Additional Donation System for Glen Cairn

Thanks to the Manager and Owner of the Bridlewood Home Hardware we are eligible to receive donations based on a percentage of pre-tax tales.

Here's how it will work: when an employee or student family member from the school purchases products from Bridlewood Home Hardware, a percentage of their pre-tax sales will be donated back to the Glen Cairn Public School's Parent Council. 

It is important that at the time of purchase, that people participating mention that they are from Glen Cairn Public School.   A duplicate receipt will be printed out and saved for the fund.  Every two months a cheque will be sent for that time period.

Note that this program is exclusive between Glen Cairn Public School and Bridlewood Home Hardware 90 Michael Cowpland Drive (at Eagleson).

Here is the contact information for the Bridlewood Home Hardware store:

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/dealer-microsites/1435-0/contact-information.htm

Announcement regarding Little League registration.

In the spirit of keeping our children active and healthy with fun and games, the Kanata Little League Baseball Assoc. (KLLBA) has a couple of upcoming registration dates.

 

They normally hold registration at KRC which is just off of Terry Fox and the 3 dates are as follows:

 

Saturday March 5, from 10 am - 2 pm

Wednesday April 6, from 7 pm - 9 pm

Saturday April 9, from 10 am - 2 pm

 

For further information:

www.kllba.ca

 

ebay account set up for fund raising!

The Glen Cairn Public School Parent's Association now has an ebay account set up on: http://www.ebay.ca for the purposes of kicking off additional fund raising. 

This will become more relevant once the PayPal mechanism is set up.

After that, we'll have to come up with protocol for item submission, description, and shipping.

Meeting Minutes February 8th, 2011

Glen Cairn Parent Council February 8, 2011 Minutes

Attendance: Julie Drapeau, Brian Herron, Scott Blythe, Pat Furlong, Paul Warner, Deb Hickey, Mike Hickey,
Jocelyn Mackenzie, Susan Kuruvilla
Regrets: Gwen Allingham, Tanja Campbell, Amy DiRienzo, Chris Mollison, Andrea Hoyt

Call to order 7:05 pm
Minutes of January meeting passed.

• To further clarify, there has not been any discussion at any level to move GCPS 7s and 8s to AY. They are looking for interim solutions for two specific schools overcrowding issues-Stephen Leacock and Katimavik.

Reports

Chair

• Judy Ovington has resigned from council due to scheduling conflicts

Principal

• Financial audit beginning Feb 9th, 2011.

• Book Swap very well received. Most classes went through twice, only one small box of books left to be dropped off at public library. Worth doing again, but only once a year in honour of Literacy week.

• The Grade 8s have had their initial attempt at signing up for their Grade 9 classes online for AY Jackson.  AY will come back next week to go over the process to clear up certain problems and misunderstandings.

• Report cards have gone home, no interview days scheduled but teachers are available to discuss any concerns.

• Phase 2 of the School Improvement Plan is coming up. The first phase was very effective; the results are available in the January newsletter.

• Superintendent Jill Bennett came to visit.

• The school’s flags are being replaced by a caring and concerned parent; there will be a bit of a ceremony for it.

• Kevin Frost, a blind athlete and motivational speaker will be coming to talk to the 6/7/8 classes.

• The NAC is coming for a visit

• February 15th is Twoonie Tuesday raising funds for students in need.

• February 15th is the seniors dance, raising funds for Twoonie Tuesday

• Crazy hat day was great fun.

• February 18 is a PD day, February 21st is Family Day.

Treasurer

• Financial statements presented.

• Parents of the 3 pizza orders whose cheques were returned have been notified. Replacement cheques for $30 and $60 respectively requested. Brian has contacted the parents for follow-up. Brian to follow up with Pat for unknown contact information.

• Available funds $3684

• Nothing has been received from Sporty Life yet. Scott to follow up with Mr Blauer

• Music stands purchase completed.

• Tchoukball arrived today, bill to be forwarded to Deb.

• Quikbooks CD has arrived and is going into envelope to be passed on to successive treasurers.

• Income from McDonald’s listed under ‘Projects’

OCASC

• Mike presented bill to Deb for OCASC membership fees of $35.00. Council passed vote to pay OCASC membership fees.

