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ALEXANDRA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Faculty Council Meeting

February 9th, 2009
Agenda – Room 107
Mr. L. Cooper, Miss L. Davidchuk, Mr. J. Peters, Mrs. R. Thomas,

Mr. J. Rempel, Mrs. S. Ennis, Ms. S. Werner, and Mr. T. Whyte
1. Safe & Caring Committee: (Mr. Jason Peters)

• Common Planning Dates 2008-2009
No report but a committee planning session will be held tomorrow.
2. Registrations for Next Year: (Mr. Jason Peters)

• March 3rd 7:00 p.m. Orientation Evening at Alexandra all teaching staff are required
to attend this critical function.
3. School Calendar Updates:

• 2009-2010 (Miss Linda Davidchuk)
• Proposed 2010-2011 (Mr. Lorne Cooper)
4. CHHS Attendance Policy: (Miss Linda Davidchuk and Mr. Jason Peters)
The School Act of the Province of Alberta and Medicine Hat School District #76 Attendance Policy:
A student shall conduct himself or herself so as to reasonably comply with the following:
• Be diligent in pursing the student’s studies.
• Attend school regularly.
• Co-operate fully with everyone authorized by the board to provide education programs and
other services.
• Comply with the rules of the school.
• Account to the student’s teachers for the student’s conduct.
• Respect the rights of others.
Medicine Hat School District Attendance Policy
• The school principal shall ensure that procedures are in place to monitor student attendance and
to address matters of repeated tardiness, excessive absence, or truancy.
• Parents or guardians shall be notified by the school staff should student attendance concerns
become apparent.
Attendance is one of the most important factors determining success at school. Students must be on time
and attend each and every class. Students who miss more than 30 minutes or 50% of a class, whichever
occurs first, will be marked absent. Students arriving after that time should seek to amend this situation
with the classroom teacher by making up this time at a time arranged with the teacher. A student is always
responsible for classroom work missed during their absence.
The administration and teaching staff of Crescent Heights High School firmly believe a strong correlation
exists between consistent student attendance and a successful learning experience. This attendance policy
exists to promote a beneficial educational experience for all students.
Junior High Attendance Policy Procedures
A. Attendance Tracking Policy:
When a teacher is concerned about a students attendance (excused or not) they will initiate the
Attendance/ Intervention Tracking form. This policy has five stages of intervention.
• Stage 1 – Initial Tracking – 5 absences
o Parents/guardians are contacted.
• Stage 2 – Counsellor Intervention – 10 absences
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o Counsellor meets with the student.
o A letter sent to the Parents/guardians.
o Parents/guardians are contacted.
• Stage 3 – Administration Intervention – 15 absences
o The administrator meets with the student.
o Parents/guardians are contacted and a meeting may be arranged.
• Stage 4 – Contract Intervention – 20 absences
o The administrator meets with the student.
o Parents/guardians are contacted and a meeting is arranged.
o A letter is sent to the parents/guardians.
o A student contract is issued and signed.
• Stage 5 – Attendance Board Intervention – 25 absences
o The administrator initiates procedures to take the student issue to the Attendance Board.
B. Truancy Attendance Policy:
A student will be considered truant from a class when he/she is absent from a class without the
knowledge or consent of the parent or guardian and the school officials. The student must report to the
office for each truancy. Contact with the parent or guardian will be made for each truancy. A truancy
will be determined by incident. Missing 1 class or 3 classes in the same day would be considered ONE
incident.
1. When a student is truant once (for the first time) from a class or classes, the teacher will confirm
the truancy with the parent. The parent will be informed of the CHHS truancy policy and
arrangements for the student to serve a Wednesday School will be made.
• Multiple Truancies during the same day will be considered ONE truant incident.
• If the student does NOT show for his Wednesday School the administration will deal with the
defiance.
2. When a student is truant for a second time (2nd incident) from a class or classes, the teacher will
confirm the truancy and contact the counsellor. The counselor will :
_ meet with the student to discuss the truancy
_ contact home to discuss the school policy, the issue and the consequences.
_ assign a Wednesday School detention.
3. When a student is truant for a third time (3rd incident) from a class or classes, the teacher will
confirm the truancy and contact the administrator.
The administrator will:
_ meet with the student to discuss the truancy.
_ assigns consequences (Wednesday School plus….suspensions or….).
_ contact home to discuss the issue and the consequences.
4. Further truancies will be submitted to the administrator by the teacher.
• Parents and staff will be involved to address the attendance issue(s).
• Appropriate consequences will be administered.
5. District PD Day, March 9: (Mr. Jason Peters and Mrs. Richelle Thomas)
•
6. Feedback:
• February Dance (Miss Linda Davidchuk)
• Student Council Chocolate Fund Raiser (Miss Linda Davidchuk)
• Accountability Survey (Miss Linda Davidchuk)
• Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences (Miss Linda Davidchuk and Mr. Jason Peters)
7. Other:
•
Note: Save a tree and only print up and including this page as you already have a hard copy of
the school plan which follows.
ALEXANDRA MIDDLE SCHOOL
School Education Plan
2007-2010
Statement of Responsibility
The staff of Alexandra Middle School accepts responsibility for providing an appropriate
education for our students within the laws, regulations, policies and guidelines of Alberta
Education and Medicine Hat School District No. 76. Working with Alberta Education, the
School District, and the school community, the staff accepts this responsibility by developing and
implementing the School Education Plan.
The School Education Plan will support, complement and supplement the District's Education
Plan. Through this plan the staff gives a commitment to achieving the goals of Medicine Hat
School District No. 76.
Alexandra Middle School is a student-centred middle school.
__ ___ ______
Jan and Larry Hoffman Lorne A. Cooper
(School Council Co-Chairs)
Foundation Statements
Vision
Alexandra Middle School is a place where students, staff, parents, and the community are
committed to:
• A safe, caring and stimulating environment where high standards of achievement are
encouraged.
• Meeting the academic, physical and emotional needs of students.
• A strong discipline policy, which demonstrates accountability for actions.
• Providing a program of academics and complementary courses that meet the
challenges of a rapidly changing future.
• Enhancing the development of responsible citizens.
• Providing individual wellness.
Mission
“We at Alexandra are partners in lifelong learning, dedicated to challenging and empowering
individuals to pursue the future, by experiencing and celebrating success.”
Principles And/Or Beliefs
As a school, which is part of Medicine Hat School District No. 76, we support the principles and
beliefs as outlined in the District's Education Plan. These stated beliefs include the following:
Excellence, Respect, Caring & Compassion, Learning, Integrity and Innovations.
School Wildly Important Goal
Improving Learning, Living and Relationships
Contextual Information
School Profile:
Principal Mr. Lorne Cooper
Vice Principals First Miss Linda Davidchuk Second Mr. Jason Peters
School Council Co-Chairs Jan and Larry Hoffman
School Size
Sept 2005 Oct 2006 Sept 2007 Sept 2008 Sept 2009
456 students 429 students 495 students 493 students
25.2 FTE teachers 26 teachers 30 teachers 29 teachers
(25.5 FTE) (25.67 FTE) (27.83 FTE)
3 FTE TA’s 3 TA’s 5 FTE TA’s 2 TA’s
(2.4 FTE) (4.4 FTE) (1.83 FTE)
School Address 477 Sixth Street SE

