Highlights of Council Activities 2023/24

The York Mills CI School Council was involved in a number of activities throughout the 2023/2024 year to support student achievement and well-being, while actively engaging parents around their child's education. Highlights include:

Advocacy for Student Support: Advocated for a Child and Youth Worker through the TDSB and Superintendent to support our students' mental health and well-being.

Enhanced Communication: Created a school council website to engage parents/caregivers, improving communication and timely access to information and resources that support student success.

School Statement of Needs (SSON): Reviewed the SSON with feedback from the school community, ensuring it reflected the current needs of YM.

York Mills-Hosted Events and Workshops with External Guest Speakers:

• Building Academic Resilience, Overcoming Procrastination, and Managing Academic Stress (May 9, 2024 from 7-8:30 PM virtual). Guest speaker Common Compass. Included the Leaside HS and Northern SS parent communities.

• Future Career Pathways in STEM with university student panelists from 1st to 4th years at the University of Waterloo and Queen's University Faculty of Engineering. Included the Leaside HS and Northern SS parent communities.

School Council Innovation Grant. Created and submitted a grant proposal to fund mental health initiatives within the school. While it was not approved, it was an opportunity to identify our school's needs in the area of mental health and build skills for submitting grants in the future.

Collaborative Educational Events: Partnered with other TDSB schools, including Northern Secondary School and Leaside High School, to access educational events hosted by other schools. YM parents and caregivers attended the following events:

• Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom - Panel discussion included an Applied AI Project Manager at the Vector Institute, a Wilfred Laurier University professor, a Leaside High School teacher, and a Leaside HS student. May 7, 2024. In-person at Leaside HS.

• Internet Awareness: Understanding Social Media and Cyberbullying. Parent/caregiver talk by Toronto Police Constable Megan McGarry. April 17, 2024, 7-8 PM. Virtual.

• Social Networking Safety with Paul Davis. November 26, 2023. In-person at NSS.

• Creating a Meaningful with Your Child in a Hyper-Connected World. Talk by Ulrica Jobe. April 25, 2024, 6:30-8 PM. In-person at NSS.

School Resources and Enhancements:

• Expanded library seating with comfortable new study chairs.

• Supported various programs and departments with new equipment, including microscope adapters, Raspberry Pi mini-computers, a heavy duty sewing machine, and a VEX robotics kit.

• Enhanced athletics, sports teams, and school-wide events with two outdoor tents. 

Community Engagement:

• Organized an informal virtual welcome event for parents and caregivers of newcomer, transfer, and other new students (September 19, 2024, 8-9 PM).

• Provided regular updates to the school community through email and the school's weekly newsletter, the Friday Forecast.

• Obtained budget approval for a French language event to engage families of students in the school's French programs (including French immersion).

Fundraising:

• Launched the first major fundraising campaigns in recent history, raising over $11,000 through contributions from the school community.

• Strengthened fundraising capacity through the first corporate matching donation and creating a direct link to YM's TDSB donation page.

Student Support and Leadership:

• Supported student leadership by working with the council Student Representative and inviting student club representatives to speak at council meetings.

• Provided financial support to students in need for school activities. 

• Provided support for two graduation awards.

• Partnered with the Lifelong Leadership Institute to have a Leadership by Design alumni and Queen's engineering student speak on the STEM Careers panel.

Educational talks by YMCI Staff:

• Course Selection Information Session: Virtual session for parents highlighted new informational resources available to parents. Guest speaker YM Guidance ACL Mr. Kardish. February 8, 2024, 7-8 PM.

• In-person workshop prior to the June exam period covering adolescent brain development, motivation and growth mindset, motivating at home, effective learning strategies, and navigating challenges. Guest speaker Ms. Dworet, York Mills ACL of Special Education. May 30, 2024, 5:15-6 PM.

• Computer studies courses at YMCI and the nature of programming. Guest speaker YM teacher Mr. Yuan. School council meeting May 30, 2024.

Relationship-Building: Developed and cultivated relationships with a number of people, YM alumni and parents/caregivers, and local organizations, such as a Toronto-based education business co-founded by a YM alumni, post-secondary institutions (e.g. University of Waterloo Engineering Outreach), Lifelong Leadership Institute, Common Compass, the Ward 11 Trustee, the TDSB Superintendent and other TDSB staff, the PCCEO office, and Ward 11 TDSB schools.

