Minutes of the Hamilton-Wentworth Executive
Thursday December 2, 2004

Members: Roz Minaji, Deborah Doody, Kaywana Gargarello, Dianne Mackenzie, Frank Torelli, Carrie Crockett, Marie Patenaude,

Regrets: Yvonne Swiston, Tracey Cseresnyes, Susan McClure, Ron English

The Chair called the meeting to order.

1. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES

Review of minutes of November 4 -noted Mimi Hall was not in attendance.

2. UPDATES

Volunteer Hours: 130

Treasurer's Report:
As of December 2nd, 2004

Opening Balance October 25th, 2004 1,464.19

Revenues
2004 Memebership Rebates 2,205.00
Refund of School rental fees 123.05

Total Revenues November 2,328.05

Expenses
Craig Sproats - Keys to French # 59 Nov-04 60.00
Bishop Ryan - Rental Fee Etienne # 58 Nov-04 200.00
Membership renewal costs - #60 Nov-04 136.71
Roz Minaji - Concourse prizes # 61 Nov-04 128.84
Roz Minaji - Dictionary Prize #62 Nov-04 18.14
Gas money re books #69 Dec-04 50.00 O/S
Membership renewal costs - #70 Dec-04 43.70 O/S
Craig Sproats - re Keys to French # 71 Dec-04 100.00 O/S

Total Expenses November 737.39

Balance as of December 2nd, 2004 3,054.85

** In addition, in our savings accounts is $250.00 a SEVEC Donation

Membership Updates: Carrie Crockett
No new memberships this month.

Communications:
Kaywana attended the parent council at St. Joseph's to provide an update on CPF activities. CPF Hamilton-Wentworth has been linked to the new St. Joseph's web site. Roz attended the school council at Norwood Park. Dianne will be attending parent council at A.M. Cunningham on December 6 to ask for a parent rep to join the CPF Executive. Next newsletter will be January 6.

3. CHAPTER EVENTS

Book Sale
This year's very successful sale raised $707.20, which was about $100 more than last year's sale. Sales were steady, however it appeared that not as many St. Joseph's parents turned out this time. We had good support from le centre français as the event was listed in their "Entre Nous" newsletter. It was agreed that the book sale should continue to move around to various schools, so as to keep parents interested. The date of the book sale will be kept as late November. We will also investigate holding the event at two different schools next year and keeping the books for a couple of extra days in-between. Marie will ask Champlain if that would be possible. Kaywana's banners were a great advertising tool. The group thanked Marie and Craig for their support and provided gas money to cover their two trips to Toronto.

There were about 100 draw slips from the French dictionary draw. Dianne has drafted a letter thanking people for their support of the event and asking them to join CPF. Carrie will send out the letters in early February. It was noted that we ran out of French Dictionaries and stickers. We will try to get more next year, depending on how many sales are being held. There were two other Champlain sales the week of our event, so material choices were somewhat limited. The inventory was not accurate, and it was decided that we should double-check the figures again next year. We will do this earlier in the morning, or on the night before the sale (as we didn't finish by 3pm this year).

SEVEC Planning
We have 25 students who have paid their $100 deposit and registered for SEVEC. The rest of the 68 students who were initially interested have not applied. Debbie plans to make presentations at all middle schools starting in January to try to attract more serious interest. She will show Deni Cavanaugh's video and talk about past trip activities. Fundraising will wait until more students have been recruited.

Debbie has also spoken to Susan West, a local contact at the Trillium Foundation. She tells us that to apply for a Trillium Grant we must be a registered charity and incorporated. We therefore would need to use CPF Ontario as the parent organization in our application. Debbie and Susan will contact CPF Ontario to see whether this would be possible. Dianne noted that communication and advertising money should be included in any fundraising applications.

Day In French
The Christmas Day in French takes place Sunday December 5. Posters are up in most schools to promote the event and about 18 people have phoned to register for the Dundurn Castle tour. Kaywana and Debbie will be attending to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

National Conference
Roz, Kaywana and Marie provided highlights of the conference to the Executive. The event was held in Quebec City from November 12 to 14th. It was very interesting to meet FI parents from across the country and hear how similar their challenges and triumphs are.