Medicine Hat, Alberta
Canada T1A 1H4
Profile of student population

• Socio-economic background: all groups are represented
• Transportation: District contracted school bus transportation system
• Feeder population Connaught School Crestwood School
Elm Street School George Davison School
Herald School River Heights School
Ross Glen School Southview Community School
• Age range of students: 11 to 15 years old
• Grade range: 7 and 8
Enhancement Programs
• We offer a regular academic school program with a wide array of complementary courses
including: Art, Band, CTS: Construction Technology, CTS: Foods, CTS: Information
Processing, CTS: Visual Communications, Drama, French, Recreational Education and
Spanish.
• In addition to the aforementioned programs, Alexandra offers two Sports Academies
whose aim is to provide students with attitudes, knowledge, and skills that are mandatory
for the improvement of learning and the enhancement of performance. All students will
have success through believing in themselves and striving for their own personal
excellence. This program creates a positive skills environment that links sport with
education by focusing attention on the "physical, social, cultural and emotional potential
through sports endeavours".
• Intra/Extramural programs are an integral part of our school’s program. Two programs
that the students voluntarily participate in are “Open Gym” in the morning prior to the
start of the school day and the Intramural program that is operated during the lunch
periods Monday through Thursday.
• To promote good behaviour and a positive school climate, our school provides a number
of co-curricular programs and activities. Some of these include:
 School Athletic Teams
 Student Council
 Meet and Greet Club
 Chess Club
 Yearbook
 Band
 Fine Arts Programs
 FREE Club
 French Club
 Spanish Club
 Media Club
 Performer’s Club
 Go Girls’ Club
 Work-Out Club
 Homework Club
 Awards Assemblies
 Science Fair Club
 Annual Spring Showcase of Student Work and Accomplishments
 MyPlace Mental Health Project
 School Website (www.alexandraschool.ca).
Programs That May Be Unique to the School
• In addition to the regular instructional program, we currently offer four District

Learning Assistance Program (LAP) classes. Two classes, each with a class size of
15 students, are part of the LAP for the moderate learning disabled (code 54
students). The other two classes, also capped whenever possible at 15 students, are
designed for students that have a mild cognitive disability (code 51 students). In
addition to this support, 24 code 40’s and/or code 50’s students on an individualized
program plan (IPP) are placed within the regular classroom setting. Following
established patterns we will identify or their previous school has identified another
ten to twenty students that will be placed on waiting lists for testing for potential code
support. Once testing has confirmed that a child meets the requirements of the code
an IPP is put in place documenting the supports appropriate for the child’s learning
situation. The students that receive code 40’s supports at Alexandra may be placed in
the regular class setting but should have significant unique modifications to their
educational programs such as an assigned educational assistant.
• We also have a varying number of students that qualify for English as a Second
Language support. This current school year have 7 students who meet one period a
day every other day with our ESL teacher who also is our Second Languages teacher.
• Following one of the tenants of middle school philosophy we have achieved block
timetabling which means every Math/Science class and every Humanities
(Language/Social) class experiences the consistency of having only one teacher for
these two core pairings. Having the core subjects taught to the student by a reduced
number of individual teachers allows for the atmosphere (rules, routine and
expectations) to be more closely in line with that which is commonly found in the
elementary school setting. Having to face a lower number of individual teachers
creates a greater consistency of expectations from the student’s point of view. That is,
Mathematics and Science are taught to the class by the same teacher and likewise,
Language Arts and Social Studies are taught by the same teacher under the umbrella
of the Humanities. Similarly, and as a response to addressing mandated thirty minute
daily physical activity, we also incorporated the blocking of Physical Education,
Recreational Education and Health instruction into our timetable. Note, this latest
blocking of PE, HE and RE has been very successful and we anticipate continuing
this practice. The block schedules allow flexibility for the teacher in deciding on the
best allotment of time and the integration of common curricula within major/shared
projects. Students are taught the regular Alberta Learning curriculum but the
grouping of the core subjects into blocks of time provides the additional time
necessary for project based learning. In the past we were only able to accomplish this
through one transition class for Grade Seven students. Since the whole school now
follows a transition model the need for a separate class no longer exists.
Parental/Community/Business Involvement/Partnerships
• Alexandra School has an active School Council where parents provide advice on
policy development, as well as feedback on school rules and procedures. The School
Educational Plan is shared with the School Council at one of their regular open
meetings for their information and suggested input on the strategies for achieving the
goals and performance measures. After the acceptance of the plan at an open meeting
of the School Council the chair of the School Council signs off on the plan. A copy
of the plan is posted on the school’s website.
• Alexandra School also cooperates with the City of Medicine Hat. We have a school
community worker, based out of Medicine Hat High School, who provides liaison
services with other local community agencies. In addition, we cooperate and
participate with the Medicine Hat Police Service. We have a designated School
Resource Officer who is on campus on a regular basis and works out of an office in
our school. However, during this current school year the Medicine Hat Police
Services have recruited an number of new staff so it is projected that our officer will
not be in place until January or as late as April 2009.
• Our business partner was Monarch Cable Systems. In the past they helped provide
the support and expertise for the set up of our Visual Communication (C.T.S.) course.
Their influence can still be felt within our program. They provided technical support
for our installation of an extensive video system that was completed during the 2002
– 2003 school year and now runs throughout our building. In 2004 Monarch Cable
Systems was purchased by Shaw Cable Systems. Up until summer of 2005, Shaw
Cable Systems continued to provide free cable television broadcast to our video
network that includes over forty classroom, office and high traffic area televisions.
We now pay the same fee as other schools for this service (about $10/month, which is
quite a reduced cost when compared to fees usually charge for additional connections
in home settings).
• We also cooperate with the School District and the Palliser Health Authority. One
Alberta Mental Health worker has been assigned to Alexandra Middle School to work
with staff and students.
• The most recent and significant addition to school partnerships has been the addition
of the MyPlace Project to Alexandra. MyPlace is a partnership between the Medicine
Hat School District #76 and the Alberta Mental Health Board. MyPlace is a school
based mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention program for middle
year’s students in the both Alexandra and Crescent Heights High School. Its target
audience are 20 identified students but includes activities that benefits the whole
school population. Human resources of the project include; project facilitator, mental
health counsellor, AADA consultant and a success coach. This organization also
engages where appropriate and possible other outside agencies and resources such as
McMan Youth, Family and Community Service Association, Children and Family
Services, and Medicine Hat and Area Food Bank.
• Three other community organizations that have proven to be a valuable resource to us
are the Resiliency Committee, the Bullying Awareness and Prevention Program
through the John Howard Society and Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association.
• Alexandra Middle School meets with representatives of the following community
agencies and organizations on an as needed basis: Palliser Health Authority, McMan
Services, Alberta Mental Health, Children and Family Services, First Nations, City of
Medicine Hat, Medicine Hat Police Service and Medicine Hat Catholic Board of
Education. These School-Community Partnerships continue to hold great promise in
helping to meet the needs of our secondary students.
Instructional Practices That May Be Unique to the School

