The Lester B. Pearson School Board is seeking the services of a:
Posting for New Program: Teacher
DEPARTMENT OF Student Services
Status of Post: Temporary Part Time
Starting date: Early September 2010 End date: June 30, 2011
Special Project:
A program designed to provide intensive support and intervention to young students aged 6 to 8 who have had their learning compromised because of severe behavioural challenges.
This program will be offered at Christmas Park school and will serve elementary students in the Lester B. Pearson School Board. Group sizes are anticipated to be between 6 to 8 children.
At Place Cartier’s recent graduation ceremony, an 82-year-old student received his high school diploma. Saul Klarer grew up during the Great Depression and at the age of 12, had to drop out to go to work in order to support his family. Along with his diploma, Saul received a Lifelong Learning Award for his courage, commitment and humanitarianism.
CTV News along with Saul’s family was at the 82-year-old’s graduation ceremony. Saul is proof that it’s never too late to learn or go back to school. To watch CTV’s news report, click here.
Betty Makoni visits PACC Adult
On June 3rd, Betty Makoni, founder of the Girl Child Network, visited PACC Adult to inspire students and start her Canadian speaking tour. A victim of childhood sexual abuse, Betty Makoni used her experience to transform the lives of girls in southern Africa by creating a girls' rights advocacy group with 30,000 members in Zimbabwe. Founded in 1998, the Girl Child Network (GCN) empowers girls and works to eradicate all forms of abuse and practices that impede their full physical, emotional and spiritual growth. Through the Girl Child Network, which has been set up in Zimbabwe, Makoni has helped rescue thousands of girls from abuse. In 2009, Betty received the CNN Heroes Award. She has also been a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
What started as an assignment in a Social Justice class has become a powerful education experience. Students at PACC Adult Centre researched the organization, raised awareness and produced a talent show, all in the name of The Girl Child Network.
Congratulations Taylor Castator!
Congratulations to Taylor Castator of Westwood Senior High School. She was one of three recipients of Avon Canada’s 2010 Scholarship. For 46 years, Avon has rewarded academic excellence and leadership amongst graduating high school students from Montreal’s West Island community and amongst the children of Avon employees. Each scholarship covers up to four years of tuition, to a maximum of $16,000, at any accredited Canadian degree-granting institution, in addition to $300 per year for the purchase of books. A $500 grant-in-aid is also awarded to the high schools that the recipients graduate from.
Chris Stevens, President of Avon Canada presented Taylor and the two other recipients, with the scholarship at a reception held at Avon Canada’s corporate headquarters in Pointe-Claire. In attendance were Taylor’s family, her school’s principal and vice-principal, school board administrators and commissioners. Below are a few of the reasons Avon chose her to receive this highly distinguished award.
Her ability to think outside the box and her strong leadership skills are ways that teachers from Westwood Senior High School describe Taylor Castator.
Taylor is an honour student who has been very involved in her school’s Student Life activities. She began by volunteering and has now taken on the role of mentor by working alongside younger students with leadership potential. Taylor has co-ordinated many projects but is most proud of her leadership role in the Bridge to Burundi project which has a mission of building two classrooms a year over six years in Burundi. The first classroom has now been built and fundraising has already begun for the second.
Taylor has always wanted to work with children and is now leaning towards a career in pediatric occupational therapy following her brother’s journey with autism and her subsequent exposure to the world of therapy. By working with children with special needs, Taylor hopes to help families the way her family was helped.
When she’s not working on social causes, Taylor helps out with family commitments and takes Jazz dance lessons.
Taylor has been accepted into the Science program at John Abbott College.
Team 990 Sports Radio Star winner
A big congratulation to Peter Gillich, a Secondary three student at Lindsay Place High School. Peter is the winner of the first annual Team 990 Sports Radio Star contest. He was one of five finalists who did training at the radio station and learned how to write a radio script, file a story and report live on air. The contest was open to students in LBPSB and English Montreal School Board high schools. The Team 990 broadcasted live from Lindsay Place on June 2nd with Peter helping to co-host the popular Montreal Forum show with Tony Marinaro.
Peter has also won:
The opportunity to do a live sportscast, cover a practice or possibly a game of one of Montreal's professional sports franchises.
Courses at the Montreal Radio-TV School
A tour of the CTV Montreal studios with sportscaster Randy Tieman
St. Edmund Elementary and St. Remi Elementary (Marguerite Bourgeoys School Board) took part in a linguistic exchange on May 7th. The schools participated in friendly “World Cup” soccer fest at City Lane Park in Beaconsfield.
Students in grades five and six from both schools played soccer in the round-robin tournament. The teams were mixed with students from each school and conversations in both English and French could be heard throughout the morning. Snacks were served to the students, courtesy of both school boards and parents were there to cheer the children on.
12th Edition of the Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest
The Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest organization’s mission is to develop Québec entrepreneurial culture through the start-up and recognition of new businesses and entrepreneurial projects in the schools and the community at large. Entrepreneurship projects are done in schools or as extracurricular projects, by students, and must be completed over the course of the school year. These projects enabled students to develop autonomy, a sense of responsibility, creativity, leadership, solidarity, self-confidence, personal fulfillment, initiative, a sense of organization, perseverance, resourcefulness, tenacity, determination, team spirit, motivation and an appreciation of cooperative values.
By participating in the Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest, projects are also eligible to receive a grant of up to $750 under the MELS Introduction to Entrepreneurship Measure. Through this program, LBPSB schools received over $150,000 last year. The results of the grants for the 2009-2010 school year will be announced in October 2010.
Again this year the Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest was a big success at Lester B. Pearson School Board with a total of 285 projects submitted.
Elementary Cycle 1: 25 projects
Elementary Cycle 2: 27 projects
Elementary Cycle 3: 47 projects
High School Gr. 7-8: 33 projects
High School Gr. 9-11: 139 projects
High School Special Education: 13 projects
Adult Education: 1 project
An integral part of the Quebec Entrepreneurship Program is the Contest whereby all projects are judged by local entrepreneurs where they are evaluated to win at the local level. This year, a panel of judges from the Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi organization selected 23 projects to be winners in their respective categories at the School Board Level.
These projects were sent to be evaluated at their respective regions. It is with great pride that teachers and students from nine projects (highlighted in yellow below) received an award at the Montreal Regional Award Ceremony held at the Botanical Garden on May 5th, 2010.
Montreal
Elementary Cycle 1:
Project Afghanistan – St. Lawrence Academy Junior, Mary-Anne Fyckes
Des Livres-Audio – St. John Fisher Jr., Martine Déziel
Elementary Cycle 2:
Young Stylists- Verdun Elementary, Mary-Anne Fyckes
Halloween Solutions – Meadowbrook, Susan Piffer
Elementary Cycle 3:
Me to We Brick by Brick – St. Anthony, Maria de Souza, Marilyn Carroll
Let’s Make our School Bully Free – Children’s World Academy, Anna Giammario
Computer Literacy for Seniors – Dorval Elementary, Mary-Anne Fyckes
Laundry Services for Hire – Verdun Elementary, Mary-Anne Fyckes
Secondary Schools – Grade 7-8
It’s Fair – Magasin du Monde, St. Thomas High School, Anne Novak
Lunch for a Bunch without a Punch, Beaconsfield High School, Rosemary Hill
Book Fair Express – Beaconsfield High School, Rosemary Hill
Secondary Schools – Grade 9-11
Minions in Training (MIT) – Riverdale High School, Brent Callahan
Lakeside Blood Donor Clinic – Lakeside Academy, Victoria Pinnell
Hands Help Haiti – Riverdale High School, Tanya Avrith
Seniors Outreach Program – Beaconsfield High School, Nancy Dubuc
United Nations Simulation – St. Thomas High School, Joanna Schreyer
Secondary Schools – Special Education
Soup in a Jar – Lakeside Academy, Sherri McCallum
Vocational Training and Adult Education
One-Stop Shop Community Chest – Pearson Adult and Career Center, Robin Leggo, Émilie Dubé
Monteregie
Elementary Cycle 3:
Student Olympics – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Diane St-Onge, Jason Cordery
Secondary Schools – Grade 9-11
Think Globally Act Locally Camp, Westwood High School Senior, Peter Nield
T-Shirts for Haiti, Westwood High School Senior, Peter Nield
Westwood Bridge to Burundi, Westwood High School Senior, Peter Nield
Secondary Schools – Special Education
Munch Time Movie Club, Westwood High School Senior, Shelly Walters
Congratulations to all participants and we are looking forward to next year edition.
