Welcome Back!

Welcome back! I hope that your family had a wonderful summer full of rest, relaxation and enjoyment!

Another dynamic year of education is slated to take place at CtK for the 2010-2011 school year. One that is holistic in fashion, with our faith woven into everything that we do in our Catholic Learning Community.

Our Grade 9 Orientation this past August 31st was a great success. Our Prefects and House Leaders did a great job acclimatizing our incoming Grade 9 students into the culture of our school.

Grade Assemblies will follow this upcoming week. Invariably, we will review our eight governing values which are adorned on the beautiful banners in our atrium.

They are as follows:

Sincerity

Integrity

Honesty

Commitment to Excellence

Continuous Improvement

Passion for Learning

Compassion for Life &

Equity/Dignity/Respect.

Our staff selected these values over three years ago as a testament to what they would model and expect from our students.

In addition, pieces of scripture will be cited as a means to spiritually illustrate how we deport ourselves at CtK. One that I will share with you is from Matthew 25:40.

And the King will answer them,"Truly I tell you, just as you did to one of the least of these, who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Our CtK family is inclusive, embraces the poor, helps those with mental, social and/or emotional issues and truly endeavours to treat everyone with equity, dignity and respect.

In the end, the message that students will clearly receive from our administration is that they will be loved and cared for. However, expectations will be high in terms of their commitment to excellence in the classroom and co-curriculars. They will also be expected to work on their resiliency in solving problems with our staff and students in a ethical and faith-oriented fashion.

Please remember to visit our website at http://www.ctk.ca/ for school updates. You will also receive updates through our phone and email systems. If you have not submitted your email address to us and wish to receive notifications from our school through this medium, please come to the main office to express your interest.

New blogs will be posted at the beginning of every week until the end of the 2010-2011 school year. My blogs will range from commentary to school news regarding our academic and co-curricular pursuits. Please feel free to post your own comments/questions about this topic or anything else concerning our Catholic Learning Community at CtK.

Thank you for being a part of our family.

Congratulations 2009-2010 Graduates!

To the graduating class of 2010….

“It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men (and women) mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today." This excerpt from a poem by Robert J. Hastings reminds us of creating a life focused on the journey and not the destination. This coupled with Psalm 118:24 “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” really sends home the message of “relishing in the moment." Life must be lived as we go along.

I firmly believe that your Catholic education at Christ the King in concert with God as the source of all goodness….has provided you with the ability to enliven humanity, spirit discipline and creativity and a value system steeped in our gospel values. You have the ability and the duty to apply your goodness…your brand of excellence to face the many obstacles and challenges whether your pathway leads you to the workplace, apprenticeship programs, college, or university. It is this goodness that will foster a proclivity to life-long learning, critical thinking, and sound faith-based decision-making that will contribute great value to this community and our society for years to come.

In closing, to the class of 2010, I would like to extend a sincere and heartfelt congratulations to you for all of your hard work and accomplishments. The mark that you have left at our school has been inextricably woven into the fabric of our culture and has provided an outstanding foundation from which to grow for future CtK graduates.

Stay committed to your faith…stay committed to excellence..stay committed to living your life to the fullest.

This piece is an excerpt from my graduation speech to our 2009-2010 Graduates. They are a wonderful group of young men and women and I wish them a bright and enlightening future.

This is my last blog for the school year. Please let me know what topics you would like me to cover in this medium in the upcoming school year. See you in September!

Father's Day

This Sunday was a very good day. In fact, the entire weekend was active, fun filled and family oriented.

I went bike riding, enjoyed breakfast and swam in the pool with my kids to cite a few activities. The best part of the weekend was when they presented their hand made cards for a Happy Father's Day.

I find that as the years pass they seem to share how much more of me that they know through the comments and artistic elements of their cards. I get more enjoyment and appreciation from these gifts as they get older.