• AISI Project – It should also be noted that Alexandra Middle School continues its
participation in our District’s AISI Project (Alberta Initiative for School
Improvement). We are in the third phase of the AISI projects. In the past, four
teachers, one administrator (part time), and one educational assistant participated in
this project. Each year or two the participants would change so as to maximize the
number of people benefiting and committing to the project. The original project
focused on “Differentiated Instruction.” In the second phase year “Learning
Communities” were incorporated into the culture of our school as a means of
facilitating school improvement. The third round of AISI focuses on “Critical
Thinking and Assessment”. We used these initiatives to build on the gains that we
have already made and expanded it into our classroom environments through the
enhancement of one or more of the tenants of Middle School philosophy. The fourth
phase is currently being planned and will focus on improving instruction.
• Middle School Philosophy – Block Time Table. We know from middle school
research and experience that there are benefits to having teachers teach more than one
subject to the same group of students. Therefore, at Alexandra Middle School, you
will generally find that students will have the Language Arts and Social Studies (the
Humanities) taught by the same teacher. Likewise, the same teacher generally
teaches Math, Science and Health. This arrangement allows for a thematic approach
to the subjects and greater flexibility for teachers in implementing program delivery.
• Middle School Philosophy – Transition Class: Grade 7 is a transitional year for all
students (elementary into junior high) and likewise, grade 8 transitions into grade 9 at
the high school. However, we are aware that some individuals are less prepared to
cope with the larger reality than others, so block time table also serves to ease the
transition between elementary school and high school.
• Sports Elective – During the 2003-2004 school year our students were able to
participate in two components of the Sports Performance Elective: the Baseball
Academy and the Hockey Academy. Alexandra Middle School, in partnership with
Medicine Hat High School, City of Medicine Hat, Medicine Hat Minor Hockey
Association, Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada presented the Hockey Academy, as
part of the Sports Performance Option. The Baseball Academy was also a partnership
between Alexandra, Medicine Hat High School and the City of Medicine Hat. At
Alexandra these electives became popular and increased in size thus, Alexandra and
Medicine Hat High, made the transition to separate programs. Although the high
school program subsequently folded. Our program, supported by high student
interest and maintaining our partnerships, continued to grow. Registrations for both
2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years have matched our projections of two classes
for each academy. We likely have reached our optimum enrollment for these
Academies but we have considered adding Dance, Soccer and Golf academies and we
will continue to explore these options.
• Locally Developed Courses – Many years ago it was deemed important to encourage
students to explore the recreational activities that our community has to offer. Hence,
Alexandra developed a course called Recreational Education (RE or Rec. Ed.). This
popular course helps students develop skills for lifelong community-based
recreational activities. Depending on the season and the availability of community
facilities, students may participate in activities such as bowling, golfing, curling,
weight training, tennis, martial arts, biking, skating, soccer, billiards and cross-
country skiing. This is a participation-based course and therefore if students get
actively involved in the activities, they have a very successful and enjoyable
experience. This course became our most popular complementary course. First
conceived and developed at Alexandra, Rec. Ed. can now be found in other middle
schools and junior high schools in our local area. However, as previously mentioned,
with the advent of mandatory 30 minutes a day of physical activity we integrated the
provincial Physical Education and Health courses with our Recreational Education
course and now offer PE/H/RE one period a day every day to every student. Periods
are 54 minutes Monday through Thursday and 38 minutes on Friday.
• Programs in Place to Address Problem Areas – Students who exhibit severe behaviour
problems are provided with alternate education programming in an alternate setting.
Students are usually placed in one of the District’s alternate programs, which include:
YMCA Stay-in-School, McMan REAL Outreach Program, Saamis REAL Outreach
Program, PAS, Young Mom’s School and home schooling. In some instances
enrollment in the alternate programs is by choice. Here the students and their
parents/guardians have found that, for whatever reason, the regular classroom setting
did not work for them as well as they would have liked and perform better in the
alternative environments.
• Special Use of Technology – Technology is viewed as a valuable educational tool at
Alexandra.
Hardware: Our school has three (33 workstations in each) and two thirds (19
workstations) computer labs as well as at least four computer workstations per
classroom (SmartBoard classrooms have 5). We were one of the school district’s first
nComputing sites. nComputing allows for one computer to host four work stations.
All classrooms have a ceiling mounted TV/VCR system tied into one of the
classroom computers and also linked to the school video system (including local
cable TV). Student Council has undertaken the installation of 5 SmartBoards as one
of their legacy projects. At the same time the school installed 1 SmartBoard in one of
the computer labs. This year 2 additional classrooms and another computer lab that is
also equipped with video conferencing equipment received SmartBoards as part of
Alberta Educations funding support for technology in the classroom. Our technology
plan is to install as a minimum 3 SmartBoards per year over the remaining 2 years of
the Alberta Education technology grant bringing the install base up to 15
SmartBoards. We will then be left with the challenge of devising an achievable plan
for the remaining 18 classrooms at Alexandra. Each teaching space is equipped with
a phone. Our school district makes use of VOIP technology and every staff member
has a voicemail box, whose extension is publish on our school website and also
available to the public when they phone the school through a staff directory.
Voicemail allows for increased efficiencies in communication between home and
school.
Software: Our school is fully networked with 4 or more hardwire drops in each
teaching space. In addition, the building is fully covered by wireless technology. All
school based computers and even the staff and students who own laptops can access
our Internet. Students make good use this technology as a research tool. We also
have installed a number of District and Province supported software programs like
MicroSoft Office. These resources are our primary productivity tools. Our district
has recently signed on to a web hosting/development service and as a result our
school has begun the slow process of migrating our web page information from the
old to the new. Part of this new service is the ability for subscribers to sign on to
receive school based communications such as newsletters and notices. With a student
base of 491 students we currently have 633 subscriptions. Another vital area that
software plays a prominent role is management of information. Our school and
district operates the school administration program called SIRS (School Information
Retrieval System). This system is internet based through a secure server which
allows for significantly increased ease of access to the data base. Linked to this
system is a program called Synrevoice which is an automated phoning system that
reports student absents (and can be used as either a notification system or an
emergency call out system). Also as part of the SIRS program the district has
acquired the license for HomeLogic which allows students and parents to access the
student’s school based information such as attendance, marks (if their teachers make
use of TeacherLogic to calculate marks – currently only 2 PE/RE and 2 Humanities
teachers out of a staff of 29 do not use TeacherLogic to calculate core curriculum
marks), transcripts, high school credits and school fees through the internet. This
increases communication between school and the home and allows families and
students to more easily monitor and therefore plan their own progress. Our current
school population is 491 students, 337 (69%) students and their families have applied
for and received access to the HomeLogic service.
Trends And Issues