• OCASC representatives discuss board policy, diversity initiatives, fundraising and have guest speakers

• Minutes available here.

• At chalk-it-up, there was discussion on implementing the Green Bin programme, ski trip insurance and fundraising for play structures.

• No Fundraising to report at this time.

Old Business

Gift items/silent auction

• Deb to talk to her contact at the bank about opening an account specifically to manage EBay/PayPal funds. This will isolate the account and hopefully prevent any unauthorized fluctuations in payments being reversed/returned affecting our operating funds.

Book Swap

• Not too much work in setting up. Posters and slips went out the week before announcing date. Julie set up the library the evening before: books on the tables, chairs pushed to the sides reducing access to school library books. Books that came in the day of the exchange were placed that morning by Pat. For next time, ask teachers to bring their students offerings into the library the day before.

Entertainment Pack

• In reviewing the terms of the contract, Brian has a few questions concerning lost/stolen/damaged books, minimums and penalties. He will set up a time with his contact and Pat to meet and discuss. Pat is reluctant given the results when the band did the Book. Mike suggested doing pre-orders and then then the books come, it is just a matter of selling those books instead of each child getting a book to sell.

New Business

OCDSB

• Brian is unable to attend the meeting February 10th. Asked council members to attend in his place. No- one at table able to commit.

Library Funds

• Mrs Aranoff did not get any funds from the Board to purchase books for the library this year. She had already asked for a book case and is reluctant to ask for funds for books. As council, we can offer her funds to purchase books without her requesting them.  Proposed $500 to purchase books for school library. Passed unanimously.

MacMillans

• Julie in contact with MacMillans to fundraise with them. Given the OK to proceed conditional on there being no minimum orders, that delivery dates do not conflict with March Break or other events. Julie to confirm details and email information to council

Home Hardware

• The Home Hardware in Bridlewood has offered us a percentage of sales whenever parents come in and let them know that they are from GCPS. Paul will confirm our interest , update blog and provide blurb for the newsletter.

Pizza

• Only $300 left outstanding in the pizza P.O. Re-order forms should be coming out shortly.

Parent Involvement

• There will be a play in May. Pat to solicit parents for council.

• We could ask Public Health or the WOCRC if they have any speakers that could come and give grade specific talks, then hold meetings directly after the talk. It would make for long council meetings, but may increase participation and build community.

Picnic

• Paul is developing a Picnic Kit. Yay!!! It will hold information on contact numbers, volunteer requirements, tasks and timelines. That way it can be passed on from year to year without losing important information.

• Karaoke person has been contacted but has not yet responded.

Meeting adjourned 8:05 pm
Next meeting, March 8th, 7pm

Glen Cairn Parent Council January 11th, 2011 Minutes

 Glen Cairn Parent Council January 11th, 2011 Minutes
Attendance: Paul Warner, Amy DiRienzo, Julie Drapeau, Scott Blythe, Andrea Hoyt, Jocelyn MacKenzie, Brian Herron, Mike Hickey, Deb Hickey, Chris Mollison
Regrets: Gwen Allingham, Pat Furlong
Call to order.
Minutes of December 14th, 2010 meeting passed.
Reports
Principal –presented by Scott Blythe

• PD day Jan 14th for report card writing. Report card day is February 2nd. There are no parent interview days scheduled. If parents have concerns about the report cards, they will need to contact the teacher directly.

• Lock-down drills planned for later this month. Children may share their experiences but it is just a drill at this time.

• February 18th is a PA day. There are workshops being held at the Congress Centre. Five invitations to the conference were offered to Parent Council.

• ARC meeting planned for January 17th at AY Jackson. Might be contentious. All parents are welcome.

• We have a new superintendent - Jill Bennett.

• The teachers will be getting some specific training using Smart Boards for mathematics.