As part of the 12th Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, English Cycle 1 students at PACC Adult Centre have written and recorded 3 original songs.
Blue Metropolis’ Writing for a Song is an innovative educational programme designed to teach a repertoire of important language skills and strategies to high school and adult education students across Canada in English, French mother tongue and French as a second language. Contemporary Canadian songwriters introduced their work to students and helped them to study and create their own song lyrics.
Although they were asked to write lyrics for 1 song, Karen Colwell’s students went above and beyond everyone’s expectations. With the guidance of Canadian singer/songwriter, Connie Kaldor, (http://www.conniekaldor.com/ ) the students composed 3 songs which reflected their diversity and commitment to learning.
Writing for a Song has provided the students with the opportunity to tap into the creativity they never knew they had. Take a moment to listen to some of the great talent at PACC Adult Centre!
For a copy of the CD, please contact Shiela Sachdeva at PACC Adult Centre.
LESTER B. PEARSON SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS 2010-2011 BUDGET
At the June 28th 2010 Council of Commissioners meeting the Lester B. Pearson School Board adopted a budget with $213,286,083 in revenues and $213,990,333 in expenses for a one year deficit of $704,250. This deficit will be made up from the pre-2008 accumulated surplus, allowing the Board to announce its thirteenth consecutive balanced budget. During the 2007-2008 school year the Lester B. Pearson School Board posted a $7,042,497 surplus. The Ministry of Education, Leisure and Sports froze all surpluses and allowing school boards to access only 10% of that surplus per annum.
The 2010-2011 school year will see many upgrades to the board’s fixed assets including a new elementary school in St Lazare which will house up to 450 students and feature a double gym, a multi-purpose room to be used as an agora/ cafeteria with a kitchen and 19 classrooms.
The enlargement of the Gordon Robertson Vocational center will allow more students to enter the vocational education career path.
2010/2011 will see the completion of phase two of the Eco Energy project. In this phase over $12 million will be spent upgrading boilers, lighting fixtures and energy controls in 27 of the Board’s buildings with the goal of reducing green house gas emissions and cost savings that will allow the Board to reinvest funds usually spent on energy on educational programs.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board continues to implement new initiatives to benefit students throughout our system including:
- Creation of an early literacy program targeting elementary schools in the Verdun and LaSalle area,
- Continuation of the Kindergarten-for-four-year-olds program in 5 elementary schools in order to better prepare those students for the fulltime educational program starting in Kindergarten.
- Expansion of the work oriented training pathways across the secondary network
The Lester B. Pearson School Board continues to focus on National and Global initiatives to better prepare our students for the future, for example:
Our Board is pleased to host the 2010 Canadian Student Leadership Conference at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School in September. During the five day conference some 800 students from across Canada will participate in a program with the theme “Canadian Youth Performing Above and Beyond”.
Through a partnership with the Free the Children Network the Lester B. Pearson School Board will help organize, support, and participate in the November 2010 Montreal We Day celebration inspiring students to “Be the Change” through social activism.
Numerous language initiatives are coming into effect for the 2010-2011 school year including:
-Piloting of a Francais Plus program in cycle 2 of St Edmund’s elementary school to begin with grade 3 for the 2010-2011 school year and adding grade 4 for the 2011-2012 school year
-Increasing French language instruction at the cycle one level for all secondary schools over the next two years to a minimum of 50%
-offering a Language Plus program in three elementary schools whereby students can participate in language courses in Mandarin, Spanish and Italian
-Expansion of the International Studies Program which will continue to welcome a growing number of students from China, Europe and South America to our schools for short and long term studies benefitting our students from additional cultural exchanges while providing income to invest in our schools
-Expansion of the International Pre-Kindergarten Program whereby 3 and 4 year olds follow an educational program which includes instruction in three languages, English, French, and one of Spanish, Italian, or Mandarin.
-The introduction at Clearpoint Elementary School and Riverdale High School as International Baccalaureate candidate program schools. This will increase the number of IB schools to 2 in the elementary sector and 6 in the secondary sector.
The Board continues to be focused on student success and staff professional development, as well as continuing our safe and caring schools initiative, building and infrastructure improvement, and information technology. 2010/2011 will be a tough year from a budget perspective but the Board’s efforts over the past few years to cut costs by becoming more efficient at all levels of board operations is now paying dividends for our students and staff.
Committee Memberships for 2009-2010 have been decided. Click on the link below.
April 23rd and 24th marked the seventh year that the Lester B. Pearson School Board presented the 'TOPS' variety show; an extravagant stage production that showcased the school board’s most talented students who excel in the performing arts. TOPS is so much more than a two hour show that stages the best singers, musicians, dancers and emcees from all of the LBPSB's high schools; it is an additional learning experience that takes place outside of the classroom. The students – whether they are performers, part of the technical crew or the production team – are exposed to a professional working environment where they are taught valuable leadership, organizational and management skills.
This year's production, titled 'The TOPS Variety Special' was an invigorating throwback to the 1970's. Viewers heard all the hits from the decade performed through a visual extravaganza of song and dance. As always, the students put on an incredible show and all who attended were in awe of the performances.
Students from Springdale in the grade 6 class of Maria Sorbo tirelessly worked on a very special multicultural project. As part of the CBC “School Needs” program, Springdale students started what they have dubbed “Operation Rainbow”. The CBC School Needs program involves partnerships with The Foundation of Greater Montreal, the Alexander and Ruth Dworkin Foundation and Equitas, as well as the English School Boards in the Greater Montreal Area. The intent of the project is to help support schools and their students as they learn about important issues.
This year, one school from each of the school boards participating in the program were invited to submit a project having to do with the topic of philanthropy and cultural diversity. In their Operation Rainbow, students from Springdale identified specific cultures within the community served by the school, and spent time learning about them in a variety of ways, through dance, language, in-class presentations, and field trips. The individual projects were show-cased on CBC News Montreal, and Springdale’s Operation Rainbow was presented on the March 17th broadcast. You can see this broadcast by following the link below.
Projects from all the participating schools were judged on March 25th and it was announced live on CBC Radio 1's "Home Run" program that Springdale Elementary was the second-place winner and was awarded $2,000.
Congratulations to all those who competed in the program.
LBPSB vocational training students win six medals in Regional Skills Olympics
On March 10th, six students in various vocational training programs at the Lester B. Pearson School Board were awarded medals at the 11th annual Regional Skills Olympic Gala for Vocational Training, which took place at the St. Pius X Culinary Institute.
During the month of February, 142 students competed in 23 categories. The students competing were from various school boards and schools, including: the LBPSB, the English Montreal School Board, the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys, the Commission scolaire de Montréal, the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’Île and the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec. Their skills were evaluated by a panel of experts in their specific fields.
