to
disadvantaged students and assist with a variety of programs
for students with special needs.
The PEF Family Fun Run began
3 years ago as a way to support
the goal of the
boards stratigic
plan in promoting
wellness throughout our communities.
That first rainy
Sunday morning,
parents, staff, students and community
members came out
to support this
very worthwhile
cause and it has
been growing ever
since. This year,
they expect their
numbers to grow
as more and more
people are realizing the benefits of
a healthy lifestyle
with this very affordable
event.
Music,
snacks,
community spirit
and a big dose of
fresh air will be
waiting for you at
Centennial Park.
As always, proceeds from all
PEF events go
to fund much
needed
classroom support by
way of breakfast
programs, event
registrations,
teacher
grants,
winter clothing,
etc. Your generosity in supporting
this event will be
much appreciated
by all the students
across the Lester B. Pearson
school board territory.
The Fun Run will take place,
rain or shine, on run day! This
year there will be a warm up
starting 15 minutes before each
run to get your heart pumping
and your muscles ready. Each
participant will receive a gift bag
filled with PEF fun run gear and
gifts donated from this year’s
generous sponsors.
PEF works with many community members and oragnizations. This year, as in years previous, the PEF fun run is working
closely with the 803 North Shore
Sabre Squadron. The cadets are
there to mark the trail, encourage runners, hand out water
and answer any questions the
runners may have.
PEF Fun Run committee member Della Graham has put to-
GÉNÉRAL ET DE LA PRÉSIDENTE
DIRECTOR GENERAL & CHAIRMAN
gether a list of helpful tips to get
you pumped and ready for run
day!
Your Goal: Your goal is simply
to finish. If this is your 5k, 10k, or
first half, it is also your first experience. Whatever time you do it
will be your personal best.
Eating and Drinking: On race
day, don’t eat or drink anything
out of the ordinary. This is not
the time to experiment, no matter what you may have heard
about athletic super foods. Nor
do you have to be concerned
with the carbohydrate loading.
In fact, for your last meal (taken
at least three hours before the
race starts) you might want to
eat less than normal, since ner-
vousness could upset your digestive system. In warm weather, drink 500ml of water 1 hour
before the start, and continue
drinking every 10 minutes during the race. You should practice
the same on hot weather training runs. In Cold weather your
body dehydrates at a slower rate
but you still need to drink water
at least every 10 min during the
race. Depending on the weather
conditions, adjust your expectations and drink fluids at regular
intervals in relationship to the
water loss from your perspiration and breathing.
Strategy: Planning your race
strategy in advance will build
your confidence. Break the
course into small sections, making sure you know where hills
and other key landmarks are located. It’s particularly important
that you know the last half kilometer of the course to set a few
landmarks in mid.
Getting Ready: When you arrive at the race, don’t be intimidated by what you see other
runners doing. Many of them
are preparing for a hard effort,
whereas you want to make sure
you save your energy for a more
comfortable race. Do some
walking, some stretching and
some light jogging to loosen up.
Lining Up and starting: Make
your way to the back of the
starting pack where you won’t
get caught in the starting sprint.
Many races have pacing groups;
join the group running at the
pace you feel comfortable with.
Begin slowly. Don’t worry about
all the runners who take off
ahead of you. It’s far better to
start slowly and catch up later
than to begin too fast and be
passed by hundreds of runners
after a kilometre or two. Once
you get room to run freely, move
into your normal, relaxed training pace. Maintain that pace (it
should be one that allows you
to talk comfortably) at least until you reach the halfway mark.
Then if you feel strong and
want to pick it up, go ahead but
make sure you do it gradually.
If you reach a point of struggle,
slow down to re-gather your
strength.
Walking: Run 10 minutes and
walk 1 minute. Nowhere on the
entry form does it say that you
can’t walk. So if you feel that
need to, take walking breaks,
DU CONSEIL
OF THE BOARD
particularly on the hills. But
never stop moving forward unless you are hurt. Disguise your
walking breaks by calling them
water breaks. Since drinking water is so important during a race,
many runners stop and drink
when they get to the water tables.
Finishing: Keep you pace constant and steady. Don’t sprint
hard at the finish line. That is not
only unwise but, it can be dangerous. Concentrate on finishing with a good, relaxed, strong
form.