The first day of the conference dealt with the launch of the 2004 CPF State of French Second Language Education in Canada report. The bulk of this year's report deals with achieving the Federal Government's goal of doubling the proportion of high school graduates with a functional knowledge of their second official language. Issues noted for Ontario included: FSL funding being folded into the general school board revenue where it is not possible to determine how the money is actually spent; some Ontario school boards providing no transportation to FSL classes; compaction of the curriculum makes achieving the 10 French secondary school credits difficult; and declining enrollment in high schools. Lack of FSL teachers is noted as an issue in all parts of Canada.
The CPF report also focused on improving the delivery and enrollment in Core French. Alternative models of Core French were described including:

Intensive Core French: Students in Grade 5 attend Core French for 80% of their time between September and January. This increase in hours focuses on spoken French using a language arts approach and no other subjects are taught (except math -which is still in English). Studies have found that by the end of the Intensive Core French session, Grade 5 students speak French at a similar level to Grade 10 Core French students and can maintain this level of fluency more readily in successive grades. More information is available at www.caslt.ca

Extended Core French: Previously called "late immersion" where students are prepared in elementary school to take a minimum of three subject courses in French (where French is the language of instruction, not the subject) during their years of high school.

Day Two of the Conference focused on help for CPF volunteers. The day started with motivational speaker Marc Andre Morel who told us to stay positive and keep working hard. James Shea, the CPF National Executive Director provided an overview of where CPF has been and how it is working with the Federal government to achieve their Action Plan on Official Languages. CPF now has 21,000 members across the country (3,231 from Ontario). The Federal Government will be allocating $137 Million more for second language education. In the new economy second language education is increasingly important and CPF is working with the business community to recognize this. The government will be revising the Citizenship Act to emphasize the importance of bilingual education. CPF is advocating for an annual report from each Provincial Government on their progress toward achieving the Action Plan.

The afternoon sessions featured various workshops for chapters:
Marketing and Promotion: This workshop focused on communication techniques including radio, newspaper, TV and informal. Participants were given help with writing a sample media release. Some chapters shared their marketing and promotional material. Kaywana handed out our bookmarks.

Best Practices for Fundraising: This workshop dealt with planning and organizing a fundraising campaign. The organizers recommended taking human resources, financial resources, organizational image and audience into account before starting any new fundraiser. Annual reports must show revenue from fundraising and when approaching national corporations you must ensure first that CPF national or provincial branches do not already deal with them. Approach new donors each year, but keep acknowledging existing donors at intervals by telling them what you have used the funds to achieve.

Advocacy with Elan: Focused on taking the positive message of CPF out to the community. The workshop included tips for making a plan before approaching your advocacy target, arranging a meeting, what to say during the meeting and how to follow-up after the meeting. Our job is to motivate and encourage empathy but not to alienate.

Working with your School Board: This workshop featured a school trustee and a school superintendent speaking about CPF advocacy. The superintendent stressed that CPF chapters should always start at the staff level first before approaching the trustees. It was suggested that CPF frame their requests in a way that emphasizes quality of education as a whole, not just advantages to French students.

On the whole, the conference was informative and fun. We learned the most from speaking with other parents. It was wonderful to be in Quebec City and be inspired by all the people switching effortlessly from French to English and back again.

4. UPCOMING EVENT PLANNING

Étienne Concerts
Concert dates are confirmed:
Wednesday February 23, 2005 1:00 pm Mohawk College Theatre
Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:00 am & 1:00 pm Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School

Tickets are $5.50 plus transportation. Ticket order forms have been sent by Educorock to the school boards. CPF members will need to promote the concerts within their schools also. Roz will prepare a poster in the new year featuring some photos from last year. The events will also be covered in the January newsletter.

French Courses
Both Level One and Level Two will be offered in late February. New teacher: Betty Dunfield has agreed to teach Level Two on Mondays and Annette Ray will return to teach Level One on Tuesdays. Roz will book classrooms. Registration forms will be included in the January newsletter. Roz has revised the Level Two course material to delete some of the grammar lessons. She will send a draft to Betty Dunfield in December.

Le Concours
Public Board has formed a committee to organize the local concours event, and a letter to parents and guide for teachers has been prepared and distributed. The concept has been presented at the FI principals meeting. Schools have until the end of February to complete school-level contests and send the names of Board-wide participants to the FSL consultant. Two dates in March have been set aside and the contest will be held at Dalewood.