Congratulations to the following Lester B. students who took home medals:
-Victoria Carreon from PACC won a silver medal in Health, Assistance and Nursing Care
-Tania DeCiccio from PACC won a bronze medal in Health, Assistance and Nursing Care
-Shiho Fujihara from PACC won a silver medal in Professional Cooking
-Michael Erez from PACC won a gold medal in Professional Cooking
-Kristine Moses from PACC won a bronze medal in Pastry Making
-Émilie Aumond from the Gordon Robertson Centre won a gold medal in Aesthetics
Health Assistance and Nursing Care
Aesthetics
Pictured on the left is Victoria Carreon and on the right Tania De Ciccio
Pictured on the left is Émilie Aumond
Professional Cooking
Pastry Making
Pictured on the left is Shiho Fujihara and centre is Michael Erez
On March 14th, the Lester B. Pearson School Board took part in the city of Montreal’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. For the fourth year in a row, the LBPSB had a float in the parade. The Macdonald High School Band entertained those who braved the rainy weather to watch the parade go by. Some commissioners, administrators and students all marched along in support of the school board. In addition, 60 students volunteered their time to carry flags throughout the parade.
On Wednesday, October 28th five hundred BHS students sat in awe in the gym as seven of their peers had their long tresses shaved off all in the name of a great cause! Beaconsfield High School’s Annual “Shave to Save” Campaign for Breast Cancer Research was culminating with the ceremonial head shaving of seven brave BHS students.
On hand to help out were the morning team from radio station Virgin 96 and two hairdressers from La Coupe. The students raised $23, 300.00 for Breast Cancer Research and the pledges are still rolling in! Under the guidance of Community Officer/Spiritual Animator, Mrs. Nancy Dubuc, seven students, who are from four grade levels , and one teacher took on the task of raising money during the month of October while pledging to shave off all their hair. Their goal was to beat last year’s total of $19,000 which they more than accomplished!
BHS has been taking part in this fundraiser for the past five years and each year the number of participants and the amount of money raised has increased. BHS English teacher, Mrs. Jesse Hayes, who is on preventative pregnancy leave was the eighth BHS “shavee”. She had her head shaved on Friday, October 30th at the Shave to Save Celebration Breakfast at Fairview Pointe Claire. The students who had their heads shaved were: Lieska Guzman (Sec 5) Hudson Harris (Sec 2), Amanda Haarer (Sec 4), Lianne Asprey (Sec 3), Hilary Troyer (Sec 3), Victoria Barrett (Sec 3) and Josh Mailman (Sec 2). The BHS community is extremely proud of their students and staff for participating in such a worthy cause!
Tami Zuckerman, a teacher at Margaret Manson Elementary, is beaming with pride because of the great achievement of one of her students. Ms. Zuckerman asked all of her students in her Grade 5 class to enter a Robert Munsch contest. If their story was chosen as the number one story in Canada, they had the chance to get Robert Munsch to come and visit the school, stay in their home and get their book published.
Sarah Randisi, one of Ms. Zuckerman’s students, landed in the top ten stories for the contest. She is the only student who won from Quebec. Sarah didn’t win the top story but the fact that she was in the top 10 had garnered much interest from the media. Sarah, her mom and Ms. Zuckerman have been interviewed by The Chronicle, The Gazette and Sarah was featured on Global News on the 19th of December.
ABC Literacy Canada was so impressed by all the writers from Margaret Manson Elementary that the school will be featured in organization’s next newsletter and on their website.
On December 8th and 10th, the Olympic Torch Relay passed through many of Lester B’s communities on its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Games. Many schools joined the festivities planned by the cities in support of the flame passing through. Here are some photos of schools who participated in the celebrations, from one student carrying the torch in Beaconsfield (BHS student Benjamin Mumme) to Westwood High School Sr.’s band playing as the flame was brought up to city hall in Hudson to one of the largest crowds seen so far during the Relay in Pointe Claire where many LBPSB schools were present.
St. Edmund also had two Olympic athletes visit the school on December 16th, in honour of the Olympics. Emelie Foume represented Canada and Anders Gustafsson represented Sweden in the Beijing Olympics in kayaking. Emelie was a torch bearer and joining her and Anders were Beaconsfield torch bearers, Hilary and Katie Adams.
As the international community continues to provide aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the schools, centres and head office of the LBPSB presses on in their efforts to support that work .
As of February 22nd an amazing $104,676 has been raised.
Documents related to Law 88 and the MELS Strategic Plan are now available for the Governing Boards of our communities. You can access the documents by either clicking on the "Governing Board" link on the left hand side menu or clicking here.
All briefs received by the LBPSB are posted on our web site for our communities to consult. Briefs are in standard PDF format and some are quite large, which will cause download times to vary.
Briefs are broken into the school board's "Sector Structure". Briefs that were received by individuals, municipalities, and the like, are posted at the end under the heading "Others".
Webcasts of the public hearings on the LBPSB's "Major School Change" consultation are now available for viewing. Please click on the link for the date you wish to view. The webcast will open in a new window for viewing.
Special Meeting of Council - December 21, 2009- MSC Webcast
Special Council of Commissioners Meeting, Dec.21, 2009
MSC Decisions Webcast
Due to the sheer volume of connections requested at the outset of the special meeting, the entire bandwidth (including the additional bandwidth added for this meeting) was consumed almost instantly. This, unfortunately, created buffering problems with the first portion of the meeting.
The situation was corrected when we provided additional bandwidth to address the needs and shifted our viewers to a independent player that connected directly to the streaming servers rather than the embedded player on our home page.
We apologize profusely for the problems this created for our communities during such an important meeting. We did however take further precautions to ensure that an archive was created in real time to prevent any loss of the webcast. The archive of the meeting is, in its entirety, without any loss or interruptions.
The chairs of Quebec’s two largest English language public school boards will be requesting meetings with Premier Jean Charest and Minister of Education, Leisure and Sports Michelle Courchesne in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on Bill 104. Angela Mancini of the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) and Marcus Tabachnick of the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) made the announcement October 22 at a joint press conference held at John F. Kennedy High School in St. Michel.
On August 22nd, Chairman Marcus Tabachnick and Commissioner Frank Di Bello were on hand at the inauguration of a new field in LaSalle. They joined LaSalle Mayor Manon Barbe and other esteemed guests, including the late Keith Ewenson's family, in inaugurating the Keith-Ewenson artificial turf football-soccer field and the Fritz-R.-Prévost athletic track.
The field and track are located in Riverside Park in La Salle behind P.A.C.C. Adult and Vocational Centre.
SPECIAL NOTE: Monday, October 5, 2009. For personal reasons Lena Stanley has stepped down as Parent Commissioner, Elementary Representative. CPC will be holding a new election in the near future.
The Annual General Assembly of Parents’ Committee Representatives was held at the Lester B. Pearson School Board's Head Office on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 7:15 p.m.
The Parents' Committee of The Lester B. Pearson School Board is divided into sectoral committees in keeping with the school board's administrative sectors. Parent representatives elected at each school's Annual General Assembly and who represent their parents at the school board are then elected from each sector to form the Central Parents' Committee (CPC), along with representatives from the Special Needs Advisory Committee (SNAC).
Parent Commissioners are elected to participate as active non-voting members of the council of commissioners. The results of the elections for Parent Commissioners are:
Lena Stanley, Elementary Representative
Conny Held, Secondary Representative
On September 30, 2009, a meeting will be held to elect the parent representatives for the 2009-2010 Special Needs Advisory Committee (SNAC).
This committee is made up of parents of students with special needs, teachers, school administrators, professionals, support staff and representatives from community agencies. SNAC advises the School Board on special needs issues with regards to educational services, school board policies and allocation of financial resources.