• Decreasing student population trend continued in Medicine Hat for many years as the
average family sizes became smaller and Medicine Hat was not the number one
choice for immigrating families. The 2006-2007 school year was to have been one of
the lowest student population in decades (previous low count 1983-1984 369
students, Mr. W. Schieman, principal, Dr. G. Giduk and Mr. W. Rae, vice-principals).
We were projected to have 369 students for the 2006-2007 school year but staffed for
399 students just in case as the larger student enrolment allows us to maintain a
diverse teaching staff but given the population drop we had adjusted our timetable to
fit our new reality and staffed accordingly. The teaching and educational assistants
ranks were reduced. The District dropped the administrative team at Alexandra by
one vice-principal. When the September 2006 count came in at 420 two additional
0.5 teachers and a 0.3 Teacher Assistant were quickly added to the staff. Our District
had projected the 2007 September enrollment to be low (467) with a slight drop the
following year and then a continuous slow rise in subsequent years. A conservative
estimate of student population for staffing purposes was agreed upon and the school
was staffed accordingly. September saw 497 students enroll at Alexandra and
teaching staffing was once again adjusted upward with the position of 2nd Vice-
Principal being re-instated. September 30th count for 2008 was 493 students. We
were staffed for 480 students which was above the projected district count of 462 and
closer to our projected count of 494. This larger school population also resulted in
additional staffing and helped justify the re-instatement of the position of 2nd Vice-
Principal.
Many retired couples have made Medicine Hat their home and longitudinal
population studies anticipated the 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 drop in the cities overall
middle level age student population. Yet as these statistics demonstrate Alexandra
continues to draw a larger than anticipated population. Seniors require support
services and current studies and our current trend provides some evidence that the
decrease in student population as a whole has begun to reverse itself. Longitudinal
studies indicate a slow increase in the middle level learner population over the next
few years to the point where our facility will once again be taxed. When we see an
increase in young families and the concomitant increase in student population,
Alexandra’s resources will become stressed. It is also note-worthy that utilizing
Alberta Education’s class size target of 25.0 and the nineteen available classrooms,
the maximum total population for Alexandra would be 475 students, yet the school
utilization formula has set the school capacity at 668 students. (Note eleven
dedicated teaching spaces exist as well as the 19 aforementioned classes so with
appropriate timetabling additional students beyond 475 can be accommodated.) In
anticipation, the District has identified the building of a new middle school along with
a new high school and two elementary schools as a priority.
• Another continuing trend across the District that should also be noted is the general
rise in the number of students requiring additional educational support. These are
often referred to as the “coded” students. Alexandra Middle School, like all other
schools, is experiencing a growth in the number of students in this area with 65
identified code 40’s and code 50’s students anticipated in the 2008-2009 school year
(one out of every 7 students). During the course of a normal school year students
within the regular program are also identified and added to this count as well as
student move into the city and enroll at Alexandra that meet the requirements for
coding and hence receive specialized support. This phenomenon is more pronounced
at Alexandra since eight different schools feed into our school. While coded students,
that is, students with unique learning needs, exist at all socio-economic levels in all
areas of the city, their population density is greatest in the lower socio-economic
areas. Every feeder school in the city that has been identified as having a significant
population of coded students as well as residing in areas that serve lower socio-
economic group feeds into Alexandra. Put another way, Alexandra feeder area
include all the cities lowest social-economic areas but we also have some of the most
well off socio-economic areas as well. Regardless, eight feeder schools represents a
lot of Medicine Hat neighbourhoods. The result is an increase in the pressures on our
programs and resources to provide support to the students. Most coded students
receive support in LAP (Learning Assistance Program) classes while a few (3 to 5
students) receive more limited support within each of the sixteen regular classrooms.
Just prior to 2000 we had one LAP class. In 2001 we added one more LAP class to
our existing class structure. In the 2003-2004 school year we added a third LAP class
to provide services for code 51 and 53 students. Today we operate four LAP
classrooms and yet we find ourselves in a position where we could have added an
additional LAP class but did not have staffing resources or physical space to do so. In
order to provide for student individualized programs, LAP classes at Alexandra have
