Parent Council Minutes November 8th, 2010

Glen Cairn PS

Parent Council Minutes

November 8^th, 2010

Present

Julie Drapeau, Amy DiRienzo, Andrea Hoyt, Paul Warner, Pat Furlong, Scott Blythe, Deb Hickey, Brian Herron, Chris Mollison, Judy Ovington

Regrets

Gwen Allingham, Tanya Campbell, Fariha Irshad, Jocelyn MacKenzie, Mike Hickey

Presentation from Entertainment Pack re: fundraising

Entertainment books sell at $35. Depending on number sold, profit per book ranges from $7 per book (minimum of 40 orders) up to $17.50. Programme outline-each child brings a book home, and they can either sell that book or order more. Books can be returned to the school at any time during the campaign, in any condition, if not sold. Books kept in a central location in the school for orders. Other cities Entertainment books can be ordered. No costs to school for the programme. This would be something to run next fall.

Judy’s history with this fundraiser has been positive, Pat cautioned when the Grade 8’s did it a few years ago, it was not met with success.

Minutes from last meeting approved

Reports

Treasurer

• Profit and loss statement provided, statement inaccurate as there were 6 returned cheques not reflected in balances - bank did not notify us in a timely manner, nor did they provided information on the bounced cheques. Current balance approximately $6500.00
• Discussion as to whether we would change banks or not. Right now with BMO, we are not paying service charges, nor do we pay for regular cheques. The issue with returned cheques, while ongoing and annoying, does not guarantee that a new financial institution’s service would be better or as cost effective.
• Several purchase orders from last year still have outstanding balances-chalkboard, dry erase markers, books on CD, toys for primary yard, sensory room equipment and software.
• Last year’s wish list came to about $4500.00
• Chris is beginning her training as treasurer, pass all approvals to her.

OCASC

• Next meeting is November 18^th, 133 Greenbank Rd, 6pm
• Minutes from last meeting are http://ocasc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Minutes-2010-10-21.pdf

Principal

• Progress reports have gone out, they were very stressful to produce this first time around as teachers get used to the format.
• Student Work study initiative to evaluate literacy is beginning, permission slips sent out already.
• Early intervention kits for struggling readers, a new programme for full time learning Kindergartens being brought into the school, kindergarten and grade 1 teachers being trained in the next few weeks.
• The international students returned to China on October 29^th.
• ARK meeting November 16^th, Earl of March, 6pm
• Ottawa 67’s day a big hit with grades 6, 7 and 8.
• 3 fire drills completed, lock down drill coming up. Children are told there are to be quiet and hide
• November 26^th PD day to learn about the School improvement plan
• Remembrance Day ceremony November 11^th, beginning at 10:45. All are welcome.
• Eva Olsson is coming in to talk to grades 6,7 and 8 about Auschwitz
• Scholastic book fair now on, some books labeled ‘mature content’ removed from general display, only put out for when parents are available to monitor purchases, with sign on table clearly indicating Mature content.
• iRover bought by school board
• 2 document cameras purchased by school
• 2 former Grade 8 students, now at AY, won literary awards and are published in the short story compilation Grandmother's Attic: Short stories from Young writers of Canada. Our winners were Gilian and Sasha

OCDSB

• Early Learning

• 8 schools got early learning in the first round
• Second round of schools to be phased in is tough, still minimal money for renovations.
• Might be after-care at G.C. if we get 10 kids signed up, not enough interest to date
• Elementary School Review
  • There is a new board policy for school reviews that has just been instituted.
  • The review committee is just starting the review now. If it had started earlier the committee would have needed to use the old policy which is VERY cumbersome for volunteers.
  • One possibility to address overcrowding at Katimavik is moving middle French immersion to Castlefrank
  • All secondary schools will be reviewed next.
  • Bell and Lisgar have thriving gifted programs .
  • Glebe and Merivale have gifted programs, but have a combined 40 students registered as gifted. These schools are at risk of losing their gifted program.
• New board website rolls out November’ish.
  • RSS feeds
  • Sharepoint – schools and councils will be able to have their own sites.
• City flood planning includes the ability to divert excess floodwater onto our field. Pat has been in contact with OCDSB facilities and they have been in contact with the city. Apparently there is a plan to build the field to respond to water as a dry pond would. As long as the safety of the children is not compromised this may well go ahead. A big ditch in the middle of the school yard isn’t something the school is overly positive about.
• Student survey is coming out soon, younger grades will get parent’s help, older grades will be filled in by themselves. There was discussion about the nature of some of the questions, especially those dealing with sexuality and confidentiality. Council members were concerned that because the older students are filling them out by online at the school, that their responses would be seen by others. There was also concern about who would get the results. The information once compiled would not be able to be back-traced to individuals, possibly not even to individual schools.
• To provide council with access to more email addresses, one possibility is to add a line to the student verification forms: “Can parent council use this email address to contact you? Yes / No”
• Fundraising opportunities:
  • Entertainment books: 700 kids, 450 families, 300 books sold, raised $5,000
  • Meals:
    • Quizno’s
    • Mazzola
    • Lunch Lady
    • Domino’s Pizza night (on Eagleson)
    • Boston Pizza
  • Chapters-at Pat’s old school, they had the Chapters evening as part of their holiday events; the choir had a performance, encouraging the extended families to come out.
• Food and Beverage policy
  • Smaller portions to meet the criteria apparently IS ok
  • One school has halved the pizza slice sizes and almost halved the price per piece, but it allows students to order 3 pieces (or 1.5 slices at the old size).
• HST: school gets the HST back for purchases. Large purchases may be funneled through the school with the school keeping the HST refund.

Business arising from last meeting

• McDonald’s night - $200 raised
• Council blog is almost ready. We will not post pictures of students nor their names. It is primarily to keep parents in the loop without overwhelming email boxes.
• There is a preference for items council purchases to cover more than one group of students, so that everyone can benefit from the work all the classes and parents are doing to fundraise.
• A reminder was also made to check about reward programs the school council can benefit from when making purchases. Items purchased through Scholastic, for example, generate points to use for other purchases.
• Some members of council brought up the poor sound quality during events in the gym. There are speakers available but they need to be set up for events. Judy will ask Wayne of Bleeker Stereo to come in and show us where to put them for the best sound quality.
• Wish list presented by Scott on behalf of the teachers
  • Speakers for the media carts. Up to $200.00. Passed
  • Projector. Up to 600.00. Passed
  • Costume set. 363.66. Passed
  • 2 sided wooden bookcase. 225.99 Passed.
  • Tchouckball set. 450.52. Passed
  • 10 music stands 350.00 Passed Mr. Fraser to provide specs so that Judy can approach Dominic’s Music store for a deal.
  • Mrs. MacOdrum’s list tentatively approved-items on the list desirable to other teachers as well. Will wait to verify quantities
• Large ticket items - Pat will ask Mairin if she can move them through the school’s account so the school can get the HST credit, or if it is too much work.
• Hawberry Farms in progress, extra pamphlets requested
• Silent Auction. Still not many items. We are unable to put them up for display in time for the parent-teacher interviews. Chris may make up a description for the items if we can get pictures taken of them.
• Chess club-Chris talked to her contact at the university and they are in the middle of exams. If there is interest, she can try again in the new year. There is a pretty good programme currently being run out of the Hazeldean Library.

Meeting adjourned 9:00 pm.

Next meeting December 14^th, 7pm