Separate Board is also having a competition possibly in December. Kaywana will confirm the dates for the next meeting.

CPF Provincial contest occurs: May 19, 2005

Member Appreciation Event -June 2005
Carrie has phoned the City to check availability of HAAA grounds. Roz and Kaywana are meeting with Lisa Breton from le centre français in December and will ask about the possibility of a joint event at the St. Jean Baptiste Festival at Pier 4 Park. Activities: Magician; Bouncing & Jumping.

Parent Information Night/AGM - April 2005
Theme: Summer Experiences for French Immersion Students (SEVEC, Katimavik, Summer Student Exchange) with speakers from each. In January we will pick a date and possible location.

Summer Camps
Kaywana and Ron will meet with Lisa Breton from le centre français in December to start the planning for next summer's camp. Lisa is seeing if a space to hold the camp is available at the centre de santé communautaire de Hamilton-Wentworth.

5. SEPARATE SCHOOL BOARD ISSUES

Great news from the Separate School Board! School Board Staff have prepared a report to the Director of Education, responding to Dianne and Kaywana's June 2004 requests. The following responses have been forwarded to CPF Hamilton-Wentworth:
a) CPF Hamilton-Wentworth does not require formal recognition from the Board in order to work with school communities to promote our events. CPF school memberships may be purchased without further permission from the Board.
b) CPF asked for the formation of a French Advisory Committee, (similar to the FIAC committee in the public board). The Separate Board did not agree to this request; however they will be hiring a half time French Special Assignment Teacher in January 2005. This person will work with FSL teachers and act as a liaison with parent groups such as CPF. We believe that some of the credit for this new position lies with the lobbying efforts of our Chapter. Congratulations to Kaywana and Dianne.
c) The Board has purchased new software which will facilitate the tracking of student information after the spring of 2005. This software can be used to produce data on FI student enrollment trends and drop-out rates. Unfortunately, the Board will not be conducting the requested survey of elementary school students to determine why many of them do not pursue their French Immersion education at Cathedral. Perhaps the new French Special Assignment Teacher will be willing to undertake a survey at some point in the future.

6. PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD ISSUES

Roz attended the French Immersion Advisory Committee meeting on November 24, 2005. The new Director of Education attended the first half hour of the meeting and FIAC members were invited to ask him questions. On behalf of CPF, Roz raised the issues of transportation and the inability to open new FI magnet schools. Lisa Breton from le centre français spoke to the Committee about their upcoming events, including the French Film Festival in March. She invited FI high school students to take part in the French Talent Show at Westdale in April.

New enrollment figures were distributed which were very different from the previous ones. Elementary FI enrollment has increased in the past year from a total of 1,127 students to a total of 1,220. (SK and JK students are counted as ½ each.) Secondary enrollment has increased from 283 to 310 students. The major part of the meeting was spent discussing retention of students from middle school to high school immersion. It was suggested that regular meetings take place between middle school and high school teachers to discuss transition in the curriculum. It was also suggested that more special events be held for middle school students so they see the advantage of using their French language skills. Marie and Roz presented the 2004 State of French Language Report to the group. Roz went over upcoming CPF events. It was noted that Opera Hamilton will be featuring Carmen in French with English subtitles on Thursday April 15. Tickets are $10 for students with the 11th ticket free.

7. OTHER BUSINESS

Kaywana noted that CPF members can purchase $10 memberships for their teachers in the Canadian Association of Second Languages Teachers (this is a $35 savings) and makes a great Christmas gift.

Roz asked about the possibility of purchasing a button maker for approximately $200 (including materials to make 150 buttons). French buttons could be sold at special events and during the SEVEC exchange. It was decided to check Tralco and other suppliers for bulk order button prices and models before proceeding.

Kaywana suggested CPF look into developing a one day course on how to help your child in French Immersion. Charge $25 for non-members and sign them up. The course would include: how to use a becherelle, homework tips, best French dictionaries, etc.

Dianne will contact Hamilton City Hall to find out whether CPF posters can be displayed on buses.

Le centre français has donated 20 boxes of used French books to CPF Hamilton-Wentworth. These will be used to form the nucleus of our French book swap in the spring. Debbie is storing them in her garage in the meantime.