• 260 tins were collected by student council for the food drive.
• We were offered the opportunity to have a fundraiser of black polar fleece scarves. $2.50 each, plus embroidery. Parent council not very interested.
• ARC information available online here
• Treasurer
• Mrs. MacOdrum’s wish list still needs about $30, not completely confirmed, unable to ok funds at this time.
• Banking: account manager did not know why NSF cheques weren’t returned. We can now do online banking and ATM deposits which should reduce our fees
• 3 of 4 payments for pizza are still outstanding. 1 of the 4 requested a refund; their refund cheque of $49 was not cashed - to be contacted directly. This family has not been receiving pizza. Brian to contact all 4 families.
• Gwen and Brian to sign cheques for QuickBooks purchase
• Chris and Deb have been in contact. Chris is being trained in the software
• Approximately $3,400 is left in the bank. First term pizza raised $2,000. Will need about $1,000 available for picnic outlay. Picnic made about $200 last year. Cotton Candy was a great deal.

OCASC

• Very short meeting, http://ocasc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/minutes-2010-12-16.pdf

Old Business

• John Young has been supporting us to keep the 7/8’s in our school instead of sending them into the high school.
• We would like to invite Glen Cairn’s ARC committee rep to coffee
• Pizza for next few months: Getting better pizza raises the cost, thus lowering the profit. Amy will continue to approach pizza places for next year’s orders. Food guidelines are available here
• Literacy book swap day is going ahead. Children to get notices Wednesday for the following Wednesday’s book swap. Will be using library tables
• For future literacy days, do we want to invite authors in to read to the children? We’d be willing to pay them to come in.
• Entertainment pack: Are we willing to sell them? Yes. We will pay only for the books we will sell. We’ll do entertainment pack sales in the fall. Brian to confirm with Diane Theron.
• Silent Auction/raffle: we would need a raffle number if we were to go ahead with that. Silent auction is a sale, we don’t have enough items to move ahead with an auction. Can we create an EBay account and put items on it? We will ask Pat if there are any rules we need to follow. Paul will confirm PayPal account requirements.

New Business

• When is the picnic? Picnic tentatively to be held June 17th. Andrea to forward Karaoke lady email address to Paul. Chris will ask her friend about spinning cotton candy.
• Skating Days at Jack Charron arena. Parent volunteers are always needed. Kids need snow/skating helmets, not biking or ski helmets. Must be CSA approved. We need to ask Pat about storing surplus /donated helmets and skates if we get donations.
• Kindergartener came home saying scarves were banned. There was a miscommunication, scarves are welcomed as it helps keeps the kids warm.
• Student council is doing a Valentine’s Day bake sale; we won’t be holding a cupcakes sale at that time. We may do one later in the year.

Meeting adjourned 8:30 pm
Next meeting, February 8th, 7pm

December 14th Minutes

Glen Cairn Parent Council December 14th, 2010 Minutes

Attendance: Julie Drapeau, Brian Herron, Scott Blythe, Pat Furlong, Amy DiRienzo, Paul Warner, Deb Hickey, Mike Hickey, Amy DiRienzo, Andrea Hoyt

Regrets: Gwen Allingham, Tanja Campbell,

Call to order.

Minutes of November 9^th, 2010 meeting passed.

Guest Mr Blauer introduced, to discuss Sporty Kids program

• The programme develops fundamental movement skills in a co-operative not competitive environment.
• It would be during the nutrition and activity break, 35-40 minutes, once a week.
• 8 weeks cost $82.50 per student, includes t-shirt to be worn in class.
• Mr Blauer’s contact believes the programme qualifies for the Ontario Activity Credit.
• The fees are paid directly to Sporty Kids, no money or administration activity for the school.
• The teachers are accredited in Physical Education.
• Grades 1-6 are invited and grouped by ability, not age.
• Asking Parent Council to subsidize a limited number of students for the introductory term.
• At Alta Vista, the programme began with just 10 students, in later terms, up to 100 students enrolled.
• Andrea asked how we control enrolment and therefore how much we are willing to subsidize. R. According to contact, interest in the Sporty Kids is low at the beginning. By capping the first enrolment opportunity, we can control how many students join. The recommendation to begin is a cap of 20 students.
• We cannot force children to enrol, so there is no sense in agreeing to subsidize the entire school, and that would also overwhelm the teachers providing the service.
• In past years, the skipping programme out of Ottawa U was successful and enjoyed by many students.
• Agreed that an initial offering to 20 students, not 20 families, with a subsidy of $20 per enrolled student would be acceptable; or up to 22 if a family is enrolled, for a maximum subsidy of $440.00 Passed unanimously.
• This is to be an introductory offer, not necessarily ongoing funding. If there is enough interest, we can revisit this in the new year and determine how much we are able to cover in the next session.