Any parents of students with special needs who are interested in serving on this committee for a one or two year mandate can be elected to SNAC. Meetings are held monthly and are open to all interested parents.
The meeting will begin at 7:30 pm and takes place in the Boardroom at 1925 Brookdale in Dorval.
The following link provides our communities with the full letter from Marcus Tabachnick, Chairman of the Board, on the situation surrounding the acquisition of land for the new school to serve the board's Off-Island community.
The LBPSB will be holding a Town Hall meeting (which will be webcast) on Tuesday, September 15th starting at 7pm at:
Westwood Junior High School
2800, rue Du Bordelais
Saint-Lazare J7T 3E3
The purpose of the meeting is to inform our off-island communities of the situation regarding the acquisition of land for the new school and to discuss the options available to move forward with this project.
We invite you to attend and look forward to seeing you there.
A Connect-Ed message from the Chairman of the Board, Marcus Tabachnick, was sent on Friday, September 11th, to all members of our off-island communities. If you missed the message, you can click here to listen to it.
In order to assist our communities the following documents are being posted so that families with questions concerning the 2009-2010 transportation "bussing for a fee" service have the documents and information they require to understand the process.
While there may remain availability (seats) it is dependant on the day by day situation within the schools. All documents refer to the 2009- 2010 school year only. If available in 2010-2011, these types of requests will have to be submitted in June 2010.
The Annual Report for the 2007-2008 school year is now available. For the first time the LBPSB has produced the report as a video which includes interviews and information on the board's programs and strategic plan. This first attempt at providing our communities with a visual report, rather than written, is consistent with the board's goal of enhanced communications.
Learn to earn in just one year!
Students who begin their studies now will be trained and ready for the job market by summer 2010!
Courses offered include Hairdressing, Esthetics and Electrolysis. Check out their website at grc.lbpsb.qc.ca for more information.
All courses include a sound theoretical background followed by practical demonstrations by highly trained and experienced teachers. The teachers continue to mentor and coach students who practice, practice, practice to develop their expertise in skills such as hair styling and colouring, manicures, facial treatments and other beauty care services. Students practice on each other and then on our most valued clientele. (If you are interested in becoming a client, check the website for more information and call 514-426-3949 for an appointment) In addition our students attend conferences, visit suppliers and do workstudies in local salons and spas.
Entrance requirements: 16 years of age and over, and successfully completed Sec IV English, French and Math or the General Development Test, available at WAAVE
For information check the website grc.lbpsb.qc.ca or call 514-426-5096 or 514-792-5096
On Saturday, May 9th, 2,000 students and their families and staff of the Board had the opportunity to attend the Montreal Impact’s home opening game.Before the game began, two of LBPSB’s students were awarded the Tony Licursi Bursary, named in honour of the late Tony Licursi, a long-time statistician and friend of the Impact club who passed away in 2006. Mr. Licursi was devoted to the cause of helping children better themselves.
The two students selected both displayed a willingness to learn, respect for others, a love of sports, and both were described as being true delightsto have around.Kathryn Babin, a grade six student at St. John Fisher Senior Elementary and Johnny Bucci, a grade eight student at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School received the bursaries at centre field from Marcus Tabachnick, Chairman of the Board, Viviane Croubalian, Assistant Director General of the Board and a representative from the Montreal Impact.Over 60 students also got the chance to line the field and greet the players on the starting line-up as they ran out before the start of the game.
The event was part of a new partnership between the Montreal Impact and LBPSB that was formed last November.As part of its stay-in-school program, “All the Way with the Impact,” players from the popular soccer team have visited some LBPSB elementary and high schools in the last month to discuss the importance of perseverance, motivation and school with the students.As a complement to the awareness efforts in the classrooms, the Impact offered students the chance to attend their home opener at Saputo Stadium.Although the Impact lost to the Rochester Rhinos 2 to 1, a great time was had by all who attended.
Amazing Accomplishments by St. Thomas High School and Margaret Manson Elementary School
Both St. Thomas High School and Margaret Manson Elementary have made their communities proud with efforts to help less fortunate children in Kenya.Read on to find out exactly what each school did to help make a difference.
Margaret Manson Elementary:
Over the past four years, Margaret Manson Elementary has been in partnership with Free the Children working on their ‘Compassion in Action Project.’To date, Margaret Manson Elementary has donated over $30,000 to the organization, whose mission statement is ‘children helping children through education.’The school recently celebrated the efforts of its community to take on the fund-raising project to build three one-room schools in Kenya.The following schools have been built in Kenya because of the fund-raising done by the school and its community: Enelerai Primary School – opened January 2007; Olongerin Primary School – opened January 2008; and Pimbiniet Primary School – opened in 2009.
In addition to building the schools, with the funds raised by the students and their families, enough money was made to pay for classroom furniture, books, gym equipment, and a hot lunch for each student.This year, through four Hockey Ticket Raffles, $2,000 was raised and will be dispersed for clean water projects in areas of the world where Free the Children is actively helping communities.
Recently, Marc Kielberger, Executive Director of Free the Children sent a personal thank you from Kenya to Margaret Manson in a video.Click here to see the video.
St Thomas High School:
What started as an idea stemming from students attending the Millennium Summit Montreal in 2008, has now led to St. Thomas High School raising enough money to build a school in the Maasai Mara region in Kenya.After hearing inspiring words from Craig and Marc Kielburger of Free the Children at the summit, the students at St. Thomas decided to start a Free the Children club.The club has about 40 members and in February, fundraising began for a new school in Kenya.
Through many different activities, such as the Battle of the Sexes, Pancake Breakfasts, Loonie Fridays, Secondary two Head Shaving and Secondary five business fair activities, the school reached its goal for a new school last month. The cost to build a school for impoverished children in Kenya is $8,500 and as of the beginning of May, St. Thomas already had one-third of the funds needed to build a second school. The new school is made possible through the Free the Children 'Brick by Brick' campaign, an initiative that has allowed more than 500 schools to be build around the world
On Thursday, May 14th, Hetty Van Gurp, a Nova Scotia educator who lost her eldest son in a bullying incident at school in 1991 and founder of Peaceful Schools International (PSI) visited Lester B. Pearson School Board to give them an honour that no other school board in the world has.Ms. Van Gurp started the Peaceful Schools movement in 2001 and has dedicated herself to promoting the need to teach peace in schools.
Over 500 schools world-wide have made a commitment to become qualified as Peaceful Schools. LBPSB is the only school board in the world that has made the commitment to have all its schools become members of the movement. PSI’s main goal is to create a global network of peaceful schools in a non-prescriptive way. It does so by encouraging each school to formulate its own ways of creating a culture of peace using PSI’s criteria as a guide rather than as a strict evaluation measure.
During the ceremony on May 14th, Ms. Van Gurp presented the Board with a certificate declaring that the entire school board is a peaceful one.
The ceremony, attended by many included beautiful songs sang by the Allion choir and LBPSB’s adult choir. Moving speeches were given by Marcus Tabachnick, Judy Grant, the person in charge of Peaceful Schools at LBPSB and Ms. Van Gurp.A cheque of over $2,000 was also presented to Ms. Van Gurp’s sister, Caroline who does magnificent work with children and education in Sierra Leone. The money will go to build schools and will send allow children in the poverty stricken to receive an education.
In addition to the ceremony a Peace Symposium, “We Choose Peace,” was held the next day at LakesideAcademy. Ms. Van Gurp was the symposium’s key note speaker and there were many workshops.
