Download a copy of Principal Di Felice's Update - May 19, 2020
Week of May 19th, 2020
Greetings from Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
This email contains important information for parents/guardians and students as online teaching continues at Marc Garneau C.I. If you do not read English please have someone translate this information for you
Pashto: دا بریښنالیک د والدینو / ساتونکو او زده کونکو لپاره مهم معلومات لري لکه څنګه چې په مارک ګارنیون C.I کې د تدریس بیا پیل کیږي. که تاسو انګلیسي نه لوستئ نو مهرباني وکړئ یو څوک ستاسو لپاره دا معلومات وژباړي
Arabic : يحتوي هذا البريد الإلكتروني على معلومات مهمة للآباء / الأوصياء والطلاب حيث يتم استئناف التدريس في Marc Garneau C.I. إذا كنت لا تقرأ الإنجليزية ، فالرجاء طلب شخص ما ترجمة هذه المعلومات لك
Urdu: اس ای میل میں والدین / سرپرستوں اور طلبہ کے لئے اہم معلومات شامل ہیں کیونکہ مارک گارنیون C.I میں تدریس کا آغاز ہوتا ہے۔ اگر آپ انگریزی نہیں سیکھتے ہیں تو براہ کرم کوئی آپ کے لئے اس معلومات کا ترجمہ کرے
Slovak: Tento e-mail obsahuje dôležité informácie pre rodičov / opatrovníkov a študentov pri pokračovaní výučby na Marc Garneau C.I. Ak nečítate angličtinu, požiadajte niekoho, aby vám preložil tieto informácie
- Assessment and Grades during the school closure
- Contacting MGCI
- Ward 11 Trustee Chernos Lin Newsletter
- Students Checking TDSB Email
- Extended School Closure and Change in Instructional Days
- Families awaiting devices
- Change in Full Disclosure Date – Graduating Students
- Food Banks in Toronto
- Valedictorian – For Graduating Students
- Commencement and PROM – For Graduating Students
- 40 Community Hours Requirements
- Summer School 2020 UPDATE
- Special Services at Home Program for Students with Special Needs
- Update: Specialized Schools and Programs Policy Public Consultation
- CIVICS and CAREERS - Evaluation
- Parents Supporting Teens
Assessment and Grades during the school closure
I want to thank you for your patience and support as we’ve shifted into virtual teaching and learning. These are challenging times, yet everyone is giving it their all - from students and teachers, to our office staff and our administration. We’re fortunate to pull together as a community.
A special note of appreciation to our students: your dedication to learning is inspiring. We realize that this is a shift for you. We’re asking you to be independent learners when you’re used to the structure of school and the immediacy of guidance from a teacher. We’re asking you to prioritize learning in a time when you might feel unmotivated. Or when you might be working, volunteering, or pursuing a passion project. We’re asking you to engage online when you might not have consistent access to a device or internet. Still, you’re participating in your classes and giving what you can to your studies.
I want to remind (or inform) you that our current policy takes this all into consideration. Your teachers and administrators are guided by a report from the TDSB that emphasizes the need for flexibility in classes. Here is a summary of those guidelines:
- Teachers can assign tasks and projects during remote learning and provide feedback. However this work will only be taken into consideration for calculating a student’s mark if it improves the mark.
- Final marks will reflect all work completed by March 13th. Any work completed after April 6th will only be considered if it improves a student’s mark.
- Right now, the goal is to support student well-being and achievement. As such there are flexible due dates. Teachers may suggest that an assignment is due on a certain date to help students with organization, but there will be no late marks deducted if those due dates aren’t met.
- Teachers cannot replicate in-school learning. As such, there will be no final exams. Similarly, your course marks will not be comprised of 70% course work and a 30% culminating task.
- Teachers will continue to provide feedback about your learning. This is a wonderful time to practice your skills, and receive feedback about how to improve without feeling like it will hurt your mark.
I hope this helps clarify any of the questions you might have about your learning or your grades as we move into our final weeks of this school year. If you have concerns, please speak to your teacher, the appropriate curriculum leader, or your grade’s administrator.
Contacting MGCI
Even during this pandemic, MGCI staff are available to answer questions and concerns that you may have.
If you have questions about particular classes, please contact the classroom teacher. Email is the best method at this time and will usually result in a shorter response time. Email addresses of all our teachers are on our website (https://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/marcgarneau/Staff/Departments)
If however, you do not have access to email, messages for particular teachers may be left in the MGCI general mailbox at 416-396-2414, ext. 20000. Please ensure that you clearly state the full name of the teacher that you are looking for as well as your full name and phone number. (If you know the extension number, messages may also be left at the appropriate department extension.)
For any other questions or concerns or if you are not sure how to contact the appropriate person, please feel free to contact the MGCI Administration who will be happy to assist you in any way that they can.
Our Vice Principals, can also be reached via email:
Ms Papadopoulos, Grade 9 students Agoritsa.Papadopoulos@tdsb.on.ca
Ms. Duffy, Grade 10 students Yvette.Duffy@tdsb.on.ca
Mr Haid, Grade 11 students, Craig.Haid@tdsb.on.ca
and Mr Sharp, Grade 12 students, Christopher.Sharp@tdsb.on.ca
I also invite you to email me, Mr. Di Felice, Principal, at Carlo.DiFelice@tdsb.on.ca if I can assist you in any way. If you are unable to use email, voice-mail messages can be left at 416-396-2414, ext. 20000.
