Show solidarity in the fight against racism. Help raise awareness for the ARC and other anti-racist efforts by wearing a black shirt to school tomorrow, Friday, January 15.
Find out more: Anti-Racism Coalition Vancouver
Category: Beyond the Library
Some Perspective
Every now and then it might be helpful to consider where we sit in the big picture.
Democracy v. Fascism
Our students will leave our school and soon become the adults who will hold the future of democracy in their hands. We must educate and equip our students to recognize the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship. We must help them see the precious nature of the democratic traditions that have been handed to them by previous generations. We must help them see the fragile nature of those institutions and the peril that is represented by those forces that are at work to undermine democracy.
Most pressingly, we must help our students to recognize the rise of fascism, both in the world and in our own backyard. We must equip our students to denounce fascist ideology and to defeat fascist attempts to destroy our democracy.
The politics of fear, division, and hate will fight for the souls of our students. We must counter those dark forces with hope, unity and love. Forces are at work undermining the foundations of democracy, including the rule of law, freedom of the press, public education, respect for science and reason, confidence in free and fair elections, and peaceful transitions of power. We must build up faith in those ideals in our kids, and equip them to demand them as their rightful expectation for a civil society.
Polarizing forces are at work which divide us, resulting in extreme “othering” to the point of dehumanization. We must find ways to help the next generation to reconcile that which divides us, or at least to find respectful and peaceful ways to engage with those divisions. Somehow we must find common ground with our beliefs about truth. We must find some way to agree on “the facts” even if we don’t agree on what do with those facts.
Please check out our display of items related to the struggle between democracy and fascism.
Three Reminders
Masks must be worn covering both nose and mouth in all common areas of the school. This includes hallways and washrooms.
Give each other space.
Eat and drink from a seated position so you are not moving through common spaces with your mask down and give each other space while eating.
Masks, Distance and other Safe Habits
SOGI
Today afterschool the GSA hosts a workshop for teachers from our school and around the district on building SOGI-inclusive classrooms. Check out some of our SOGI themed titles, both fiction and non-fiction, in the School Library:
Controversial School Board Policy
In a controversial decision made over the March Break, the Surrey School Board voted to require that all schools must display, alongside the current portrait of our Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, portraits of the following: US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladmir Putin, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim-Jong-Un and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. All Elementary and Secondary Schools are required to be in compliance with this order by April 5, 2019.
Latin Immersion Comes to Lord Tweedsmuir
The Surrey School Board is pleased to announce that the District’s first ever Latin Immersion Program is starting this September at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School. All incoming Grade 8 students will receive instruction in Latin for all classes. All Grade 9 students will have Latin instruction in all the core academic classes. Meanwhile students on the Graduation Program will have Latin instruction in subjects chosen at random. In the cases of Provincially examinable courses, the Provincial Exam will also be written in Latin. When interviewed, Lord Tweedsmuir Principal Buggie was very excited about the plan, exclaiming, “vero nihil verius.” Then he added, “quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur.”
Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary to change nickname from “Panthers” to “Kitties.”
In a move that is sure to surprise many people in Cloverdale and around the province, the Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary sports teams will no longer be known as the Panthers. Principal Allan Buggie and Athletic Director Brien Gemmell held a news conference to announce that the school, which has had all sorts of success in recent years in many different sports, including Basketball, Football, Rugby and Track, is rebranding itself.
“It is important that Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary reflects the community in more genuine and authentic ways,” explained Principal Buggie. “The fact is that you cannot find a real panther anywhere in Cloverdale. However, you can find lots of little kitties. We just thought it was a much more realistic and local nickname.”
Gemmell, the Athletic Director, elaborated on that idea. “To be honest, many of our athletes found the Panther to be a violent and disturbing image. Too many of our kids were just scared putting on the jersey, the idea of Panthers was so frightening to them. And for our opponents, forget it. So many schools threatened to boycott our games because they felt that the Panther was offensive, violent and scary. Kitties are much more gentle and good-natured.”
Teams from LTS will immediately become known as the Lord Tweedsmuir Kitties. With rugby season just underway, the Lord Tweedsmuir Kitties will compete for rugby glory this spring.
Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library 