Recovery: After you finish, be
sure you walk around to cool
down. Drink plenty of fluids, especially if it’s a hot day. Change
into dry clothes as
soon as possible, and
when you get home
stretch your muscles
thoroughly after taking a cool shower.
Don’t do any running the next day,
although it’s okay
to swim or bike. You
might find it hard
to contain your new
found racing enthusiasm, but to run
on leg muscles that
might be sore would
only tempt injury.
Post-race: Where
to go with your
training post-race?
After training meticulously for 10 to
16 weeks or more
for your race, many
ask, “Now what?” To
avoid suffering from
post-race syndrome
following your big
race, set some new
goals for yourself.
First and foremost,
do not lose the
new level of fitness
you have attained
through your recent training cycle.
This is the time to
think of maintaining
your level of performance your body
has reached as an
athlete. The key to
maintaining
your
level of fitness is a
maintenance program while you contemplate a new goal.
The Pearson Educational
Foundation would like to thank
the following donors for their
considerate contributions:
Arborite for their generous
donation.
David’s Tea, Dare Foods, Coty,
Johnson and Johnson and Ardene for their donations to the
PEF Fun Run gift bags.
Costco, IGA Topetta Dorval,
Supermarché DDO, Provigo Le
Marché (Kirkland), Provigo Le
Marché (Pierresfonds) and St
Viateur Bagels for donating food
items for our event such as energy bars ,water and apples.
Don’t forget to sign up for the
race at www.pef.lbpsb.qc.ca/run.
htm and like the PEF Fun Run Facebook page at www.facebook.com/
peffunrun for more tips and tricks!
To learn more about the Lester B. Pearson School Board’s
Autism Spectrum Disorders Centre of Excellence, visit:
http://www.lbpsb.qc.ca/eng/asdn/index.asp
Chairman’s
Report
to Council
by Suanne Stein Day
We have a long agenda ahead
of us tonight, so I’ll keep this report brief. I hope that all who
celebrated Easter and Purim
had a wonderful holiday surrounded by family and friends.
I also hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable Spring break
although I am sure that seems
like a long time ago!
This was a short month for us,
with March Break and the Easter Weekend both falling in the
timeframe since the last council
meeting. Since then, I had the
honour of once again attending a Citizenship Ceremony at
Riverdale High School. Citizenship Judge, Her Honor Veronica Johnson, a former LBPSB
administrator, continues her
tradition of holding these ceremonies at our schools, giving
our students the opportunity
to understand what it might be
like to leave your home country,
settle in a new land and adopt it
as your own. Clearly, our newest citizens are so proud to be
Canadians.
Much of this past month was
spent preparing for our audience at the Parliamentary Commission on Bill 86. I want to
thank Craig Berger and Frank
DiBello for accompanying me
to Quebec City and addressing
the MNA’s questions with me.
The committee appeared to
be open to our points of view
and asked very relevant questions. A shout out to Cindy Finn
who was watching and texting
me data to answer some of
the questions we were asked!
Thanks, Cindy. Education Minister Sebastien Proulx came to
me after the session to shake
my hand and promised that we
would talk in the near future. I
look forward to that.
The hearings are now on hiatus until the 5th of April and will
conclude on the 6th of April.
After that, the bill will undergo
detailed review by the committee and by the National Assembly and we anxiously await
news of what school boards will
look like in the future.
Spring has sprung and no
doubt our students will be
spending more time outdoors.
I urge all our community members who travel in the vicinity of
schools to be on the lookout for
our little ones and be extra vigilant at stop signs and around
the schools.
A2Pearson News
Chechile,
from page A1
Dans la Rue Resource Sock Drive at John Rennie
had the opportunity to visit their
Submitted by Margo Edwards
robotics department last month
and can say that their robot was
In an effort to help other teenagers, this February the Special
nothing short of extraordinary.
Needs students at John RenI would also like to congratu- nie High School held a socklate Brittany Kennell, a former drive fundraiser for the worSt. Thomas High School student, thy organization Dans La Rue.