Ward 11 Trustee Chernos Lin Newsletter
Our trustees newsletter can be found following the link : https://t.e2ma.net/webview/ego67c/9f367e810f92cac0b33d975724296074
Students Checking TDSB Email
Please remind your teens to check their TDSB email daily. Teachers often send important messages via email. It is important for students to check on and respond to these messages.
Extended School Closure and Change in Instructional Days
Last Sunday, Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced that all publicly-funded schools in Ontario, including those at the TDSB, will remain closed until at least May 31, 2020. He also announced that the government will replace all remaining Professional Activity (PA) days and exam days with instructional time. We all await the Ministers further directions in regard to the school closure set to be made public on May 19th.
Change in Full Disclosure Date – Graduating Students
The Full Disclosure Date has been moved to Wednesday, May 6th. However, midterm marks for graduating students will be provided to OUAC starting April 27th. If you are a graduating student and would like to drop a course, please contact your guidance counsellor as soon as possible.
Food Banks in Toronto
Attached is a list of available foodbanks. A map of food banks currently operating in Toronto can be found here: https://www.211toronto.ca/topic/Central%20Region/ORGANIZATION/fht142/Central%20Region
Valedictorian – For Graduating Students
Dear Potential Graduates!
We hope you are all doing your best to get through these unprecedented times. As a graduating class, your experience and memories will be like none before you. At this point, we do not know exactly how things are going to unfold over the next few months. We do know however, that your high school experience is/was about much more than the last semester of grade 12. As you begin to plan the next phase of your life, it is very important that we celebrate your high school experiences and achievements. To help us do that, we need to elect a Valedictorian to speak on your behalf. At this point, we do know that commencement WILL BE POSTPONED until the fall . The form to nominate valedictorians is now available at https://forms.gle/QTUgwRbcG63WaRzc7 until May 22nd.
Commencement – For Graduating Students
Dear Potential Graduates
It is with sadness that we must confirm that the Commencement ceremony scheduled for June 2020 is postponed tentatively until the fall of 2020.
40 Community Hours Requirements
The full 40 community hours requirement for your OSSD will be granted for all students in a graduating position this spring. If you are in grade 9, 10 or 11, please hold on to your volunteer completion forms until school reopens. If you are in Grade 12 and have completed additional hours that you feel should be added to your transcript, please contact Ms Jamal with proof of these hours.
Summer School 2020 UPDATE
Summer School 2020 information is now available online for grade 9-12 students at https://www.tdsb.on.ca/High-School/Going-to-High-School/Night-School-and-Summer-School/Summer-School
Student have 3 options for summer school:
Option 1: Traditional face-to-face summer school is being replaced with a NEW Remote Hybrid model that will start with remote learning and transition to in school learning in accordance with ongoing guidance from the Ministry of Education.
Option 2: Remote Credit Recovery will be offered in summer school for the first time. This program allows students to “recover” the credit in a course in which they were unsuccessful within the last two school years.
Option 3: Traditional e-Summer school program. This is primarily for grade 11 & 12 students with the exception of grade 10 Civics & Careers. E-Summer School is open for registration for July and August sessions.E-Summer school offers grade 11 and 12 courses with the exception of two grade 10 courses (Civics & Careers)You can visit https://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/elearning/e-Summer-School for more information about dates, times and course offerings and/or email your Guidance Counsellor.
Special Services at Home Program for Students with Special Needs
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, has temporarily expanded their list of eligible expenses under the Special Services at Home program to support people and their families while community-based activities and settings are closed.
The changes will allow families to use funding for goods and services that may make it easier for them to stay at home during physical distancing. Please visit this link for more information: Special Services at Home
The Rotary Club of Toronto Scholarship
The Rotary Club of Toronto Scholarship is a four-year tuition scholarship of up to $10,000 a year. It is awarded to an outstanding student graduating from a Municipality of Toronto High School with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. The applicant must demonstrate financial need, academic excellence (80% +), leadership and breadth and depth of community service. E-mail Ms. Jamal to apply.
Update: Specialized Schools and Programs Policy Public Consultation
Public consultation for the Specialized Schools and Programs Policy began on March 9, 2020 and was slated to close on April 20, 2020. Given the current school closure, consultation will be extended to the fall, including the opportunity for face-to-face consultation.
School communities can continue to provide feedback on the draft policy through our survey. This short video gives an overview of the proposed policy, and the survey can be found on the Policy Consultation page.
We also encourage communities to continue to provide thoughts, suggestions and feedback on the Secondary Program Review by emailing secondary.review@tdsb.on.ca.
In the fall, we will share further information about consultation dates for this policy. Please contact secondaryreview@tdsb.on.ca if you have any questions.
CIVICS and CAREERS - Evaluation
Please note that students currently enrolled in our Civics and Careers courses will need to complete the evaluations assigned by their teachers in order to earn the credit. If students have any questions, they should speak with their teacher directly.
Parents Supporting Teens
Please see attached flyer on how parents can support teens during the lockdown.
Parents supporting Teens during Lockdown.
Be safe and be well!
With warm regards,
Mr. Carlo Di Felice