Our kids are heavily influenced by our attitudes, behaviours, beliefs, morals and ethics. Being a parent is the most difficult and yet most rewarding vocation. However, despite our best efforts, it is inevitable that our children will be somewhat affected by external stimuli such as peer pressure and the electronic and print media.

We can only give them our love, guidance, faith and trust and hope that their good choices far outweigh the bumps and bruises they will incur in their pursuit of independence.

Essentially, this is what we strive to do with your children in our Catholic Learning Community at CtK.

Happy Father's Day!

Summer Blast!

We held our 2nd Annual Summer Blast Carnival last Thursday, June 10 from 11 am to 8 pm at CtK.

The event for all intents and purposes was very successful. This in combination with Ford's "Drive One 4 Ur School" Campaign raised over $10,000 for the CtK Cares Foundation.

What was most impressive was the synergy that developed between key staff members and our student leaders in the planning, organizing and implementation of this initiative. Once again, when given the opportunity, our staff outperformed last year's efforts.

Our student leaders from Student Council and the Prefects in particular proved that they could excel at a level that exceeded our school's high expectations. This came to fruition not just in the evolution of the planning but in the way they deported themselves with the many families that attended Summer Blast between 4 pm and 8 pm. They were respectful, helpful and very interactive with the children which to me was more impactful than any amount of money we raised.

Our students were excellent role models and ambassador's for our Catholic Learning Community. Their efforts undoubtedly left indelible positive memories in the minds of the children of which they engaged.

I can't think of a better way to inspire our future CtK students.

On behalf of CtK, I would like to thank the families that supported Summer Blast! See you again next year.

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to your comments.

Parent Engagement

This post will be the 15th this school year.

It is very interesting to note that the only two posts that have received the most attention ....negative and positive....from purportedly parents (as very few if any cite their name next to their comments) were the previous blog on our prom and our school's position on staged fights in the community.

At any rate, I am very happy to get your attention in any of my posts. I welcome your input, insight, educated and informed opinions.

As I articulated to our Grade 12 students at their Graduation Rehearsal a few days ago, one of the many reasons why I created this blog was to engage the parental community. I felt that this avenue would allow you in the comfort of your home or at work to read what is happening at CtK through my lens.

It is my attempt to attach a sense of humanity to the position of Principal of which many people think is just a figure head. As I cited to our students, my fingerprint and/or DNA is on everything that we do in our Catholic Learning Community. I truly care about providing as many varied learning opportunities and experiences for our students. Also, I am able to do this because we have such an outstanding administrative, teaching and support staff that is sprinkled with leaders.

Our school is very dynamic and quite frankly there are very few rocks that have yet to be overturned. The one big rock left is Parent Engagement.

This has always been a tough issue in secondary schools. How do we get parents involved in our schools? For obvious reasons, parents are very involved in elementary school but the participation rate seems to decline dramatically once their children enter secondary school.

There is a fair body of research that indicates that a child's success rate in elementary school is proportionate to the engagement of their parents in school life. The body of research for secondary school is not as substantial but it is presumable that the more parents are involved in their children's secondary education the more likely they are to succeed.

We have attempted to keep you informed through Catholic School Council (where parents are always welcome), our class portals, email and phone messages, our website at http://www.ctk.ca/, our marquee and of course this blog.

There has been a push by the Ministry of Education and through the School Effectiveness Framework to have schools find ways to improve this dynamic. Our departments at CtK have all submitted SMART Goals that in some shape or form will endeavour to get you more involved or in tune with what we are doing from an academic perspective.

In addition, a sub-committee of parents from our Catholic School Council and Tanya Melykuty (Public Health Nurse), have put together a schedule of events for parents that will take place at CtK in the next school year. These events will cover issues such as technology, teen mental health, stress, anxiety, drugs, alchohol, brain development and success in secondary school. Stay tuned for information regarding when these topics will be presented.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to your comments.

"The Prom"

We had our prom this past Friday, May 28th at the Mississauga Convention Centre.

From about 6:30 pm to approximately 7:30 pm, I was thinking why our staff and school puts itself in a position to deal with a sizable percentage of students that were well on their way to inebriation.