With the goal of gathering
who recently became the only
Canadian to make it onto the TV 1000 pairs of socks, the students
show The Voice. As a graduate advertised with colorful signs,
of our board, we wish her noth- made appeals on the morning but success in her continued ing announcements, and insinging career and will be faith- cluded daily visits to classrooms
fully rooting for her back home. to collect and encourage their
fellow classmates to donate.
As added incentive, and to
This past month Lester B. Pearson administrators met with and add a sense of fun, the prize of a
pizza lunch was awarded to the
interviewed 91 candidates for
class that contributed the most
potential teaching positions for
pairs to the drive. As well, friends
the coming school year. I would
in the surrounding community
like to extend my wishes of
supported the cause with cash
good luck to each and every one
gifts,and additional pairs of socks.
and look forward to welcoming
This project was a success on
some of them to our wonderful many levels, as in order to give
schools.
The Lester B. Pearson School
Board was well represented at
both the Hudson and downtown St. Patrick’s Day Parades
this year. This year’s Hudson Parade Queen was Ms. Shannon
Pine, an LBPSP integration aide
at Allion Elementary School. The
school put on their annual St.
Patrick’s Day seniors lunch this
year with the help of their student coordinator Terry Clahane.
Lakeside Academy marched in
the downtown St. Patrick’s Day
parade and won the Best High
School unit award.
As always, the Truly Outstanding Pearson Show, nicknamed
TOPS, is back this year for it’s
13th run. With three shows to
choose from over the course of
April 15 and 16, the students of
Lester B. Pearson will wow you
with their singing and dancing
skills. I wish all of the students
luck in their performances and,
as they say, break a leg!
The Final Battle of the Books
will also be held on April 14 at
7p.m. at Riverdale High School,
where teams from five high
schools in the board will answer
questions related to five titles
they have read over the course
of the school year. Literacy has
always been close to our heart
at Lester B. Pearson and we love
to encourage students to have
their heads buried in a book. The
winning team will go on to compete with schools from boards
across Montreal on April 20.
In recent months, we asked
students from across the board
to submit their artwork to our
Head Office in the hopes of
beautifying our board room. As
you can see this evening we’ve
had them framed and hung for
everyone’s viewing pleasure.
There are more to come...we just
ran out of frames for the time
being. Congratulations to all of
the students!
Mars/March 2016
back to the community the
Special Needs students learned
many valuable life lessons. They
had to work as a team, agree
on, organize, and carry out a
plan in order to obtain a collective objective. The positive
response that they received
from the student body helped
build their self-confidence, and
reinforced their feeling of being accepted as a valuable
part of the John Rennie family.
At final tally, the students surpassed their original goal, having collected over 1300 pairs of
socks, and $950.00 in monetary
gifts for Dans La Rue. The true
gift however, was confirming
that kindness and inclusion are
an integral part of John Rennie.
St-Edmund students sure
know how to celebrate winter!
Monday March 7th was the first
day of their winter Carnival. Every day they did a different activity to celebrate the magic
of winter. Snowmen and snow
village making contest, Jelly
Bean counting contest, Jersey
Day and, of course, our famous
ice castle building. Not only
our castle was the most amaz-
the Pearson
News?
Please send your
articles and pictures
to your Principal who
will forward them to
us.
Questions or
comments?
Email Christine at
“Every act of kindness grows
the spirit, and strengthens the
soul.”
[email protected]
-Unknown
St. Edmund’s Carnival
Week
Submitted by Natalie Rosconi
Do you have an article
to submit to
ing we have ever built, but this
year for the first time, we lit it
up in the evening for our community to see as they drove by
our school by night. To end the
week with even more magic,
we invited Natalie Choquette, a
world known opera singer who
came to present “La Diva Malbouffa” a French musical play
to all our students. Thanks to
teachers and parent volunteers,
St-Edmund’s Carnival Week was
extraordinary!
Semaine de Carnivale à
St. Edmund
Les élèves de St-Edmund
savent très bien célébrer l’hiver!