a ceiling of 15 students and, where possible, an instructional assistant is also
scheduled to support the class. Adding LAP classes, while mathematically possible,
comes at a price as it increases the size of the regular classes to beyond the Alberta
Education guidelines and taxes the allocation of human resources and classroom
space.
• Second Languages are a challenge not only regarding staffing but also to generate
local public interest. Two decades ago we offered both French and German as a
second language and were able to fill at least one class at each grade level in German
and employed as many as five different teachers instructing French as a second
language. However, once the decision was made to make second languages an
elective choice at the secondary level the numbers began to decline. German was the
first to drop below the level that it could be supported but French rapidly followed.
In the Medicine Hat public system had French a required course in all elementary
schools grades 4 to 6 but when families, upon entering secondary schools, were free
to choose French requests dropped radically. It is also interesting to note that with
each of the “separatist” votes in Quebec the numbers requesting French halved. In
addition, our District offered a French Immersion K to 12 program and a French
school District set up a school within Medicine Hat. These programs take about 40 to
60 students out of the middle level populations in the city hence reducing demand for
French as a second language in our schools. Since 2003 we were at point where only
5 to 7 students out of our total student population of about 500 selected French as an
elective choice. These numbers were too low to offer a class. Up to June of 2006 a
few of our students were able to take French from Alberta Distant Education but this
was not the case during the 2006-2007 school year as Alberta Education finally
noticed that the course material for French did not follow the Program of Studies and
was pulled leaving us with no options for the next two year for those students wishing
a second language. We recognized that we would have to create the demand for a
second language program so this year we offered an unique solution; one semester of
French followed by one semester of Spanish, the study of two languages and their
cultures in one year. This choice proved to be popular enough to have one class at
each grade level. We anticipate offering this choice again next year and we may also
look to other pairings such as: Japanese and Mandarin, Korean and Cantonese,
German and Russian, and Blackfoot and Cree.
• The public has increasingly been concerned about the fees associated with schooling
and fund raising is no exception. Fund raising activities in the elementary school are
often the purview of the School Council. At Alexandra, the Student Council takes the
active role in this area as a means of exposing the students to new skills. Two major
fund raisers are conducted; one in the fall and one in the spring. In addition to this
the Student Council operates a canteen at our School’s Track and Field day that brings
in over $1000. These fund raisers not only provide Student Council with valuable
experience but also revenue that helps to fund all the school teams, clubs, extra-
curricular activities and legacy projects. Legacy projects are significant contributions
by students for the benefit of all. Past examples have included: the outdoor
amphitheatre, the outdoor court, outdoor furniture, ceiling mounted tv/vcr units tied
into a school-wide video broadcast system, sound system equipment, water fountains,
the outdoor message sign, picnic tables, re-sodding and re-treeing the front area of the
school and the former location of portable classrooms, SmartBoards, and our latest
project, a sculpted brick mural by Jim Marshall.
• The final trend of note is the recognition of the need for schools to define themselves
in unique ways to attract and/or retain students. Our ability to attract students at or
above the projected numbers speaks to this discussion here. We are the only
alternative in the public system that offers an exclusive “middle school” environment;
that is, only students of grade seven and eight attend Alexandra. We are large enough
to offer diverse programming options and experiences for our students but at the same
time not so big as to discourage parents from what they perceive as sending their
children to a large and potentially frightening or impersonal school setting populated
with the older high school students. Generally, parents have indicated that they send
their child to our school from outside of our feeder school area because of our
school’s smaller size, our more homogeneous age population or our reputation for
high quality complementary programs such as Band or the Sports Electives (Baseball
Academy and Hockey Academy).
Goals, Outcomes, Priorities, Measures & Strategies
Alberta Education
Goal 1: High quality Education opportunities for all.
Outcomes:
• Students achieve the standards in the provincial curriculum. Students receive the education
they need to prepare them for entry into the high school.
• Students perceive their school as being safe and caring.
• Teachers provide high quality instruction.
Performance Measures and Targets:

• Accountability Pillar Results: Target 80 + or - 5% or higher “agree” from all respondents:
Note, exact wording of statement varies depending on whether it is a parent, student or
teacher survey so the default statement displayed in this report is from the parent survey.
1
o Acc Parent 44 parents who mailed in responses to Alberta Education Accountability
survey.
2
o Teacher 22 teachers who completed to the on-line survey.
3
o Student 205 grade 7 students who completed the on-line survey.
4
o CnfParent 80 grade 7 & 8 parents selected at random shortly after
parent/student/teacher conferences to complete a photocopy of the on-line survey.
Accountability Pillar Statement Source Agree Disagree Don’t know

How satisfied or dissatisfied are Acc Parent1 83% 16% 0%
you with the variety of subjects Teacher2 95 5 0
available to your child at school
Student3 78 19 3
CnfParent4 94 4 2
Another Language Acc Parent1 38 38 24
Teacher2 30 40 30
Student3 33 41 25
CnfParent4 39 35 36
Art Acc Parent1 70 9 21
Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 60 17 23
CnfParent4 82 4 14
Computers Acc Parent1 80 18 2
Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 84 10 6
CnfParent4 96 3 1
Drama Acc Parent1 72 4 23
Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 65 13 23
CnfParent4 69 4 27
Health Acc Parent1 88 2 9
Teacher2 91 9 0
Student3 80 14 6
CnfParent4 93 2 5
Music Acc Parent1 74 9 11
Teacher2 95 0 5
Student3 62 20 17
CnfParent4 88 9 13
PE Acc Parent1 89 9 2
Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 93 5 2
CnfParent4 91 5 4
Strategies:
• Continue with the implementation of Alberta Education Program of Studies.
• Continue to analyze the Accountability Pillar data to help determine our successes and focii.
• Continue to work with MHHS staff in analyzing and reporting grade nine achievement test
data.
• Work with our two department heads to track the academic progress of grade nine students
who enroll at Medicine Hat High School.
• Continue to work with parents, students, and staff to ensure that Alexandra Middle School is
perceived to be a safe and caring school.
• Continue to communicate important issues to our school’s stakeholders via the schools
newsletter and our website.
• Continue to provide a second language complementary course (see hi-lited red numbers from
2007-2008 where no second languages were available).
• Look for additional ways for students and parents to understand how complementary choice
is inter-related with available resources and public demand. Perhaps a web presence
discussing this topic would benefit. (see hi-lited yellow numbers)
Goal 2: Excellence in student learning outcomes
Outcomes:
• Students achieve provincial learning standards.
• Alexandra students will have the knowledge and skills that are needed for success in the high
school.

1
survey.
2
3
4

Your child clearly understands what Acc Parent1 65% 25% 9%
he or she is expected to learn at Teacher2 100 0 0
school.
Student3 84 12 4
CnfParent4 86 10 4
Your child finds school work Acc Parent1 84 9 7
challenging. Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 77 19 3
CnfParent4 81 16 3
Your child finds school work Acc Parent1 66 30 5
interesting. Teacher2 95 0 5
Student3 58 39 3
CnfParent4 85 13 2
Your child is learning what he or Acc Parent1 68 27 9
she needs to know. Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 82 14 3
CnfParent4 90 14 3
How satisfied or dissatisfied are Acc Parent1 80 21 0
you with the quality of education Teacher2 100 0 0
your child is receiving at school?
Student3 89 6 4
CnfParent4 97 6 4
you with the quality of teaching at Teacher2 100 0 0
your child’s school?
Student3 87 9 4
CnfParent4 97 1 2
Strategies:
• Same strategies as outlined in Goal #1.
• We will report student achievement to parents in written form during the school year (Report
Cards are issued four times). We will also host two parent-student-teacher interview
sessions.
• Through the use of HomeLogic and TeacherLogic students and guardian parents are able to
monitor student academic progress via the internet.
• We will continue to report satisfaction data provided by our District to our school council and
school staff. This information is available to the public. The data in the reports is analyzed
and we will make the necessary plans for continued improvement.
• We will continue to require that all teaching staff follow the Province’s Program of Studies.
• We will continue to provide assistance to those staff that may need to up-grade their
classroom and student behaviour management skills.
Goal 3: Highly responsive and responsible school
Outcomes:
• Alexandra Middle School will maintain and strengthen our existing partnership relationships.
• Alexandra Middle School demonstrates leadership and continuous improvement in
administrative and business processes and practices.

1
survey.
2
3
4
 Program Access:
How satisfied or dissatisfied are
you that your child can access the
following services in a timely
manner at school when needed:
Academic Counselling Acc Parent1 51 12 37
Teacher2 86 0 14
Student3 49 25 27
CnfParent4 74 6 20
Career Counselling Acc Parent1 45 10 45
Teacher2 50 0 50
Student3 47 25 28
CnfParent4 60 9 31
Library Services Acc Parent1 88 2 10
Teacher2 86 14 0
Student3 80 12 8
CnfParent4 90 2 8
Services (beyond regular Acc Parent1 48 10 43
instruction) that helps students to Teacher2 40 25 35
read and write.
Student3 78 10 12
CnfParent4 50 10 40
Special Needs: How satisfied or Acc Parent1 88 13 0
dissatisfied are you with the special Teacher2 86 10 5
supports your child has received at
school. Student3
CnfParent4 84 8 8
 Parental Involvement:
To what extent are you involved in Acc Parent1 81 19 0
decisions about your child’s Teacher2 86 10 5
education? Would you say
Student3
CnfParent4 71 23 6
To what extent are you involved in Acc Parent1 42 58 0
decisions at your child’s school? Teacher2 77 14 9
Would you say
Student3
CnfParent4 47 51 2
you that your input into decisions at Teacher2 95 0 5
your child’s school is considered?
Student3
CnfParent4 95 0 5
you with the opportunity to be Teacher2 95 0 5
involved in decisions about your
child’s education? Student3
CnfParent4 95 0 5
you with the opportunity to be Teacher2 95 0 5
involved in decisions at your child’s
school? Student3
CnfParent4 57 18 24
 School Improvement:
I am proud of my school. Acc Parent1
Teacher2
Student3 68 27 6
CnfParent4
I would recommend my school to a Acc Parent1
friend. Teacher2
Student3 72 23 5
CnfParent4
Strategies:
• We will continue to work with and remain committed to the following groups and
organizations within our wider community: School Council, City of Medicine Hat, Medicine
Hat Police Service, YMCA, Shaw Cable Systems, Palliser Health Authority, McMan Youth
and Family Services, Alberta Mental Health, Children and Family Services, Mywasin Centre,
John Howard Society and the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education.
• Solicit informal and formal feedback from Central Office, parents, students, local community
and other stakeholders.
• Use the results of the Accountability Pillar to monitor vested interest groups’ perceptions.
• Monitoring the results of the grade nine Provincial Achievement Exams.
• Continue to encourage parents to become involved in their child’s school and their child’s
education.
• Continue to encourage parents to become active participants in the School Council.
• Continue to support teachers in their endeavours to establish academic clubs in addition to
the sports and social related clubs.
• Continued inter-school cooperation for the improvement of instruction and Achievement
Exam results.
• Explore ways of informing our students and parents that we do provide both academic and
course counselling appropriate to the middle school level.
ALEXANDRA GOALS 2007-2010
As a school we also supported the district goals set down and agreed to in consultation with the
staff of Medicine Hat School District No. 76 as stated in the District's Education Plan. In
addition we have undertaken to put in place at our school the following goals for the following
school year:
Goal 1: To continue to explore, implement and reinforce Middle School structural