As a parent, you are thinking why do we allow these students into the event in the first place if they "appear" to be under the influence. Yes...we have our female staff volunteers check the purses of the female students and likewise for the male staff volunteers who do a brief but non-intrusive "pat" down of the male students.

As has been the case for the last 3.5 years as the Principal at CtK, we might find the odd "dime bag" or one of those tiny liquor bottles of which we seize and the student is sent home. There is the odd student that attempts to come through the doors obliterated which leaves us no choice but to apprehend the student....call their parents and then send them home.

Back to the sizable percentage of students that may have been under the influence. These students pose an ethical dilemma. For most of them, they have worked hard for at least four years and this evening is a culmination and celebration of their efforts. Do we send them home simply because we think they have had a few drinks? Easier said than done. We have built relationships with these students and a combination of duty, care, trust and compassion get intermingled when we are confronted with the decision to end their evening at the front door.

So....like so many other schools...we let them know that we are concerned about them and to be on their best behaviour or face the possibility of being sent home. This decision falls on me and only me.

So now to the time period between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm. This was the most contentious time of our evening where it could easily have been a powder keg if cooler heads hadn't prevailed.

Many students arrived late for the dinner. Many of our students ignored the requests of one of our VPs to settle down as he was attempting to provide the ground rules for the evening for their safety. My other VP attempted to appeal to their sense of decency and managed to settle the crowd momentarily. I took the microphone shortly thereafter and mentioned that while the evening started in a disappointing fashion that I was very proud of them, complimented their appearance and wished them a wonderful evening. Fortunately, this was greeted with applause and was followed by Grace and then the meal.

To appease the unbelievable amount of students who needed to smoke throughout the evening, we allowed a few "smoke" breaks in between the transition of each course. Students filed into the smoking area to inhale a cigarette as fast as possible until one of the administrators asked .....frequently....to return to their seats for the next course.

The rest of the evening went very well as the meal and dancing had dissipated any alcohol that was consumed by the aforementioned students.

The Convention Centre was empty by 11 pm as most of the students were on their way to yet another party and in some cases one that would take place all weekend.

So....I ask you why we continue to have staff that put in MANY hours of their FREE time to make this event a special one. Why do I as the Principal put myself in a precarious position with lingering liability throughout the evening?

We do it for the many wonderful students that thanked us on the way out for our time and effort. As educators, we don't do what we do to receive thanks from anyone quite frankly. That said...the emphatic appreciation from these students was affirmation that this evening was worthwhile.

I guess it is all about perspective. Some of the staff that have been at CtK much longer than I said it was the worst behaved prom in our school's existence. When I mentioned this to a new staff member that transferred from Dufferin-Peel Catholic, she was surprised and said that the evening was far better than most of the nights that she supervised in her previous board.

Perspective indeed.

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to your comments.

"Annie"

One word....."Outstanding!"

I brought my family to the Friday night show. As I sat and watched our students put on a spectacular performance, I was emphatically reminded of three things. One....our students are incredibly dedicated and talented. Two.... the teaching staff and volunteers responsible for the planning, organizing and implementation of this musical deserve many accolades for their tireless work and the incredible amount of spare time that it took to produce a musical that was clearly professional in nature. Three....how are Arts and Culture Specialist High Skills Major has benefited our Catholic Learning Community.

As the Principal, I was never more proud of my staff and students. The happiness induced as a result of our students' wonderful acting and music could not be quantified.

This same feeling is what Cathy Parker, the wife of our dear colleague John Merlini, gave to her family and friends with her artistic impressions. Cathy passed away peacefully at their home after a courageous battle with cancer on Thursday, May 20th. Her passion for art touched the lives of many people as she created many pieces in all kinds of mediums.

As I was received by John and Cathy's family and friends at the MacKinnon Family Funeral Home, one could clearly appreciate what a profound impact her art has had on those that she loved.

Our thoughts and prayers are with John and his family.