Cornell Village School Advisory Council
Date: May 13, 2019
Time: 7:00pm-9:45pm
Parent Council Attendees:
Niro
Arumugam
|
N
|
Murtuza
Rampurawala
|
Y
|
Karen
Bradley
|
Y
|
Susan
Reid
|
Y
|
Amanda
Cartan
|
Y
|
Monica Rivera
|
N
|
Sabina
Khandaker
|
Y
|
Marie Scott
|
Y
|
Jen
Morgan Koppes
|
N
|
Katherine
Strain
|
N
|
Liz
MacFarlane
|
Y
|
Kelly
Sutherland
|
N
|
Nilu
Manji
|
N
|
Chris
Zarras
|
Y
|
Niruban ‘Chris’
Naparajah
|
N
|
|
|
Haafid Rahman
|
N
|
|
|
Parent
Attendees: Nathan Kerr, Kelly Dunn
Staff
Attendees:
Scott Chin, Vivienne Baines, Myka Hang
1) Welcome
& Acceptance of Current Agenda (Amanda)
-all were in favour of the agenda
2) Acceptance
of April 2019 Meeting Minutes (Amanda)
-Marie accepted the minutes and Liz seconded
the motion
3)
Treasurer’s
Report (Kelly/Amanda)
-Kelly was not present for the update
-spirit wear has been paid for; made $280 in
profit
-some money is still owed to the vendor for
hot lunches
-$5,000 spent on coding equipment, and $2,500
on the second Water Station for 2nd floor
-the last movie night did not raise as much
money; there was feedback that Mondays don’t work as well
-Cornell-A-Thon raised $6,500
4)
Committee
Updates and Upcoming Events:
a) Fundraising
Update (Amanda)
-from fundraising,
there are funds that can be spent on areas of need in the school
-Scott requested $2,000 to purchase a
baritone; there were not enough members to vote and therefore, a vote will take
place via email
-at the Silent Auction, there will be a poster
to inform parents of how the money raised through fundraising has been spent
b) Parent
Engagement (Amanda)
-funds from pro-grant
($1,000) were used for the Me to We Family Night
-all receipts have
been collected for the pro-grant
-report for pro-grant
funds is due by the end of May
-request for pro-grant
funds for next year will probably focus on a family mental health
night
c) Healthy
Schools (Marie/ Myka)
-had walk to school day
-will be meeting with the nurse to decide next year’s
action plan
-part of the school and board’s plan is to build on vision
of creating a caring and inclusive space including building positive
relationships
d) Yearbook
(Karen/Myka/ Katherine)
-May 31st is the date for printing the yearbook
-everything is on schedule
-the formatting is complete
e) Silent
Auction (Kelly Dunn)
-Kelly reviewed items that were donated last
year
-reviewed items that have been already donated
-discussion about whether Muskoka chairs
(which are currently on sale) and kayaks should be purchased; Amanda will send
out an email to vote
-Scott will connect with vendors from last
year to participate again in the silent auction this year and has connected
with some new vendors
-donations for the silent auction should be
dropped off at Kelly D’s house
-Amanda will send out the letter that can be given
to businesses when asking for donations
-tents will be needed for the fun fair
-two tents were purchased last year and there
may be a possibility of purchasing more
5)
Update
From School (Scott/ Vivienne)
-pizza lunches and hot lunches have been
extended to kindergartens
-the water filling station has been ordered
for the second floor of the school
-another movie night can occur in September as
the license is good for a year
- Scott reviewed some items that the school
has been able to buy with Council raised funds;
-48 Chrome books,
-there are 4 new smart board that can be
flattened in Kindergarten classrooms,
-other purchases include basketball net, ball
catcher, sport jerseys
-volunteers will be needed for ticket sales at
the fun fair
-the fun fair will be the same model as last
year
-discussion about having a calendar of events
for the school year that can be included in the Welcome Package for parents
-school would like to implement feedback from
council and parents about different things done in the school and to reflect on
successful things and areas that may need to be improved
-discussion about the board wanting to use
Edsby as one of the main methods of communication with parents
-the school google calendar has been fixed
-parent raised discussion about school safety
and ensuring that no one is in the school that
shouldn’t be there including during times such
as a sport tournament within the school
-there is a sign in process
-if there are safety concerns, the school will
send out a letter to parents
-school is locked during school hours
-unless it’s a community threat, not
everything will be communicated to all parents
-Scott stated that the school receives calls
about suspicious activity often and the school is vigilant about following up
-there are cameras inside the school and
outside the school
-teachers have walkie talkies to communicate
with each other if there are issues when students are outside the school
building
-welcoming and belonging was a focus this year
for the school
-there are students that open doors for other
students in the morning and greet them
-there is a team that lead assemblies, inform
students about different heritages
-events were planned for Indigenous learning
-school is working with two consultants to
create an inclusive school and putting together a long term plan
-reflecting on heritages; what is celebrated
and how it’s celebrated
-focus on global citizenship, diversity,
equity; school wants to embed this type of education for students
-the arts performances assisted with informing
students about different heritages and
mental health
-planning to create house league ‘colour’
teams for September 2019
-there is a board at the front to display different
themes (diversity, different cultures)
-parent asked about celebrations of
Christianity not having the same kind of focus as
other cultures/ religions and not being
highlighted as well in school
-Amanda read email from Haafid about
inclusivity within the school as a response to a parent’s question about why
all religions not being celebrated in a similar manner
-Scott reviewed some of the populations that
are underserved in the education system/ society
-there needs to be more anti-bias, anti-oppression
training
-goal has been to create inclusive spaces and
learning more about each other
-educating the school about different
religions is still a learning process; teachers attend
workshops about inclusivity
-announcements speak about many heritages and
all the statutory holidays
-feedback voiced by some parents is that they would
like to see all religions celebrated equally, including Christianity
-parent/ guardian day at the school will
replace the traditional Mother and Father’s Day since many students don’t have
the traditional nuclear family
6)
New
Business (All)
a) Outdoor
Classrooms/ gardens:
-a border is needed for the garden to stop
erosion as it is too difficult to maintain
-a fence is needed around the garden to stop
students from walking through it
-one of the intentions for the garden to was
to create it for monarch butterflies
-discussion about getting estimates for
retaining wall (which was in the original plan for the garden) and plant bed
b) Other
initiatives to complete this year:
-discussion did not occur due to lack of time
Upcoming
events: Fun Fair and silent auction on June 13th
-Last meeting on June 17th
7)
Motion
to Adjourn (Amanda)
-Marie accepted motion to
adjourn, Susan seconded the motion
Minutes taken by Sabina Khandaker
If
there are any discrepancies in these minutes please contact:
Sabina
Khandaker
sabina_email@yahoo.com