Date: May 13, 2019

Time: 7:00pm-9:45pm

Parent Council Attendees: 

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 2^nd 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 31^st 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​