January 2020 - Council Meeting in Minutes

Meeting commence: 7:00 pm
Welcome and Introductions
Laura opened the meeting by welcoming our new Principal, Ms. Janay Tonnos.
The last meeting’s minutes were approved as is.

Follow Up Items

Movie Night (Laura)
Movie Night (Nov 29) was a success. There were over 70 kids that attended (in school gym) plus their caregivers. About ½ the kids were preregistered with school cash online and ½ paid cash at the door. Cost was $4 and included popcorn. Popcorn quality was not the best and that is one area for change next time. It had to be stressed that parents were to stay (for free) and watch their kids as it is not a drop off program due to supervision and liability. The approx. revenue was about $200.

Some feedback from council members and admin: cut off limit of grade 6 can reduce problems (that have happened in the past), avoid having older kids help out with it and watch for parents trying to drop off.

Stay tuned for more movie nights soon.

Pizza lunch (Anna and Laura):
A reminder that pizza lunch is now just pizza and juice, no cookies. This change has been implemented without any real issues.

Some parents are sending their kids with money due to missing the school cash online deadline. This is problematic since there is not extra pizza ordered to accommodate cash purchases, only a buffer in case a pizza is dropped etc. We need to communicate this to parents, that they can send cash but please send a lunch as well in case there is not extra because this does happen!

There was some discussion about changing payment options so that parents could order in batches (e.g. 6 weeks at a time) to reduce missed deadlines

Administration Report

Our new Principal thanked everyone for helping her have a good transition into a very busy school. She has enjoyed meeting everyone.

There have been major plumbing issues underground (in tunnels) that are interfering with the bathrooms and in fact have caused shutdowns of some of the student and staff bathrooms. Backups happened over the holidays and it was thought to be fixed but the problem has reoccurred. Environmental assessments have happened as they should and all was deemed fine. The plumbers have noted that the school has an issue with kids disrespecting the bathrooms by flushing items such as forks and pieces of keyboards down the toilet. Ms. Tonnos is hopeful that the bathrooms will all be up and running soon.

The Work Action has added another element to her role. She is happy to report that the teachers are doing what they are supposed to with respect to 1) their work action 2) keeping the kids busy and active.

ASKS
$100 per class for experiential learning for term 2 ($2,700)

Treasurer Report

• Bank balance: $11,000.00
• Working on reports to better track and analyze spending and where money is going
• Looking at budget vs expenses based on category and grade
• Money is currently allocated based on wish list from the start of the year, however still needs to be voted on by council
• Administration will confirm who has or has not used the experiential money from term one
• Looking at options for experiential money either a per student amount or grouping by division and pooling rather than a per class amount

Committee Report

Fundraising for Council:

Movie Nights – looking to plan next movie night around end of February and looking into options for pizza sales on movie nights

Fundscrip Account – provides gift cards for all occasions and school council receives money based on sales of gift cards. Some gift cards have a handling/delivery fee and some are reloadable online

Spring Fun Fair:

• creating a committee for the planning and volunteering of spring fair
• If we wish to book Rockwall it must be done ASAP due to demand.
• Looking into bouncy castle ideas for older kids to keep them engaged

Caring and Safe Committee

• No update due to work action
• Snow plowing issue has improved however pathway behind busses is not cleared

Other Business

Drop Off/Pick Up:
• Concerns with speed of drivers in the area and bus loop
• Parents dropping up are making 3 point turns, parking where not permitted and creating a n unsafe space
• Teachers/admin should not be opening doors and escorting kids to the school doors however necessary now to keep kids safe and loop moving
• Admin is looking into safe options and a plan
• Looking at a safety blitz in the bus loop with parent volunteers to address issues
• CAA program that offers training for older students to serve as safety ambassadors in bus loop

Kindergarten Asks:
$650 for a performance for the kids (agreed this will come from the school fund and not council)
Items for OPAL such as magic carpets, kiddy shovels, gorilla blocks
Council voted and approved up to $800 combined

Ministry of Education Strike Credit:
• Parents may be eligible for a strike credit that can be kept or given back to the school or to provide needed items for your child’s class
• Parents can use the money to purchase items for your child’s class

Next Meeting is Wednesday February 17, 2020

Meeting close at 8:35 pm