initiatives such as a student-centred school, block scheduling, time-table
continuity, core curriculum, exploratory complementary courses, dynamic
intramural / physical activities programs and common planning time.
Outcomes:
• Staff will better understand and support current Middle School practices currently in place.
e.g. project based learning, integrated learning strategies, differentiated learning, critical
thinking and assessment guided instruction.
• The Alexandra community will re-affirm its role as a student-centred school.
• Students will enjoy a middle level learner environment that recognizes their unique needs.

• Students will enjoy being at school – Target >80% from informal interviews, anecdotal
reports and/or the Accountability Survey results listed in this report.
• Parents will report satisfaction with the operation of the school – Target >80% from informal
interviews, anecdotal reports and/or the Accountability Survey results listed in this report.
• Staff will enjoy being at school – Target >80% from informal interviews, anecdotal reports
and/or the Accountability Survey results listed in this report.
• Grade Nine Achievement Tests Results for MHHS (where we send the majority of our
students) will be at the Status Quo or better categories on all levels.
Colour Code: Significant Improvement Improvement Status Quo Concern Problem
2007-2008 Grade Nine Provincial Achievement Test Results:
Course Measure Achievement Improvement Overall
English Acceptable Intermediate Maintained Acceptable
Language Arts 9 Standard
Standard of Intermediate Declined Issue
Excellence
Mathematics 9 Acceptable Intermediate Maintained Acceptable
Standard
Standard of Intermediate Declined Issue
Excellence Significantly
Science 9 Acceptable Intermediate Improved Good
Standard
Standard of Low Maintained Issue
Excellence
Social Studies 9 Acceptable Intermediate Maintained Acceptable
Standard
Standard of Intermediate Improved Good
Excellence
• Integrated Projects will continue to be developed and shared with colleagues – each class will
experience at least one cross-curricular project.
• Teachers will utilize common planning time to meet and work with their colleagues.
• Appropriate assessment tools and strategies will be developed or sought out to evaluate
student progress and guide instructional practice.
Strategies:
• Alexandra Staff participate in Middle Years Conferences. Some staff will continue to attend
conferences such as the Reaching and Teaching Conferences, various ATA Specialist
Councils and will continue to participate in professional development activities that support
this initiative.
• We will educate and inform our School Council on Middle School initiatives and philosophy.
• We will educate and inform our parents on Middle School initiatives and philosophy through
the school newsletter, The Jayhawker as well as on-line postings on our web page.
• We will inform and seek support from our Central Office Administration and School Board
on Middle School initiatives.
• We will inform and solicit support from our partners for Middle School initiatives.
• The timetable will reflect the tenets of Middle School philosophy.
• To continue and increase participation in AISI:
(i) Differentiated Instruction
(ii) Cross-Curricular Projects
(iii) Assessment to support Critical Thinking.
(iv) Improve Instruction
• To continue with integrated curricular support through departmentalization with combined
subjects, that is Language Arts and Social Studies forms the Humanities Department,
Mathematics and Science are also combined into one department and Physical Education,
Recreational Education and Health have been amalgamated. The ethos of sharing and
support is fostered both within the departments and within the school.
Goal 2: To continue to work towards a middle school environment where students

know the boundaries for a safer and more caring school. Shared citizenship
is the responsibility of the student, the parents / guardian and the school and
we will endeavour to work together to develop positive behaviours. This
involves working to develop a middle level classroom climate, which includes
parental involvement and support and to continue to foster staff commitment
to working effectively with this age level.
Outcomes:
• Students will experience a safe and caring school environment.
• Where possible, parents will be involved in helping determine the consequences for the
student when they make inappropriate decisions. We will also strive to have parental
involvement in helping to set the expectations for their child’s subsequent behaviour within
the context of our school’s regulations and policies.
• The parents will take a more active role in developing appropriate behaviours in their
children.
• The school’s community will demonstrate positive citizenship traits.
• The Alexandra community will take pride in their school.
• Student attendance will improve.

1
survey.
2
3
4
 Safe and Caring:

