Text Box: Principal’s Message Text Box: Cedar Community Secondary News Text Box: 1640 MacMillan Road Nanaimo, B.C. V9X 1L9 Tel: 722-2414 Fax: 722-3071 http:\\schools.sd68.bc.ca/ceds Text Box: Susann Young, Principal Bill Rounis, Vice Principal DECEMBER 10TH, 2009 Text Box: Dear parents, community members and students, We have had an eventful few weeks since the last newsletter! We had a very successful Remembrance Day assembly, with performances from Mr. Norcutt’s drama class and student performances by Rebecca Nordman, Harrison Stupich, Andrew Mikus, and Andrew Gates. We had excellent feedback from students and guests. We have practiced a lock down (in case of threat to students and/or staff), and had a number of volleyball teams compete in district and Island tournaments. Intramural activities have changed from 3 on 3 basketball to floor hockey. Shayne Koyzan, author and spoken poet, presented at a school-wide assembly. Our students were treated to a modern and personal message of self esteem and anti-bullying. They were a wonderful audience! We also had our report card night with a 48% pick up - it was great to meet a number of you. Grade 10-12 students attended the District Career Fair and our grade 11 and 12 students had a chance to explore post-secondary options at the Post-Secondary day at Cedar. We celebrated student academic success with honour roll assemblies: 57% - grade 8, 35% - grade 9, 46% - grade 10, 35% grade 11 and 41% - grade 12. I am proud of our student progress so far! Interim reports are going home today which will give a snapshot of progress this term. I encourage parents to review these with their sons/daughters as there will only be about four weeks of classes left before exams at the end of the semester. Our last day of classes will be on the 18th. We will have locker clean up and will encourage students to check the lost and found before leaving for the break. Unclaimed items will be cleaned and sent to a local charity. Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday. Yours sincerely, Susann Young Text Box: Thursday, Dec 10 Interim Day Newsletter out Friday, Dec 18 Last day of classes (Winter Vacation) Monday, Jan 4 Start of classes after holiday Thursday, Jan 14 Newsletter out Friday, Jan 22 Last day of Semester 1 Last day for marks cut off Jan 25—29 Exams Tuesday, Jan 26 PAC Mtg. @ 7 pm Feb 1 Semester 2 begins Text Box: Dates to Note Text Box: Facebook: Block Your Mis-Users!: A summary Full of Opinions—Mr. Rounis Over the past while I have witnessed a spike in the number of cases of cyber bullying. The program that is currently being used the most is FACEBOOK. My intention is to give parents that may or may not know anything about the online program some advise and information to help their kids with appropriate use. Facebook has the ability to connect a group of people together online. When you log in, everyone on your list is notified. You can do the following one at a time or all at once: chat, private email, wall posts, view pictures, comment on various things like pictures/posts/opinions, and play games (like Farmville/Mafia/Scrabble. Here’s my top five pieces of advice: 1. Start your own Facebook and make sure that your son/daughter is added as one of your friends/contacts. Also make sure that you can see your son/daughter’s WALL, PHOTOS and STATUS UPDATES. They may have you as a LIMITED VIEWER and keep you from seeing some things. To limit anyone you can click FRIENDS (top) LIMITED PROFILE (left), EDIT LIST (top). 2. REMOVE the following two Facebook programs: a) HONESTY BOX it’s a place where you ask people to say what they really think People are allowed to anonymously leave posts for you. B) BATH ROOM STALL is almost the same except that it is not just one person you young people are posting about. My interviews with Cedar students have concluded that these are where people receive some of the worst comments. 3. Monitor your son/daughter’s WALL. Here is where you can leave messages for people and others can comment on them. 4. Filter the PICTURES that are posted. Not only do students post pictures they also tag (or mis-tag) them. The term used by the students for looking at someone else’s pictures is to CREEP through them. You should also be aware of what comments are listed about the pictures. These comments can also be very hurtful. 5. Make it a habit to BLOCK PEOPLE that are inappropriate. To block go to SETTINGS, PRIVACY SETTINGS, BLOCK PERSON. A person that you have blocked cannot leave you wall posts, see your profile, chat with you, or tag you in a picture. After you’ve blocked someone you can easily unblock them later.

“CEDAR:  WE’RE IN IT TO LEARN!”
Seasons Greetings to all Thursday, Dec 10