It is not everyday that you will find an Elementary school principal going behind the bench to coach her own students in hockey. If you happened to be at the Bob Birnie Arena in Pointe Claire on April 14, 2009, that is exactly where you would have found St. Charles’ Elementary school principal, Mme Coiteux. Students from grades 5 and 6 were invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Bryden Murray Elementary School 4-on-4 Hockey Tournament. This tournament is dedicated to recognizing hockey at the elementary school level. The St. Charles Sharks team made it to the finals in the top division of the tournament and what an accomplishment that was considering it was the first time the boys played together as a team.
As a result of the unbelievable interest in playing hockey, St. Charles will be offering an extra curricular hockey program to students (boys and girls) from grades 3 to 6 starting in the 2009-2010 school year. “We are very excited to be able to offer this program to our St. Charles students” says Mme Coiteux. She further explains that the goal of the program is to allow young hockey players to further develop their hockey skills while learning to balance academic requirements to prepare for a future where both might play a larger role in their lives. The programs goals are three fold: athletically; academically; and socially. “It’s a win-win situation”, explains Mme Coiteux, “not only are the students benefiting from increasing their level of exercise activity, they are able to bond with their classmates. More importantly, the program is closely tied to the academic aspect since program participation is based on recent academic effort”.
St. Charles is always looking for ways to develop the “whole” child and that is why St. Charles is currently considering offering other enriched extra-curricular activities in addition to the hockey program.
On May 27th and 28th, over 2,000 elementary and high school students, teachers and administrators attended the largest international Space Day in North America hosted by LBPSB at the St. Lazare Airport and Flying Club.
The Pearson Interactive Community Partnership program partnered once again with Laurentide Aviation and the St. Lazare Flying Club to celebrate Space Day, a major educational initiative celebrated internationally. The Board has named the event the John Scholefield Science and Technology Day to honour the late john Scholefield, President of Laurentide Aviation.
The students rotated between many different stations and participated in hands-on activities having a wonderful time learning many new things.Over 30 community partners came together to share their expertise with the children in the areas of aviation aerospace, science and technology. The partners included: The Canadian Space Agency, Cosmodome Laval, The Royal Astronomical Society, The Canadian Forces, The Montreal Police Department, Canadian Aviation Maintenance Council and the Pima Aerospace Museum, to name a few.
The main purpose of the event was to enhance science and technology programs as well as math and engineering. The students also were given the message throughout the event that if they follow their dreams, they can achieve anything.
The Pearson Association of School Administrators (PASA), presented the Outstanding Educator Award for 2009 to Jan Langelier (Principal of Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School). This distinguished award recognizes a person’s outstanding contribution to the field of education over their entire career.
Jan has served in the field of education in many different roles over her career: as teacher and principal, as president of the Lakeshore Teacher’s Union and the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers, and as Member of the Executive and Board of Directors of the Association of Administrators of English Schools (AAESQ). Most recently she has served as past-president of PASA.
Jan is also the recipient of the 2009 AAESQ’s Distinguished Service Award. Her career has been marked by her sincere caring for the human characteristics of educators and the profound influence they have on what she considers to be the greatest resource society has…. our children. Jan is pictured with Mark Massarelli, president of PASA, and Maria de Wolfe, recipient of the AAESQ Award of Merit, for her commitment and support to in-school administrators of the Lester B Pearson School Board.
Greendale Students Featured in Terrific Track Meet Photos
At a recent track meet on June 3rd, Adam Fabian (FSSTT) managed to capture some great photos of two Greendale students. Meghan Marcheterre in grade four finished second in Hurdles and Matthew Merle in grade five was a High Jump Participant
Dragon Boat Challenge
On Sunday, June 7th, the students, teachers and staff of Riverdale High School joined forces to participate in the Enfant-Retour Québec/Missing Children's Network's Dragon Boat Challenge on the St. Paul Locks of the Lachine Canal. Last year's event raised over $75,000 in support of Enfant Retour's activities. This year's goal is $100,000 and the Riverdale Leader Ship Team has pledged a minimum contribution of $5,000 to the cause.
The Riverdale LeaderShip Team from Enfant Retour Quebec's June 7th Dragon Boat Challenge at the Cote St. Paul locks placed sixth overall out of eighteen entries.
To learn more and make an on-line donation, visit the Riverdale High website. Riverdale High School is proud to support Enfant-Retour Quebec.
St. Edmund's Raises Money for the Montreal Children's Hospital
On March 30th, Susan Greenberg, principal of St. Edmund Elementary School, Pat Adams, a music teacher at the school and students presented a cheque of $864 to the Montreal Children’s Hospital at the annual Caring for Kids Radiothon. Ms. Greenberg, Ms. Adams and the students went on air on CHOM 97.7 to talk about their fundraising initiatives and to present the cheque.
A charitable act that began last year after Ms. Greenbergheard the touching stories at the Radiothon, the students were able to purchase four Circles of Hugs, which enables the hospital to buy new equipment. After this year’s radiothon, the students formed four large circles in the schoolyard and “hugged” each other to symbolize their accomplishments.
Since last year, the students have been participating in “Dime Day” every Wednesday, a day that encourages students to donate whatever they can to a great cause.The students continue to participate in “Dime Day” and have already raised enough money for one Circle of Hug for next year’s radiothon. For this past radiothon, Grade six students also raised money through an entrepreneurship initiative, which was a production of “Grease.” Lindsey Stocker, a grade six student put together a summary of the show:
When the thought first occurred to me of having the Grade Six put on “Grease”, I never thought I would get as much support as I did. My fellow classmates were thrilled that they would be part of something so huge, and our music teacher thought the idea was a great way to get the Grade Sixes to show teamwork.
In December we held auditions and it was a complete success! So many people wanted to be part of the play. Since then, we have been holding rehearsals on Mondays and Fridays. Everyone who is not involved in “Grease” is anxious to see what we have been working so hard on, and we are anxious to show them!We decided to make this project that would have lasting effects.We as a school have been a strong supporter of the Montreal Children’s Hospital and I felt that this would be a natural fit for our fundraising efforts.We set up committees for ideas and programs to make a donation to the Circle of Hugs Campaign.
Firstly, when Mrs. Adams and I were looking over the original script, we found that some things did not make sense. So we decided to find a new ending and add our own style to the play. Now the script is finished, and better than ever! Then we had practices during lunch hours and many meeting discussing costume, set design and prop ideas. We had volunteer parents help us with the car (Greased Lightning), sew costumes and set up set design frames.
In my perspective, “Grease” is a great way to get the whole Grade Six together as friends and show teamwork. We are all very happy to be part if this fun production and everyone is very proud. I found that everyone has a talent that they can contribute in this project, especially in some of the people you would least expect. I imagine the final play on May 6th to be a complete success! It has been a lot of hard effort but I am confident that with everyone working together that this play will be an accomplishment, not only for the students but for the Montreal Children Circle of Hugs Campaign!
Well, the show is over and we are all very excited about the results!! The show was a great success, and our audience loved it. It turned out to be everything I expected, and more!! The singing, the dancing, and every character was perfect in every way. Many students tried out different responsibilities and learned new skills. On top of this great experience we raised over 500 dollars for the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
On Thursday, May 14th, Hetty Van Gurp, a Nova Scotia educator who lost her eldest son in a bullying incident at school in 1991 and founder of Peaceful Schools International (PSI) visited Lester B. Pearson School Board to give them an honour that no other school board in the world has. To read the full story, follow this link
International Studies Department Brings Venezuela to John Rennie High School
It was somewhat of an emotional goodbye for 55 students at John Rennie High School and 55 students from Colegio Francia, which is situated in Caracas, Venezuela.On Friday, April 17th the International Studies Department held a “Bon Voyage” party at the International Language Centre for students from both schools marking the end of what was described by the students and administrators as an “amazing” experience.
