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 February 11, 2010 Text Box: Dear parents, community members and students, Semester two is now finishing it’s second week. Students had the opportunity to make course changes last week and we hope they are now well settled in their new classes. I would like to extend a warm Cedar welcome to our new staff, Becky Kay (Math and Science ), Kim Barton (First Nations 12) and returning teachers , Taya Murray (Band), Stephen Epp (Socials and Planning), and Jim Basnett (back from exchange to Australia). Report cards will be going out to students today. Overall, I am very pleased with the number of students exhibiting good work habits, consistently maintaining strong academic results, and those showing signs of improvement. Mr. Rounis and I have also noted some students with a significant absentee and/or lates, which is reflected in poor academic performance and we will be following up with those students. As a school, we provide many supports to help students succeed: we have learning assistance support, a number of teachers are available for extra help in the morning, at noon or after school, we have a half-time Aboriginal support teacher (Roxanne Harris), an Aboriginal education assistant (Diane Neave), a part-time Aboriginal tutor (Grant Begley), a part-time child and youth care worker (Sandy Walsh) and a part-time drug and alcohol counselor (Raechelle Middleton). Our Learning Lab is staffed with teachers who support students taking a variety of courses through Learn@Home and we also have a Homework Club on Friday’s from 1-2:30 in which teachers can send students to get caught up. Congratulations go out to our Sr. Girl’s basketball team (Launa Gannon—coach) and Sr. Boys (Rick Hart—coach) for being able to represent us the upcoming Islands tournaments—their hard work and commitment has paid off and we wish them all the best! Looking forward to seeing many of you at the Fun Fair next week, Friday, February 19th! Sincerely, Susann Young Text Box: Thursday, Feb 11 Report Cards out (3:15 pm) -Newsletter out -Grad Fashion show @ 7 pm Friday, Feb. 19 Fun Fair Monday, Feb 22 District Pro D Day Tuesday, Feb 23 School Pro D Day -PAC Mtg. @ 7 pm Thursday, Mar 4 Interim Day -Newsletter out Friday, Mar 5 Last day of school before Spring break Mar 8-12 Spring break Monday, Mar 15 School in session after Spring break Tuesday, Mar 30 PAC mgt. @ 7 pm Friday, April 2 Good Friday (stat) Monday, April 5 Easter Monday (stat) Thursday, April 8 Newsletter out Thursday, April 22 Parent-Teacher conferences from 4-6:30 pm -Early Dismissal for students at 1:30 pm Monday, April 26 Curr. Implementation Day (students not in attendance) Text Box: Dates to Note Text Box: —Mr. Rounis (Vice Principal) Fighting Crime One Click at at Time: The H.I.N.T.S. Website Good communication between the students and staff is a key to any successful school. I’ve often announced that my office door is open. I’ve asked that if another student makes you feel unsafe or is breaking the school rules to report that to me so I can help. It is more the exception to the rule that a student will report to me directly about an issue that is happening in the school. Even if they do come in, it is often long after the first incident or after it has become overwhelming. Early this year there was a series of graffiti and vandalism to the boy’s washrooms that motivated me to look at new ways of reporting and solving school problems. At that same time the School Board was offering money of a plan that takes a school wide approach to reducing vandalism. The plan, that Cedar created was a website similar to Crime-Stoppers that would allow people to anonymously email/report any crime directly to the Principal or myself. This program will not only help us reduce the occurrence of vandalism but also can give us information about other serious activities that are happening in the school such as bullying, drugs, and threats. I believe that giving a medium for early intervention and an efficient way to report will help make Cedar even more safe and inviting place to come for school. This site is called HINTS: Help Invest Now Towards a Safer School. The website is CEDARHINTS.MYSD68.CA

“CEDAR:  WE’RE IN IT TO LEARN!”