Lundi, le 7 mars marqua le premier jour d’une semaine de Carnaval ponctuée de nombreuses activités afin de célébrer la
magie de l’hiver. Concours de
bonshommes et de villages de
neige, de comptage de ‘’Jelly
Beans’’, et bien sûr, notre légendaire construction de château
de glace. Non seulement cette
année, notre château fut le plus
grandiose que nous ayons con-
struit, mais nous y avons ajouté
des lumières afin que toute notre
communauté puisse l’admirer
de nuit en passant devant
l’école. Pour terminer la semaine
avec encore plus de magie, nous
avons invité Natalie Choquette,
chanteuse d’opéra de renommée mondiale, afin de présenter
à toute l’école son spectacle ‘’La
Diva Malbouffa’’. Grâce aux enseignants et parents bénévoles,
la semaine du carnaval à St-Edmund fut extraordinaire!
Find out what’s
happening at the
Pearson
Educational Foundation
Visit the PEF website at:
St. Patrick’s Day at Lester B. Pearson
This year the city of Montreal
hosted their 193rd St. Patrick’s
Day Parade on March 20. The
parade started at noon sharp
and went down St. Catherine’s
Street on the chilly but sunny
day. Lucky enough to be marching in the parade with the Lester B. Pearson School Board float
were students and bands from
Lakeside Academy in Lachine.
They were even voted the best
high school unit in the parade.
Congratulations Lakeside!
Held a day earlier was the Hudson St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The
Hudson Parade Queen, Shannon
Pine, is an integration aide with
Allion Elementary School. Allion
hosts a St. Patrick’s Day Senior
Lunch every year with support
from the grade six class as well
as Terry Clahane, the Student
Supervisor. This was the 26th
year for the luncheon and everyone in attendance had loads
of fun! Sunshine Academy cel-
pef.lbpsb.qc.ca
ebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a
dress down day where students
were encouraged to come to
school dressed all in green! All of
the donations made on St. Patrick’s Day went to the Pearson
Educational Foundation to help
students and teachers across
the board.
Excellence
in Vocational
Training
and
Adult
Education
This could be your
opportunity to:
• Master a vocational
program
• Complete a high school
diploma
• Obtain pre-requisite courses for
CEGEP or vocational
education
• Improve your language
skills
• Upgrade your
employability skills to
become more competitive
in today’s workforce
• Receive free counseling,
support, and referral
services
visit our website at:
www.
pearsonskills.
com
Pearson NewsA3
Mars/March 2016
Lakeside Academy International
Baccalaureate
Submitted by Kathleen O’Reilly
every student, and to that end
every student is asked to create
Since 2009 Lakeside has been a personal project. The results
in the process of becoming the from across the academic speconly school in the Board to of- trum have been spectacular and
fer the International Baccalaure- this year will see all of these stuate framework across the whole dents recognized with an official
school. One of the main points is IB certificate issued from Cardiff,
to promote a sense of responsi- Wales.
bility for learning in
The range of topics and the di
versity of the approaches have
given rise to some truly memorable pieces such as traditional
Mohawk clothing, arm knitting
to raise funds for cancer research and even a gastronomic
travel guide to India.
Congratulations to all the students for their outstanding hard
work.
Horizon and Focus visit Sources Adult and Career Centre
Last month Horizon High
School and Lindsay Place’s FOCUS group were invited to the
Sources Adult and Career Centre
for the morning to see what the
continuing education program
had to offer. Students were
shown around the centre, which
operates out of the bottom level
of Riverdale High School, and
given a taste of what goes on
during an average school day
in each program. The programs
consisted of Interior Design,
General Building Maintenance
and Hygiene and Sanitation.
The guides for the morning
were actual students from each
program who were able to answer questions and show the
potential students around. One
of the first things you notice at
SACC is the impressive artwork
and design that decorate the
hallways, thanks to the Interior
Design students. They are heavily involved in decorating the
school and have even partnered
up with Riverdale High School
to decorate some of their classrooms.
After the students finished
their tour, they were invited into
the workshop to make their own
iPad holder out of good, oldfashioned wood, nails and varnish. The students loved building something with their own
two hands and seemed to enjoy
being able to look at a finished
product and say, “I made that.”
“Ardis Root [Centre Director] is
a great believer in hosting students from the youth sector, as
early as grade 6 to learn about
these valuable vocational careers,” said Nancy Battet, LBPSB
Community and Partner Liaison.
“It just opens the students’ eyes
to possible skills they can obtain
for life and have very interesting
and exciting careers. We are so
fortunate to work closely with
our Continuing Education Centers to offer these opportunities
to our students.”