Council By-Laws: Established School Council By-Laws in accordance with TDSB guidelines.

Matters of Consideration for the 2024/25 School Council

Formation of Committees: Establish committees for Fundraising, Events, Communications, Parent Connection, Policy & Advocacy and/or Partnerships to increase impact and engagement. Any YM parent/caregiver, community member/advisor, staff, alumni, former YM parents/caregivers can participate on these committees. These committees would make recommendations to council.

Sustainable Council Practices:  

• To ensure sustainability, council work that is in addition to the member and executive roles and responsibilities (committee work, organizing and running events, workshops, and fundraisers, etc.) should be distributed more evenly across council members. Encourage all members to contribute in meaningful ways, and establish clear roles within committees. 

• Every year, strive to bring on new council members and volunteers to ensure that council and council work reflects the broad school community. New council member and volunteer on-boarding should be continually improved, with feedback from new council members. All council members should share the responsibility by helping to provide context and supporting new members and volunteers. 

• Every year, make the council by-laws and voting member roles and responsibilities available to parents and caregivers prior to the council election.  Explain quorum and why meeting attendance is essential for moving forward with initiatives and council business.

Ongoing Advocacy: Identify any needs and continue advocacy. Examples include letter-writing and delegating at trustee meetings. Follow the TDSB Policy Review schedule and provide feedback from the school community during consultation periods. 

Building Partnerships: Develop relationships with local organizations and post-secondary institutions to provide opportunities for students, such as co-op placements, career talks, and sponsorships. Develop supportive relationships with neighbouring school councils at George S. Henry Academy and Georges Vanier SS.

Teacher and Staff Appreciation: Support the organization of teacher and staff appreciation events. (Note: council funds cannot be used to fund staff appreciation.)

Engagement with Specific Parent/Caregiver Groups: Continue efforts to connect with specific groups within our parent/caregiver community, for example, supporting grade 9s, French language students, newcomers, transfer students, ESL students, and students with special learning needs. Consider offering or facilitating access to council and school communications in other languages. 

School Statement of Needs (SSON): Closely review and update the SSON to reflect the current needs of YM, especially considering that there is a new superintendent.

Collaborative Educational Events: Continue collaboration with other TDSB schools such as Leaside HS and Northern SS to expand the number and breadth of educational talks for parents/caregivers.

Graduating Student Support: Consider connecting graduating students (and parents/caregivers) at different post-secondary institutions to widen the support network and help with post-secondary transitions. Also connect graduating students with YM alumni at different institutions, particularly at universities and colleges outside the GTA. 

Continue Offering Educational Talks, Workshops, and Other Resources: Topics should be informed by parent/caregiver needs and requests, current issues and trends, etc. Content from any talk can be used to develop 1-2 page tip sheets to be made available on the council website. Topics should be honed in consultation with subject matter experts. A few ideas:

• Building Communication Skills in the Age of AI.

• Key to Success in YM English (or Science or Math). Tips for parents/caregivers from English department staff and Peer Support student leaders. 

• Support and connection for incoming Grade 9 and/or transfer students. Tips for parents/caregivers on supporting their student's transition to high school, and specifically, York Mills. (Could use content from the September 2024 meet-and-greet for parents of transfer students and newcomers, which had tips from YM teachers and guidance.)

• Post-Secondary Transition / YM Recent Grads panel session. In May, after recent YM grads are back in town from university/college, consider hosting a panel session where they come back to give advice, particularly around transitioning successfully to post-secondary, living independently, moving away for school, and school-life balance. Ideally at lunch, so recent grads could also say hello to teachers/staff. 

• Career Talks: Career exploration. Invite local businesses, organizations, and parents/extended family members to speak at lunchtime talks educating students about different careers and jobs. Establish potential co-op relationships. Also the possibility to engage older YM alumni and family members.  Cover a broad range of careers covering the arts (music, media, visual arts, digital media, dramatic arts), science, business, law, trades, and entrepreneurship.