Students from Venezuela, ranging from secondary one to five spent two weeks at LBPSB’s International Language Centre.Each student from Colegio Francia was paired with a student from John Rennie High School and in the mornings, the Venezuelan students shadowed the John Rennie students and attended class with them in order to experience a day in a life of a Canadian student. In the afternoons, the students from Venezuela participated inFrench as a second language classes. In addition they took part in many cultural activities, after school and on the weekends.The students had the opportunity to explore Montreal’s Old Port, visit St. Sauveur and Mont Tremblant, take a trip to Quebec City, shop at a local mall and even got to experience a Cabane à Sucre with their “buddies” from John Rennie.The visit from Venezuela was part of the ongoing effort of the International Studies Department to bring the world to the students of LBPSB.
When asked how students from both high schools liked the experience, they described it as being an incredible opportunity and said they had developed new friendships.Some students from John Rennie even took their “buddies” outside of school time to taste a true Québécois staple: poutine.At the goodbye party, the students danced together forming an enormous Conga line and danced the famous Macarena.When the dancing was over and it was time to go, they embraced each other in a tearful goodbye.Some said they’d keep in touch, others said they’d exchange photos from the two weeks they spent together.In the end, all were thankful for the wonderful friendships they were able to form.
At the council of commissioners meeting of April 27, 2009 the board adopted the administrative staffing structure for the 2009-2010 school year. The following list constitutes the administrative and assignment changes in the schools and centres, effective July 1, 2009:
The Lester B. Pearson Cooperative Education Program and Light a Dream, a non-profit organization that provides work-study experiences for secondary students with developmental challenges, would like to invite you to their spring fund raising event.
A spaghetti dinner fundraiser will take place on Thursday April 30 at the Hymus Pub located at 177 Hymus Blvd in Pointe-Claire. Lunch is served from 11am - 2 pm and dinner is served from 4:30-8pm. Tickets are $7.00 and are available at the door.
All proceeds will support student initiatives that help see the abilities within disabilities. We invite you to visit the Light a Dream store on Cartier Ave. in Pointe-Claire or visit www.lightadream.com. For more information please call 695-3666.
Former Wilder Penfield Student publishes his first book!
We are Proud to Announce:
Vincent E. Pilkington-Landreville, former student of Wilder Penfield School, has published his first book. Now 12 years old and attending Saint Thomas High, Vincent is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished by someone so young. He has certainly raised the bar! Congratulations Vincent.
Please read the following Parent’s perspective to learn more.
Vincent’s interest in reading took off in grade three, while attending Wilder Penfield School. We could not stop him from spending hours with his nose in a book. By grade four he was reading two or three volumes per week and could not get enough.
One day his father mentioned that he recognized Vincent’s love of reading, but had noticed that he never wrote. Well, Vincent, who is always ready for a challenge, took it upon himself to start writing a book. It was not long after that that a few chapters were written. The ideas kept on coming and he began to start looking into finding an illustrator for his book. He commissioned his classmates to sign up and hand in three illustrations: a girl, a dragon and another mythological creature. Several of his classmates participated and within two weeks he had found his illustrator, Emma Awe. She agreed to do the inside illustrations, Vincent was thrilled.
By grade six, all of his classmates were eager, from week to week, to read the next chapter of his book. Vincent now sought the help of a good friend, Julie Csaki, to help him edit his book.
Meanwhile, Vincent decided that he could not wait for a publishing house to accept his book and took it upon himself to find a self-publishing house. After poring hours of his time into finding the perfect publishing company, Vincent chose Xlibris. Vincent dealt with the company entirely on his own.
During the next year, he made decision after decision about printing, placement of pictures and fonts. He found himself a cover artist, a student of Wilder Penfield School, James Peters. Vincent approached him and he accepted to illustrate the cover page. The book, The Story of Stories, was finally completed in November of 2008 and he received his first official copy in December of 2008, the fruit of many long months of work.
The preponderance of this piece of literature was completed with the support and encouragement of the teachers and students of his former school, Wilder Penfield, of which Vincent has very fond memories.
As for us, his parents, we were thrilled and awed as we watched our son evolve and grow as a young, independent and outgoing individual. We are very proud of our son, Vincent, the author.
On April 28th at 7:30 PM, all teens, pre-teens, parents and guardians are invited to a very special "Families Count" education event taking place at the school. The theme is "Dreams, Drugs and Decisions: A Sobering Look Inside the World of Illicit Drugs." The Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lachine, Randy Johnston will sensitize the audience to the serious problems of illicit drug use in today's world.
Mr. Johnston will help parents by giving them prevention and intervention tools and will teach them how to identify drug abuse in youth. A panel of experts will also be available to take questions from the audience after Mr. Johnston's presentation. For more information, call: 514-634-1429 or email: gina-saba@yahoo.com.
Dedicated students, alumni, volunteers and industry professionals are gearing up for LBPSB's sixth annual Truly Outstanding Pearson Show (TOPS). The show features the Board's most talented high-school students in a production unlike any other.
Between theatre, dance and music, the variety show featuring many different acts performed by students from in and around Montreal to the Ontario border sells out every year. TOPS has garnered so much attention that talent scouts will show up to watch the production. One former student benefited from this and now has David Foster as his producer.
This year, the special theme of New York, New York was selected.An all-star cast will tell the audience the story of three hopefuls looking to make it in the big city.
In celebration of LBPSB’s 10th anniversary, a special red carpet gala will be held on Friday, April 24th.The event is semi-formal and begins at 6:30 PM.Two other shows are scheduled for Saturday, April 25th.A matinee performance will begin at noon and the closing performance takes place at 6:30 PM.All shows are taking place at Lakeside Academy and tickets can be purchased in any LBPSB high school or at the door, depending on availability.
A Special Assembly for Students at St. Lawrence Academy Senior
On April 7th, the students at St. Lawrence Academy Senior got a very special treat. Former Impact soccer player, Lloyd Barker, spoke at the school and got the students involved in some soccer playing.
He captivated the students with his life story and presented a powerful message of perseverance to them. In 1998, Mr. Barker suffered from a serious neck injury that came close to leaving him paralyzed. With hard work and by setting goals for himself, he persevered and became very successful.
He also gave the students a chance to showcase their soccer talents. He set up some soccer drills for them to participate in as well. It was a great assembly for all who attended.
Staff and students are both proud and excited to have been awarded the Pat Lewis Humanitarian Award for 2009-2010 from The Quebec Home and School Association. The school has made many significant contributions to improve the lives of people in their community and abroad.
There are many ways in which both the staff and students of the school work to make a difference. They raise money for cancer research through donating money on "dress-down days," support Denim Day for breast cancer research and the entire school raises money for cancer research by participating in the Terry Fox run every September.
They also support a foster child through Plan Canada, make important food donations to Dans la Rue and Sun Youth and they have a Grade Six Mentor Program. Each grade six student is made a mentor for one kindergarten student to ease the transition to elementary school for new students.
It is because of these many ongoing initiatives that the elementary school was recognized with the prestigious and significant award.
On Wednesday, March 18th, 2009, St. Thomas High School hosted the first ever Youth Humanitarian Summit. Four hundred students from Montreal area English and French high schools attended the Summit, which included high impact keynote presentations by Canadian humanitarians Marc Kielburger, executive director of Free the Children and Dr. Samantha Nutt, founder of War Child Canada.
The goal of the Youth Humanitarian Summit was to create awareness about important local and global humanitarian issues and to empower and inspire youth to affect change in their lives, their school communities and the world. The event also included interactive workshops presented by a variety of humanitarian organizations, cultural entertainment from the Burundi Drummers, a student action session, a collective mosaic art project and an exhibit of local and global humanitarian organizations. The Summit was a very successful student-run event with student leaders from the St. Thomas Leadership class and Student Council organizing the event for other youth activists and student leaders from Montreal high schools.