A huge thanks to Haydn Baggoo for organizing the event,
Sharon Holden from the department of Interior Design and Visual Display, Rick Fougere from
the department of General
Building Maintenance, and their
students who made the day extra special by preparing the extraordinary hands-on activity for
the students.
The Day the Lions Came
Submitted by Mary Ann Fyckes
Both Allion Elementary and
Verdun Elementary celebrated
Chinese New Year in fine style!
The Year of the Monkey was
ushered in by an exquisite performance from the CHAN LION
DANCERS of MONTREAL under
the direction of Jimmy Chan.
The giant lions slowly woke
from their sleep by the beat of a
drum with excitement and curi-
osity about their surroundings:
a gymnasium full of children!
As they woke they began
to play with each other, tossing a ball back and forth. Then
they ventured into the crowd
for personal greetings with
our staff and students. They
enjoyed receiving gentle pets
and responded with expressive
blinking eyes and wagging tails.
Following the 20-minute performance, students were invited
to investigate the inside of the
lion head, as well as take a turn
at the drum.
In the afternoon, both schools
were treated to a Taste of China
with sample-sized snacks of
fried rice, spring rolls and fortune cookies for all!
Staff, students and parents
from our communities wish to
thank the Intercultural Advisory
Committee for providing the
funds for this wonderful exposure to Chinese culture and
heritage.
A4Pearson News
Mars/March 2016
Battle of the Books
The LBPSB High School Librarians and Educational Services
are holding the Final Battle of
the Books (BoB)– an event that
celebrates literacy in a really fun,
fast-paced high school team
competition – on April 14 at
7:00 p.m. in the Riverdale High
School Library (5060 Sources
Blvd. Pierrefonds, Pierrefonds).
BoB involves teams of students from grades 7 to 10 who
are tested on their knowledge
of the books they read. 5 teams
will participate in the final battle
(Beurling, LCCHS, Riverdale, St
Thomas, and Macdonald).
The winning team will go on
to the Ultimate Battle where it
will face the winners from the
Quebec Association of Independent Schools (QAIS) and the
EMSB. This battle will be held on
April 20th at 7 p.m. in the Saputo Auditorium of Lower Canada
College (4092 Royal in NDG).
Friends, family and booklovers
alike are welcome to attend!
TOPS #next: Adventure of a Lifetime
The 13th edition of the Truly
Outstanding Pearson Show is
an inspiring journey featuring
over 100 of the Lester B. Pearson
School Board’s most talented
singers, dancers, actors, and musicians.
Adventure of a Lifetime follows the story of our lives using
a blend of multimedia and spellbinding live music and dance.
TOPS has brought in over
2500 audience members a year
and there is no doubt why.
Make sure to buy your tickets
now, available on the TOPS
website at www.topsnext.org, to
witness the incredible production our students have prepared
for you.
Below is a list of Commissioners along with their school board locals.
Ward Communities Commissioner
(514) 422-3000
Local
Chairman
All
Suanne Stein Day
30101
1
Lasalle/Verdun
Mary Ann Davis
30121
2
Lasalle/Lachine
Frank Di Bello
30122
3
Lachine/Dorval
Joshua Arless
30123
4
Pointe-Claire
Noel Burke
30102
5
Pierrefonds-Roxboro
Nan Beaton
30125
6
Dollard-des-Ormeaux
Craig Berger
30126
7
Pierrefonds/DDO/Kirkland
Laura Derry
30127
8
Beaconsfield
Martin Sherman
30128
9 Pointe-Claire/Beaconsfield/Baie d’Urfé/Ste. Anne Eric Bender
30129
10
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue/Île-Perrot
Domenic Pavone
30130
11
Off-Island North
Daniel Olivenstein
30131
12
Off Island South
Wayne Clifford
30132
Parent
Sharad Bhargava
30164
Parent
Sandra Buckingham
30163
Parent
Frank Clarke
30161
Parent
Michael Nalecz
30162
Student
Student
Executive Committee
Council of Commissioners
Monday, April 18
Monday, April 25
Cierra Leitman
Tyler Nacke
5:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m. Board Room
Board Room