​We were happy to welcome Ken Larson to Dalhousie this morning to speak to students about Terry Fox and overcoming challenges in life. Ken is a former international level basketball player for Canada and a friend of Terry Fox. Ken told us stories about his friendship with Terry, but also had fun with students throughout his presentation. We are all pumped to run next Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. in our annual Terry Fox Run. Parents are welcome to run with their children.
Thank You to Melissa
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Melissa for her work as Assistant Principal at Dahousie.  I know that she has absorbed a lot of the extra work that comes along when you have a new person in the job who doesn't really know the environment yet.  Melissa knows the community very well and it's clear to me that your kids have been in excellent hands over the years that she has been at Dalhousie.  The community will miss you, Melissa.  Melissa will be at Dalhousie until October 6.  The new Assistant Principal will be in place by October 10.  I will be in this position until that transition is complete, and the principal is in place, likely towards the end of October. I will hire the new Assistant Principal in conjunction with the Area Office.  
Staffing 
We currently have 21 classes. The breakdown is this:
Kindergarten: 88 students/4 classes  
Grade 1: 78 students/4 classes  
Grade 2: 78 students/4 classes  
Grade 3: 94 students/4 classes  
Grade 4: 79 students/3 classes  
Grade 5: 52 students/2 classes  ​
We have 22 teachers on staff, 2 Education Assistants, 10 Lunch Supervisors, Lori and Karin in the office and Maryam in the Learning Commons. The teaching staff is comprised of 19 classroom teachers, the music teacher, the Assistant Principal and the Principal.
Our teaching staff:
Last Name   First Name   Position   Grade  Alvarado  Amalia  Teacher  1  Carcamo  Jasmine  Teacher  1  Fuentes  Liliana  Teacher  1  Houde  Rachelle  Teacher  1  Canji  Nubia  Teacher  2  Mitchell  Katelyn  Teacher  2  Sala Toledo  Rodrigo  Teacher  2  Scott  Cory  Teacher  2  Achang  Galiana  Teacher  3  Outhet  Danielle  Learning Leader  3  Paredes  Patricia  Teacher  3  Wong  Jasmine  Teacher  3  Flores  Gabriel  Teacher  4  Sutherland  Jen  Learning Leader  4  Victoria  Veronica  Teacher  4  Dominguez  Paloma  Teacher  5  Liendo  Jeanne  Teacher  5  Fredette  Erika  Teacher  K  Tugle  Jennifer  Teacher  K  Primak  Olga  Teacher  Music  Agirreurreta Etxezarreta  Arantxa  Teacher  Spanish Visiting Teacher  Oviedo Aceves  Carmela  Teacher  Spanish Visiting Teacher ​Forsyth  Melissa  Assistant Principal    Fehr  Scott  Principal    Our support staff:
Last Name   First Name   Position  Aleem  Fathema  Lunch Supervisor  Bashir  Rifat  Lunch Supervisor  Borda  Adriana  Education Assistant  Boychuk  Karin  Receptionist/Lunch Supervisor  Brown  Lacey  Lunch Supervisor  Bunes  Maria  Education Assistant  Burrage  Lori  Administrative Assistant  Carumba  Veronica  Lunch Supervisor  Castillo Castillo  Rubi  Lunch Supervisor  Hou  Fawen (Sam)  Facility Operator  Masroor  Zobaria  Lunch Supervisor  McRae  Jean  Lunch Supervisor  Mirza  Maryam  Library Assistant  Partridge  Kim  Lead Lunch  Sabir  Zainab  Lunch Supervisor  Wang  Zhiren  Facility Assistant  We may have some dollars available in our decentralized budget to increase our staff over the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for our registration numbers to stabilize. At that point we will make a decision about the use of our decentralized budget. Change to Lunch Shifts
We are introducing a change to the organization of our lunch hour beginning Tuesday, September 19th. 
​The change: The outcome we need to achieve is adequate supervision both inside and outside, specifically two supervisors on the playground at all times.  This change will not impact instructional hours.  It will impact the time some students eat.  All Grade 1 – 5 students will go out to play for the first half of lunch, and then eat the second half of lunch.  Kindergarten will eat first, and play second.   Eight of our Lunch Supervisors will supervise the Grade 1 – 5 students, two supervisors will look after our Kindergarten students.  Kindergarten students will eat from 12:30 – 12:54, then play outside until 1:17.  Grade 1 – 5 students will play outside from 12:30 – 12:54, then eat from 12:54 – 1:17.
The rationale: Your noon hour supervision fees allow us to have 10 Lunch Supervisors.  It is currently difficult to supervise the students eating lunch (inside the school) with fewer than six Lunch Supervisors.  This is because of the layout of the school and the classrooms. This leaves only four Lunch Supervisors for outside. If we have two Lunch Supervisors on the playground at all times, it is not possible to supervise adequately the rest of the supervision area with only two Lunch Supervisors.  We will also have more eyes on students during the transition from playing to eating because Lunch Supervisors will not be pulled in different directions for the transition period halfway through lunch. In this scenario, 380 Grade 1 – 5 students would be supervised by 8 Lunch Supervisors.  For Grade 1 – 5, this is an acceptable supervision ratio (47.5:1) in an unstructured setting with good sight lines.  This will also allow us to have two supervisors supervising two classes that are in close proximity during the eating period.  
The impact: The result is that Kindergarten students will eat 24 minutes earlier than they have been up to now.  Grades 3 – 5 will be eating 24 minutes later that they have been up to now.  Grade 1 – 2 students will have access to the playground at lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Grade 3 – 5 will have access to the playground on Tuesday and Thursday.   In addition to this, we will open up the third soccer field so that there is more room for kids to play.   Our supervision area will look like this now:
 
Chinook Learning Services | Continuing Education | Spanish for Parents - Level 1 | Fall 2023
By helping parents, we help our CBE learners. Chinook Learning Services offers courses specifically designed for parents and caregivers of CBE Spanish Bilingual students. For Fall 2023, Chinook Learning Services is once again offering Spanish for Parents – Level 1 classes. This eight-week course will help parents of bilingual students learn or refresh their Spanish language skills, build their network of bilingual parents and support their children's learning at home. This course would also be beneficial for any Support Staff who are interested in learning along with parents!  
Chinook Learning Services has successfully offered Spanish-For-Parents-Level-1 in the past.   
Check out the course reviews at Course-Review-Spanish-For-Parents-Level-1
​ Dalhousie Happenings and Events
​September 15: Conference Manager opens Friday, September 15, 7:00 a.m. for Meet the Teacher. 
September 15: Terry Fox Presentation in the gym for students
September 20: Terry Fox Run
​Assembly at 1:45
Parents are welcome to join outside at 2:00.
​September 21 – 22: Meet the Teacher. 
​Thursday from 5:00 – 7:00 and Friday from 9:00 – 1:00 
Ten-minute slots
Thanks to your generosity, teachers will eat together at 4:15 on Thursday. 
September 28: Orange Shirt Day   
​September ​29: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - NO SCHOOL
​As always, please call or email if you would like to discuss any of these issues.
Que tengan buen fin de semana! 
​ ​ Scott Fehr  Principal 
Melissa Forsyth  Assistant Principal