The summit aimed to expose students to numerous global, national and local issues, such as human rights, the plight of refugees, poverty, education, health, homelessness, youth exchange programs and the likes. Some of the humanitarian organizations that took part in the Summit include: Free the Children, War Child Canada, Right to Play, LOVE: Leave Out Violence, YMCA Youth Exchanges Program, Engineers Without Borders, Save Darfur Canada, Tolerance Caravan, WICS: West Island Community Shares, Learn Quebec, Equitas, Terry Fox Foundation, Painting a New World, the Social Justice Committee, Canadian Armed Forces, Dix Milles Villages, Human Trafficking and more.
There are many people to thank for making this event possible. We would especially like to thank Chris Cyr, Principal of St. Thomas High School, Carol Gray, Director of LBPSB High Schools and Robert Mills, Director General of the Lester B. Pearson School Board for their amazing support, encouragement and confidence in our vision to run an inspirational Youth Humanitarian Summit for hundreds of students and teachers. We are extremely thankful for the wonderful support we received from the administration and staff of St. Thomas High School, the Lester B. Pearson School Board, the Pearson Education Foundation, LBPSB Council of Commissioners, Learn Quebec, the Association of English Administrators of Quebec, the City of Pointe Claire, MELS Intercultural Grant, the Government of Quebec and the organizations listed above.
THE IMPACT EXTENDS ITS STAY-IN-SCHOOL PROGRAM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LESTER B. PEARSON SCHOOL BOARD.
In an effort to continue and extend its stay-in-school initiative, the Montreal Impact will reach for a fourth consecutive year thousands of students through its program “All the Way With The Impact”, adding to their partnership the Lester B. Pearson School Board as the fifth school board from the Island of Montreal. The extension of the partnership will from now on ensure a full east-west presence.
Over the next few weeks and throughout the 2009 school calendar, members of the Montreal Impact will visit elementary and high schools to remind young students of the importance of studying, persevering and building self-confidence to succeed.
As a complement to the awareness efforts in the classrooms, young students will get the chance to attend a game, when each school board will have their designated day to a Montreal Impact game. The LBPSB's game day is February 25, 2009 at the Olympic Stadium.
On this occasion, the Impact will highlight the performance of some of the most outstanding students during a special ceremony before the game. The two top students from each school board will be awarded the Tony Licursi bursaries, named in honor of the late Tony Licursi, the long-time statistician who died in 2006 and who was devoted to the cause of helping children better themselves.
To view the February 18th launch of the partnership at St. Lawrence Academy Senior featuring the Impact's of star defender Adam Braz and head coach John Limniatis, click on the Impact logo at the top right.
DORVAL, QUEBEC (February 11, 2009) – The board announced the immediate availability of the Connect-ED® community messaging service by Blackboard Connect Inc. to provide board leaders and administrators with the ability to quickly reach parents, students and staff .
“It’s crucial that we are able to notify parents and staff quickly in time-sensitive situations because up-to-date and uniform communication is conducive to an informed and engaged school community,” said Chairman of the Board, Marcus Tabachnick.
Lester B. Pearson deployed the Connect-ED service on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. The board advised that it was also testing the contact details provided by parents. Letters to parents/guardians, adult and vocational students have been distributed by each school and centre to inform them of the upcoming initial message which will be sent at 6:00pm Wednesday evening (February 11th) and provides details how to interact with the Lester B. Pearson Community Messaging System.
The system can be used to inform parents, students and staff members of school closures and contingency plans due to unforeseen incidents, improving the organization’s communication strategy and preventing the spread of misinformation. The Connect-ED service has successfully been used for communication by schools for events such as bus route announcements and delays, school breaks, registration, and immunization days. It is an effective way to keep parents informed about important events in their child’s education.
At Place Cartier’s recent graduation ceremony, an 82-year-old student received his high school diploma. Saul Klarer grew up during the Great Depression and at the age of 12, had to drop out to go to work in order to support his family. Along with his diploma, Saul received a Lifelong Learning Award for his courage, commitment and humanitarianism. 
On June 3rd, Betty Makoni, founder of the Girl Child Network, visited PACC Adult to inspire students and start her Canadian speaking tour. A victim of childhood sexual abuse, Betty Makoni used her experience to transform the lives of girls in southern Africa by creating a girls' rights advocacy group with 30,000 members in Zimbabwe. Founded in 1998, the Girl Child Network (GCN) empowers girls and works to eradicate all forms of abuse and practices that impede their full physical, emotional and spiritual growth. Through the Girl Child Network, which has been set up in Zimbabwe, Makoni has helped rescue thousands of girls from abuse. 
Congratulations to Taylor Castator of Westwood Senior High School. She was one of three recipients of Avon Canada’s 2010 Scholarship. For 46 years, Avon has rewarded academic excellence and leadership amongst graduating high school students from Montreal’s West Island community and amongst the children of Avon employees. Each scholarship covers up to four years of tuition, to a maximum of $16,000, at any accredited Canadian degree-granting institution, in addition to $300 per year for the purchase of books. A $500 grant-in-aid is also awarded to the high schools that the recipients graduate from. 
Taylor is an honour student who has been very involved in her school’s Student Life activities. She began by volunteering and has now taken on the role of mentor by working alongside younger students with leadership potential. Taylor has co-ordinated many projects but is most proud of her leadership role in the Bridge to Burundi project which has a mission of building two classrooms a year over six years in Burundi. The first classroom has now been built and fundraising has already begun for the second. 
A big congratulation to Peter Gillich, a Secondary three student at Lindsay Place High School. Peter is the winner of the first annual Team 990 Sports Radio Star contest. He was one of five finalists who did training at the radio station and learned how to write a radio script, file a story and report live on air. The contest was open to students in LBPSB and English Montreal School Board high schools. The Team 990 broadcasted live from Lindsay Place on June 2nd with Peter helping to co-host the popular Montreal Forum show with Tony Marinaro.
St. Edmund Elementary and St. Remi Elementary (Marguerite Bourgeoys School Board) took part in a linguistic exchange on May 7th. The schools participated in friendly “World Cup” soccer fest at City Lane Park in Beaconsfield.
Students in grades five and six from both schools played soccer in the round-robin tournament. The teams were mixed with students from each school and conversations in both English and French could be heard throughout the morning. Snacks were served to the students, courtesy of both school boards and parents were there to cheer the children on..jpg)
The Quebec Entrepreneurship Contest organization’s mission is to develop Québec entrepreneurial culture through the start-up and recognition of new businesses and entrepreneurial projects in the schools and the community at large. Entrepreneurship projects are done in schools or as extracurricular projects, by students, and must be completed over the course of the school year. These projects enabled students to develop autonomy, a sense of responsibility, creativity, leadership, solidarity, self-confidence, personal fulfillment, initiative, a sense of organization, perseverance, resourcefulness, tenacity, determination, team spirit, motivation and an appreciation of cooperative values. 
As part of the 
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The students – whether they are performers, part of the technical crew or the production team – are exposed to a professional working environment where they are taught valuable leadership, organizational and management skills. 
Students from Springdale in the grade 6 class of Maria Sorbo tirelessly worked on a very special multicultural project. As part of the CBC “School Needs” program, Springdale students started what they have dubbed “Operation Rainbow”. 
The CBC School Needs program involves partnerships with The Foundation of Greater Montreal, the Alexander and Ruth Dworkin Foundation and Equitas, as well as the English School Boards in the Greater Montreal Area. The intent of the project is to help support schools and their students as they learn about important issues.
