Sept 6 Newsletter

Administrator’s Message 

 What a fantastic start to a new school year! Staff has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know their new students and reconnecting with their students from last year. Personally, my bucket has been filled with the smiles of students and many, many welcome back hugs. There is a buzz of excitement in the building. This is such an optimistic and hopeful time of year. It is a blank page with a learning story waiting to be written. 

 Our school has grown in population. Not a surprise given the growth in Airdrie! Welcome to all our new families. Becoming part of a school community can be a bit intimidating at first but it’s very rewarding when you build connections with other parents. The old saying is that raising children takes a village. We encourage all families to become part of this community’s village by investing some of your time and energy into the school where your children spend so many of their waking hours. One way to do that is by joining our Parent Council. The council meets the second Tuesday of each month. The first meeting will be in the Learning Commons on Sept 10 at 6:30. You can also become involved by volunteering. Be sure to pick up a vulnerable sector check form at the office to bring to the local RCMP detachment. Vulnerable sector checks must be less than one year old when you submit them to the school. They are then valid for 5 years from the date they were issued by the RCMP. All volunteers must have a vulnerable sector check on file at the school before volunteering. 

 Over the course of this year, I will share a few thoughts and quotes to ponder. This month I share this quote by Harry Wong, author and educator: “The most important day of a person’s education is the first day of school, not graduation day.’ There are so many reasons why there’s truth in that statement! My hope for 2024-25 is that as staff of Ralph McCall we foster curiosity, wonder, and excitement for learning. May we inspire students and foster a passion for learning now and for the future. 

 Elisa Korver 

Principal 

Website: 

The website continues to be updated regularly. In particular, please check the calendar regularly for dates of professional learning days, holidays, conferences, book fairs, picture dates, school spirit days, concerts, and more. We will add more dates throughout the year. 

 School Handbook: 

Our Student Handbook has been updated for the 2024-25 school year and can be found on the website. Please review the important information in the Handbook, which includes school policies and procedures. 

 PBIS: 

Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based framework for improving understanding of agreed-upon school-wide behavioural expectations and following through with actions that demonstrate that understanding. In Rocky View Schools it is an expectation that all schools are implementing school-wide PBIS; a way to support everyone in creating the kind of school where both students and staff feel safe, valued and successful.  

Our work with the PBIS framework guides us as staff in our commitment to respond to student behaviour responsively, through prevention, teaching and responding to student need. At Ralph McCall School, we have identified three areas of focus under the banner of “At Ralph McCall we are RESPONSIBLE”. These three areas include Respect, Safety and Kindness. You can be sure to learn more about our PBIS work as we plan and participate in school-wide PBIS initiatives this year. Updates will be shared with you as we work together to strengthen our school community with our shared understandings of expectations at Ralph McCall school! 

 From the office: 

• If your child is away, you must let the school know using SafeArrival. On the school website, click on ‘Parents’ at the top of the landing page to quickly find the SafeArrival app. 

• Please ensure that all your annual forms have been completed in School Engage – which can also be found by clicking on ‘Parents’ on the website.  

• Student doors open at 8:00. Instructional time begins at 8:05. Students who are late will need to come to the office to sign in. 

• If you need to arrange pick-up plans for your child(ren), please contact the office at least a half hour before the end of the day to ensure the message is passed on before dismissal. 

• We do not accept food deliveries for students from delivery services such as restaurant delivery drivers, Skip, Door Dash, etc. Parents are welcome to drop off lunches for their child(ren) before noon (M-Th) and before 11:00 am (F). 

 From RVS - New Administrative Procedure: Responsible use of Personal Mobile Devices and Social Media in Schools  

The provincial government established standards for personal mobile devices and social media use in schools to be implemented by September 1, 2024.  

 RVS is committed to fostering a focused and engaging learning environment. By establishing clear rules for the responsible use of cell phones, personal mobile devices and social media in schools we can work together to reduce distractions and maximize valuable instructional time. An RVS Administrative Procedure (AP 148) has been developed and provides clear direction in all RVS schools for students and families. This administrative procedure is in effect as of the first day of school.   
 

Our teachers and administration team will work with students to help them understand the expectations of personal mobile devices and social media at school. Please take time to read the new AP and discuss it with your child(ren).  

  Here are some key points:   

• The safest place for students’ devices is at home. Should they choose to bring them to school, they must be out of sight and turned off or silent. Parents/guardians and students assume full responsibility if their device is lost, stolen or damaged.  

• Students cannot use their personal mobile device in school during instructional time, unless specially authorized by their school’s administrator or their teacher for educational purposes. This includes any personal electronic device that can be used to communicate with or access the internet.  

• Students with health or medical reasons or special learning needs may be granted permission to use personal mobile devices during instructional time, upon completion of Form AF148A or as indicated in the student’s Individualized Program Plan.   

• Students will not have access to social media platforms at school over the school’s Wi-Fi network and are not permitted to access it at school using their own data plans to ensure students remain focused on educational tasks.   

• The AP includes progressive consequences that are designed to have teachers and administrators work with students and parents/guardians toward the common goal of limiting distractions and staying focused on learning.   

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we make these adjustments in our school. 