Students treat each of the well at Acc Parent1 45 38 17
your child’s school. Teacher2 82 18 0
Student3 68 26 6
CnfParent4 51 29 20
Teachers care about your child. Acc Parent1 77 9 14
Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 76 13 11
CnfParent4 97 0 3
Your child is safe at school. Acc Parent1 72 16 12
Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 62 32 6
CnfParent4 80 8 12
Your child is safe on the way to and Acc Parent1 84 16 0
from school. Teacher2 73 5 23
Student3 77 21 3
CnfParent4 83 8 9
Your child is treated fairly by the Acc Parent1 77 18 5
adults at school. Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 75 18 7
CnfParent4 90 2 8
 Citizenship:
Students at your child’s school Acc Parent1 52 33 14
follow the rules. Teacher2 91 9 0
Student3 35 60 6
CnfParent4 60 26 14
Students at your child’s school help Acc Parent1 60 19 21
each other when they can. Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 52 40 8
CnfParent4 72 16 12
Students at your child’s school Acc Parent1 45 41 14
respect each other. Teacher2 91 9 0
Student3 37 55 8
CnfParent4 45 36 19
Your child is encouraged at school Acc Parent1 43 41 16
to be involved in activities that help Teacher2 77 14 9
the community.
Student3 60 30 10
CnfParent4 56 20 24
Your child is encouraged at school Acc Parent1 70 25 5
to try his or her best. Teacher2 100 0 0
Student3 87 11 2
CnfParent4 95 2 3
Strategies:
• Work with Student Council, School Council, School Board, School Police Resource Officers,
and other community agencies, as there is a shared responsibility in achieving this goal.
• Asking parents for their recommendations when they are informed of situations or decisions
their child has made that were inappropriate.
• Work with community groups, the administration of MHHS, CHHS, Notre Dame Academy,
St. Mary’s School, McCoy High School, Central Office and Medicine Hat Police Services for
the purpose of ensuring that full-time school resource officers assigned to specific school
communities remain in place.
• Support the drug dogs in schools program.
• Create a positive school citizenship focus for the start of the school year activities and
continue with similar activities periodically during the remainder of the year.
• Incorporate anti-bullying lessons within the Health and Language Arts programs and
incorporate greater use of community resources such as the John Howard Society, Resiliency
Committee and the MyPlace Project.
• Honour the students’ request that additional video camera’s be added to the back
hallways/entrances and other locations as identified by students.
• Revisit and update as needed our school’s Discipline Plan to reflect our focus on citizenship.
• Focus on positive citizenship, for example:
Welcome Back Activities, Student Buddy System, COT (Citizens of Tomorrow) course work
incorporated into the Health curriculum, anti-bullying components in the Health and
Language Arts courses, tidy and welcoming environment and the monthly school wide
activities of the ABC (A Better Community) committee which has now been taken over by
the MyPlace Project.
• Continue to enforce the new attendance and lates procedures.
• Continue to emphasize the role of “responsibility” for actions to our students so that they
may connect decisions with consequences.
• Continue to actively support the MyPlace Mental Health Project.
Goal 3: To foster the improvement of student learning through the improvement of

instruction and learning opportunities.
Outcomes:
• Middle School philosophy emphasizes that students learn socially, academically and
physically. Through improvement of instruction and learning opportunities the students will
be better learners; that is, they will experience these three areas of learning and further
develop their skill as “life-long learners.”

1
survey.
2
3
4
 At Risk Students:
When your child needs it, teachers Acc Parent1 64 13 20
at your school are available to help Teacher2 100 0 0
him or her?
Student3 82 14 5
CnfParent4 84 10 6
Your child can easily access Acc Parent1 55 25 20
programs and services at your Teacher2 95 5 0
school to get help with school work.
Student3 77 19 3
CnfParent4 80 9 11
Your child can get help at school Acc Parent1 55 21 25
with problems that are not related to Teacher2 95 5 0
school work.
Student3 63 21 17
CnfParent4 78 7 15
 Life Long Learning:

High School students demonstrate Acc Parent1 37 34 29
the knowledge, skills and attitudes Teacher2 38 0 62
necessary for learning throughout
their lifetime. Student3
CnfParent4 59 14 27
Your child is taught the knowledge, Acc Parent1 51 34 19
skills and attitudes necessary for Teacher2 100 0 0
learning throughout his or her life
time. Student3
CnfParent4 77 10 13
 School Improvement:
In your opinion has the quality of Acc Parent1 64 24 12
education that your child has Teacher2 77 0 23
experienced at school improved, 3
stayed the same, or declined in the Student
past three years. CnfParent4 77 0 23
Strategies:
• The staff will enhance the instructional opportunities presented to their students through
implementation of plans developed in professional learning communities.
• Monitor student satisfaction with the quality of instruction.
• Monitor parent satisfaction with the quality of instruction.
• Monitor teacher satisfaction with the quality of instruction.
• Monitor teacher satisfaction with the quality of support.
• Monitor student longitudinal success.
• Utilize ScanTron scanner to facilitate item analysis of exams.
• Administer CAT norm reference exams to all grade 7 students, at-risk grade 8 students and
teacher identified grade 8 students in September of each school year. At-risk grade 8 students
are also administered this test again in May to assist in placement decisions for MHHS.
• Utilize exams for both formative and summative assessment of instruction.
• More learning opportunities will be styled to engage students.
• Vertical and horizontal communication amongst the schools.
• Monitor opportunities for students to become involved in the school outside of the classroom
setting.
• Monitor celebrations of student success.

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ALEXANDRA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Faculty Council Meeting

Mr. L. Cooper, Miss L. Davidchuk, Mr. J. Peters, Mrs. R. Thomas,

1. Safe & Caring Committee: (Mr. Jason Peters)

2. Registrations for Next Year: (Mr. Jason Peters)

3. School Calendar Updates:

• Student Council Chocolate Fund Raiser (Miss Linda Davidchuk)

• Accountability Survey (Miss Linda Davidchuk)

• Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences (Miss Linda Davidchuk and Mr. Jason Peters)

Alexandra Middle School is a student-centred middle school.

Principles And/Or Beliefs

School Wildly Important Goal

Improving Learning, Living and Relationships

Principal Mr. Lorne Cooper

School Council Co-Chairs Jan and Larry Hoffman

School Address 477 Sixth Street SE

Profile of student population

Programs That May Be Unique to the School

• In addition to the regular instructional program, we currently offer four District

Instructional Practices That May Be Unique to the School

Trends And Issues

Goal 1: High quality Education opportunities for all.

Performance Measures and Targets:

Accountability Pillar Statement Source Agree Disagree Don’t know

Performance Measures and Targets:

Accountability Pillar Statement Source Agree Disagree Don’t know

Performance Measures and Targets:

Goal 1: To continue to explore, implement and reinforce Middle School structural

Performance Measures and Targets:

Goal 2: To continue to work towards a middle school environment where students

Performance Measures and Targets:

 Safe and Caring:

Goal 3: To foster the improvement of student learning through the improvement of

Performance Measures and Targets:

 Life Long Learning:

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