This year, one school from each of the school boards participating in the program were invited to submit a project having to do with the topic of philanthropy and cultural diversity. In their Operation Rainbow, students from Springdale identified specific cultures within the community served by the school, and spent time learning about them in a variety of ways, through dance, language, in-class presentations, and field trips. The individual projects were show-cased on CBC News Montreal, and Springdale’s Operation Rainbow was presented on the March 17th broadcast. You can see this broadcast by following the link below.
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On March 14th, the Lester B. Pearson School Board took part in the city of Montreal’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. 
For the fourth year in a row, the LBPSB had a float in the parade. The Macdonald High School Band entertained those who braved the rainy weather to watch the parade go by. Some commissioners, administrators and students all marched along in support of the school board. In addition, 60 students volunteered their time to carry flags throughout the parade.
On Wednesday, October 28th five hundred BHS students sat in awe in the gym as seven of their peers had their long tresses shaved off all in the name of a great cause! Beaconsfield High School’s Annual “Shave to Save” Campaign for Breast Cancer Research was culminating with the ceremonial head shaving of seven brave BHS students. 
BHS has been taking part in this fundraiser for the past five years and each year the number of participants and the amount of money raised has increased. BHS English teacher, Mrs. Jesse Hayes, who is on preventative pregnancy leave was the eighth BHS “shavee”. She had her head shaved on Friday, October 30th at the Shave to Save Celebration Breakfast at Fairview Pointe Claire. The students who had their heads shaved were: Lieska Guzman (Sec 5) Hudson Harris (Sec 2), Amanda Haarer (Sec 4), Lianne Asprey (Sec 3), Hilary Troyer (Sec 3), Victoria Barrett (Sec 3) and Josh Mailman (Sec 2). The BHS community is extremely proud of their students and staff for participating in such a worthy cause!
Tami Zuckerman, a teacher at Margaret Manson Elementary, is beaming with pride because of the great achievement of one of her students. Ms. Zuckerman asked all of her students in her Grade 5 class to enter a Robert Munsch contest. If their story was chosen as the number one story in Canada, they had the chance to get Robert Munsch to come and visit the school, stay in their home and get their book published.
Sarah Randisi, one of Ms. Zuckerman’s students, landed in the top ten stories for the contest. She is the only student who won from Quebec. Sarah didn’t win the top story but the fact that she was in the top 10 had garnered much interest from the media. Sarah, her mom and Ms. Zuckerman have been interviewed by The Chronicle, The Gazette and Sarah was featured on Global News on the 19th of December.
On December 8th and 10th, the Olympic Torch Relay passed through many of Lester B’s communities on its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Games. Many schools joined the festivities planned by the cities in support of the flame passing through. Here are some photos of schools who participated in the celebrations, from one student carrying the torch in Beaconsfield (BHS student Benjamin Mumme) to Westwood High School Sr.’s band playing as the flame was brought up to city hall in Hudson to one of the largest crowds seen so far during the Relay in Pointe Claire where many LBPSB schools were present. 
All briefs received by the LBPSB are posted on our web site for our communities to consult. Briefs are in standard PDF format and some are quite large, which will cause download times to vary.
On August 22nd, Chairman Marcus Tabachnick and Commissioner Frank Di Bello were on hand at the inauguration of a new field in LaSalle. They joined LaSalle Mayor Manon Barbe and other esteemed guests, including the late Keith Ewenson's family, in inaugurating the Keith-Ewenson artificial turf football-soccer field and the Fritz-R.-Prévost athletic track. 
SPECIAL NOTE: Monday, October 5, 2009. For personal reasons Lena Stanley has stepped down as Parent Commissioner, Elementary Representative. CPC will be holding a new election in the near future.
The LBPSB will be holding a Town Hall meeting (which will be webcast) on Tuesday, September 15th starting at 7pm at:
The Annual Report for the 2007-2008 school year is now available. For the first time the LBPSB has produced the report as a video which includes interviews and information on the board's programs and strategic plan. This first attempt at providing our communities with a visual report, rather than written, is consistent with the board's goal of enhanced communications.
On Saturday, May 9th, 2,000 students and their families and staff of the Board had the opportunity to attend the Montreal Impact’s home opening game.
Over the past four years, Margaret Manson Elementary has been in partnership with Free the Children working on their ‘Compassion in Action Project.’
On Thursday, May 14th, Hetty Van Gurp, a 
Over 500 schools world-wide have made a commitment to become qualified as Peaceful Schools. 
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It is not everyday that you will find an Elementary school principal going behind the bench to coach her own students in hockey. If you happened to be at the Bob Birnie Arena in Pointe Claire on April 14, 2009, that is exactly where you would have found St. Charles’ Elementary school principal, Mme Coiteux. Students from grades 5 and 6 were invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Bryden Murray Elementary School 4-on-4 Hockey Tournament. This tournament is dedicated to recognizing hockey at the elementary school level. The St. Charles Sharks team made it to the finals in the top division of the tournament and what an accomplishment that was considering it was the first time the boys played together as a team.
On May 27th and 28th, over 2,000 elementary and high school students, teachers and administrators attended the largest international Space Day in North America hosted by LBPSB at the St. Lazare Airport and Flying Club.
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On March 30th, Susan Greenberg, principal of St. Edmund Elementary School, Pat Adams, a music teacher at the school and students presented a cheque of $864 to the Montreal Children’s Hospital at the annual Caring for Kids Radiothon. 
Since last year, the students have been participating in “Dime Day” every Wednesday, a day that encourages students to donate whatever they can to a great cause.
In December we held auditions and it was a complete success! So many people wanted to be part of the play. Since then, we have been holding rehearsals on Mondays and Fridays. Everyone who is not involved in “Grease” is anxious to see what we have been working so hard on, and we are anxious to show them!
In my perspective, “Grease” is a great way to get the whole Grade Six together as friends and show teamwork. We are all very happy to be part if this fun production and everyone is very proud. I found that everyone has a talent that they can contribute in this project, especially in some of the people you would least expect. I imagine the final play on May 6th to be a complete success! It has been a lot of hard effort but I am confident that with everyone working together that this play will be an accomplishment, not only for the students but for the Montreal Children Circle of Hugs Campaign!
On Thursday, May 14th, Hetty Van Gurp, a 
It was somewhat of an emotional goodbye for 55 students at John Rennie High School and 55 students from Colegio Francia, which is situated in Caracas, Venezuela.
When asked how students from both high schools liked the experience, they described it as being an incredible opportunity and said they had developed new friendships.
The Lester B. Pearson Cooperative Education Program and Light a Dream, a non-profit organization that provides work-study experiences for secondary students with developmental challenges, would like to invite you to their spring fund raising event. 
We are Proud to Announce:
On April 28th at 7:30 PM, all teens, pre-teens, parents and guardians are invited to a very special "Families Count" education event taking place at the school. The theme is "Dreams, Drugs and Decisions: A Sobering Look Inside the World of Illicit Drugs." The Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lachine, Randy Johnston will sensitize the audience to the serious problems of illicit drug use in today's world. 
Dedicated students, alumni, volunteers and industry professionals are gearing up for LBPSB's sixth annual Truly Outstanding Pearson Show (TOPS). The show features the Board's most talented high-school students in a production unlike any other. 
Lloyd Barker, spoke at the school and got the students involved in some soccer playing. 
Staff and students are both proud and excited to have been awarded the Pat Lewis Humanitarian Award for 2009-2010 from The Quebec Home and School Association. The school has made many significant contributions to improve the lives of people in their community and abroad. 
Youth Humanitarian Summit ‘09