 School Emergency Program   

Within the next week or so we will hold our first evacuation drill of the school year, and the staff and students will practice evacuating their classrooms and school in a calm, orderly manner!  Each year, schools are required to complete fire drills, emergency evacuation drills, and lock down drills.  These are important drills to help us prepare for any type of emergency that may come our way.  Rocky View has provided families with some information about the different types of drills that are covered in our preparedness plans.  You can find more information about them here; "Rocky View Schools Emergency Program: A Guide for Parents and Guardians" https://www.rockyview.ab.ca/about-rvs/emergency-response  

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School Council / Friends of Ralph McCall Submissions 

 On behalf of the members of the Parent Council and the Friends of Ralph McCall Society, I'd like to welcome you all to another wonderful year at Ralph McCall School.  My name is Maria Overbeck and I'm honored to be entering my 6th year as Chair/President of both organizations.  Joining me as the executive members of the Parent Council are: Vice-Chair Stephanie Morris and Secretary Kyla Derosiers.  Over on the Friend side are Vice-Chair Kristina Allen, Treasurer Stephanie Morris, and Secretary Kyla Derosiers. I'd like to take this moment to thank all of them, as well as our members at large who attend each meeting.  I could not do this without any of you, and your contributions to our school community are invaluable. 

 As always, the start of a new school year is controlled chaos. This year is no exception.  Between the need to replace our aging playground equipment and planning for the Grade 5 students who will be attending Ralph McCall beginning in September of 2025, this year bodes to be one of the most exciting yet!  Below, you will find a list of currently scheduled and tentative events that we as members of your council and fundraising society are pleased to have a hand in.  We are also looking for volunteers so if you are interested, please feel free to contact either Friends, Parent Council, or the school and they can put you in touch with us. 

 September Council & Friends Meetings:  Our meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month, with Friends following immediately after Parent Council.  This is a great time to come out and find out about what's going on in your school community as well as have a say in what goes on at the school.  As a family attending Ralph McCall, you are automatically a member of the parent council, and each household gets a vote.  We are also lucky enough that we have a trustee attend each of our meetings to share what's going on in our wider RVS community and to get feedback from parents on what is happening.  Your voice matters, and changes were made to the Airdrie Spaces for students planning as a direct result of input from members of councils all around the city. 

 Friends of Ralph McCall meets directly after the parent council and this is where you get to have your say on our fundraising activities, as well as how those funds are spent.  We help to bring a great many experiences and other learning tools into the school that would otherwise not be possible with the limited funding available to our teachers. Annually, we cover the cost of Mathletics and RazKids; which are online learning tools to help kids continue their reading and numeracy progress at home, and Alien In-Line skating; where all of our students get a chance to experience rollerblading as part of the PE curriculum.  In years past we've replaced various pieces of gym equipment, added ball sets for the students to use at recess, added additional basketball nets so more students could participate, supplied several classroom carts worth of Chromebooks to assist as more learning moves into the digital realm, purchased an incubator for the school so to allow staff to extend the life cycle studies to more students, and replacing all the art supplies that were in need; just to name a few. 

 If you are interested in attending, but are unable to join us in person, see the link at the bottom to join us via zoom. 

 If you are interested in joining us as part of Council or Friends, we will be having a "special election meeting" immediately prior to each of the regularly scheduled meetings on Tuesday, September 10th at 6:30pm. 

 Healthy Hunger: As a fun break from making lunches as well as a small ongoing fundraiser, Friends hosts a "Fun Lunch" via the Healthy Hunger website.  We pair with local businesses that provide kid friendly lunches to make Fridays a little more exciting.  Parents can choose to participate in all, some or none of the lunches and the students really look forward to finding out what this week's fun lunch is. More details will follow once the schedule is ready.   This is limited to students from Grade 1 to 4 as the kindergarten day ends prior to the delivery of the lunches. 

 As with many activities, we are in need of parent volunteers to distribute the lunches to the classrooms.  If you have an hour from 11:00am to noon on Fridays, please contact Friends and we'd love to have you.  As this is a regularly schedule: event, we do ask that you commit to attending regularly so that we can ensure the students get their lunches on time. 

 Spirit Wear:  We are hoping to bring Spirit Wear back for the third year in a row.  Stay tuned after next week's Council Meeting for the details! 

 Playground Fundraisers:  We have been informed by RVS that our playground is on its last days.  As playgrounds are not considered essential by Alberta Education, there is limited funding available, and what is available is only in the form of grants that match what has been raised separately.  Due to the size of our student population along with the anticipated growth, we have been given an estimate of up to $550,000.00 to replace the playground; including the removal of the existing structure.  As of June 2026, if funding has not been secured, fencing will be placed around the existing structure to prevent its use.   If you or someone you know, has experience in large fundraising projects like this, and are interested, Friends would like to request your help. Like many of you, we are all working parents without experience in large scale fundraising, and this isn't as simple as asking each student to contribute $1000.00.  Nor is that reasonable.  We will be touching base with both RVS as well as ASCA, the body that oversees parent councils for direction and assistance in the coming weeks, so keep looking here for updates. 

 Contacts:  

 Friends: friendsofralphmccall@gmail.com 

Parent Council: rmccall-schoolcouncil@rvschools.ab.ca 

You can also find us via the School Council page on the Ralph McCall website: https://ralphmccall.rockyview.ab.ca/get-involved/school-council 

Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 10th, 2024 at 6:30pm in the Learning Commons, Ralph McCall School or join on zoom: https://rockyview.zoom.us/j/97514344565 (Password: McCall)