Westmount Charter School

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Westmount Charter School
File:School copy.jpg
File:Westmount Charter School 4.jpg
Address
728 - 32 Street N.W. (Elementary), 2215 Uxbridge Drive N.W. (Mid-High)
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
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Information
School type Publicly funded Charter
Founded 1996
School board Westmount Charter Board
Superintendent Joe Frank
Principal Hal Curties (Elementary)
Dr. Janneke Frank (Mid/Highschool; interim)
Grades K-12
Language English
Colour(s) Purple, Gold
Team name Wild
Website www.westmountcharter.com

Westmount Charter School is a charter school based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which educates gifted students from kindergarten to grade 12. It was founded in 1996 as ABC (Action for Bright Children) Charter Public School, a school for gifted children. The school started with 116 students, from grades one to three, and is now hosting a gifted student body of over 1,000 in grades Kindergarten through 12.[1] The name was officially changed from ABC Charter Public School to Westmount Charter School in 2002, though the school remains publicly funded. Westmount's first grade 12 graduation occurred in June 2006.

Teams and Clubs

Debate

Westmount has a history in debate medaling in the many tournaments, including regionals, and provincials. Westmount also had a very successful senior debate team, currently reigning champions of the North American Qualifiers, the Ellen Webber trophy, the Micheal Dorvis cup, the Billington Cup, the Western Redman debate Open, and the Henry Wise Wood annual Worlds Style Tournament all at the regional level, and the University of British Columbia Open, and the North American Debate Championships at the National and International level. Two students, Alex Yuan and Alif Karmali, attained first place in the Calgary Regional Debate Championship and second place in the Alberta Beginner Debate Championship in 2007. In 2014, students Asher Nyhoff and Lucas Ion won first place at the Alberta Junior High Provincial Debate Championship, as well as receiving the Janet Garten Award and the Micheal Dorval Cup. This year, Asher Nyhoff and Lucas Ion, won second place in the Alberta Provincial Debate Championships and will be representing Alberta at the Canadian Junior High National Debate Championships. Last year, students Karl Buhler and Thomas Code had a successful season in the 2014-15 year winning the Calgary ADSA Regional Debate Championships, and the ADSA Provincial Debate Championships. They placed first and second respectively in speaker standings, receiving the Ellen Webber Team Award, alongside the Micheal Dorvis speaker award, and are the reigning junior provincial and regional debate champions in Alberta.

Facilities

Westmount Charter School started out in 1996 with a small building in Bridgeland as their home. They have since progressed through a building in the old CFB Currie, and for ten years shared the Viscount Bennett Centre with Chinook Learning Services. In September 2011, Westmount moved to two buildings: Parkdale Elementary, which houses Kindergarten to grade 4, and Sir William Van Horne High School in University Heights, which houses grades 5 to 12.[2] These buildings are leased from the Calgary Board of Education, the public school board in the area.

Band Program

Westmount's band program encompasses many styles and levels. Within concert band there are Beginner or Grade 5 level. The Junior, Intermediate and Senior levels all vary in grade level. It also offers numerous other music programs, those being String Orchestra, Choir, and three levels of Jazz Band. Unlike most other schools in the province, Westmount starts its Beginner band in Grade 5. Until the 2015-2016 year, band was being taught by Graham Green and Wendy Mah and was briefly taught by Gideon Choi.[3] At the start of the 2015-2016 year, band is currently being taught by Dr. Wendy Freeman and Michael Hensby.

Giftedness

Westmount Charter School is part of the Action for Bright Children Society.[4] defines giftedness in this way: "Students are gifted when they perform, or show potential for performing, remarkably high levels of accomplishment in learning rate, depth of knowledge, and reasoning and problem-solving abilities when compared to others of their age, experience, and environment."[5] Since students are gifted they are required to fill out IPP's.

2008 and 2013 Incidents

On October 29, 2008 at the Viscount Bennett Centre, Benda entered the Westmount mid-high area of the school and exposed himself to 2 students at roughly 3:30 PM, after classes had ended. No physical contact was made, and the two students immediately went to the school office. The school immediately went into lockdown, and the police were contacted. The police searched the school, and at around 5:20 PM the lockdown was slowly lifted.[5]

On October 30, just a day after the first act of indecent exposure, a man entered the school who has been described as Middle Eastern with spiky black hair and approximately 6 feet tall (185 CM). At around 10:15 AM he reportedly inappropriately touched an eighth-grade male student in the school cafeteria. The school was again put into lockdown, and the police were contacted. Over a dozen police vehicles and one of Calgary Police Service's HAWC helicopters arrived at the scene, but the suspect was nowhere to be found. The lockdown was lifted at 2:00 PM[6]

In July of 2013, during summer holidays the retractable roof located over the school's atrium was partially dislodged during a thunderstorm. After months of renovation, it has been transformed into the new Learning Commons, opening in May 2016.

Principals

  • The founding Principal, Jo-Anne Koch, served from 1996-2002. She died due to cancer. The school library has since been dedicated to her memory.
  • Magy Butterfield was acting Principal during the 2001-2002 school year.
  • Dr. Elaine McDougall was Principal from 2002-2005.
  • Martha Faulkner was Principal from 2005-2011, retiring in June 2011.
  • Dr. Shelley Robinson was Principal in the 2011-2012 school year.
  • Commencing in the 2012-2013 school year, each campus will have its own Principal. Hal Curties is Principal of the Elementary Campus, while Dr. Janneke Frank is the interim Principal of the Mid-High Campus.

Assistant Principals

  • Colleen Thomas Groot - Elementary
  • Chris Hooper - Mid-High
  • Shelly Jobagy - Mid-High

Previous Vice/Assistant Principals include:

  • Magy Butterfield
  • Marlee Cole (formerly Rhonda Watrin)
  • Hal Curties
  • Martha Faulkner
  • Kristy Martens
  • Arnold Nugent
  • Neil Robinson
  • Dani Sever
  • Marylyn Waters

Superintendent

  • Joe Frank

Previous Superintendents include:

  • Gerald Porter
  • Mervyn Kurtz

Secretary-Treasurer

  • Johnathan Liu

Previous Secretary-Treasurer was

  • Megan O'Hara

See also

References

  1. ↑ Welcome page information - http://www.westmountcharter.com
  2. ↑ http://www.westmountcharter.com/program/locations.html
  3. ↑ http://www.westmountcharter.com/wma
  4. ↑ http://www.abccalgary.com/schools.html
  5. ↑ Charter of Westmount Charter School - Found at http://www.westmountcharter.com/pdfs/charter_agreement.pdf

External links

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