Reports

Principal

• ARC moving forward, next meeting for South Kanata on Jan 5^th, 2011. All interested members of the community being invited to attend. A community member will be joining Pat, representing Glen Cairn Public school. All aspects of school planning except closures will be discussed-programmes, boundaries, portables, etc.
• Levelled literacy intervention for Grades 1-3 will begin in the new year. It’s a 16-18 week, half hour/week programme to increase literacy, 3-4 children at a time. It was offered to all schools at a cost GCPS was willing to pay and had no bearing on our EQAO scores.
• Student Council is running a food drive with a goal of 500 items.
• Mrs. Fawcett has had to begin her maternity leave earlier than planned, Mrs Dean is replacing her.
• Hand bell choir to perform at upcoming School Board meeting, CTV and Citizen have both been contacted.
• Intermediate dance on Friday, PJ day on Friday.
• Finances to be audited again this year-every third year.

Treasurer

• Financial statements presented.
• Approved numbers of speakers have been purchased for less than approved amount. Will be purchasing more speakers for new media carts with remainder of funds.
• Items approved in previous meetings (ie Tchoukball) did not include shipping and handling charges. As this is an increase in passed funding, it needs approval before we can pay for the full amount. Teachers are not currently including taxes and purchase costs in their estimates, and we then have to go back and pass new amount, creating delays in re-imbursements. Pat to ask staff to include all fees in the future.
• Deb has a call in for a discount on purchase of Quikbooks. This purchase will be made from account, not Parent Involvement fund, per Michele Giroux’s email to Cathy Curry November 9^th, 2010, as we have general funds that we can use for this purchase. We can transfer the license to new treasurers each year with a phone call provided Parent Council holds the licence and not an individual.
• Deb and Chris have conflicting schedules and have not been able to meet to discuss handover.
• Music Stands: Price shopping yielded no better prices at Dominics. Bill for music stands came in, 8 stands for approved amount, with an outstanding amount for the conductor’s stand. Are we willing to fund two more stands and the conductor’s stand, raising the amount of the outstanding P.O. to $575.00? Passed.
• Outstanding P.O. from 2009-2010 for chalkboard and markers handed in, needs to be approved for another 35$. Passed.
• Mrs MacOdrum’s list from last month was passed around, only more whisper phones and reading highlight strips added in. List total of $450.00 approved
  • Very cool math game
  • DPA CD
  • Classroom scissors
  • Reading highlight strips
  • Word family tiles
  • Social Studies resources
  • Whisper phones
• We have begun using last year’s funds-no longer using funds we have raised just this year
• Hawberry Farms raised $449.40
• Parent’s of the 5 pizza orders whose cheques were returned have been notified. Replacement cheques for $30 and $60 respectively requested.
• Deb to try and get appointment with bank manager to address concerns with returned cheques and other bank fees, on-line banking.
• PizzaPizza showed up on interview day in error. No charges made to us.
• John Young charges $2 a slice and 75c for milk vs GCPS at $1.75 and 60c. Put pizza on next agenda. Amy and Tracy to cost out other firms and hopefully ask for samples on meeting night

OCASC

• Mike attended November 18^th meeting. Most of the evening was spent discussing OCDSB concerns. Minutes of the meeting here.

Old Business

Raffle of gift items/silent auction

• Unsure if we are able to hold a raffle as there may be lottery rules/numbers to which we would need to comply. Pat to verify.
• Pat raised the possibility of having this fundraiser in time for Valentine’s Day. That’s a great idea, as we would have time to display the items in the display case, publicize it in the school newsletters and blog, etc. Pat will discuss the items at the seasonal concert. End dates discussed were the Friday the 11^th, Monday the 14^th and Friday the 18^th. If we can have a draw, it would be the 14^th, as a silent auction, then the 11^th to the 18^th.

New Business

People 4 Education Survey

• Completed. Discussed parent council’s major roles. One of the surprising things to us was council’s role in the school improvement plan. It is apparently something with which we should be involved. When the next opportunity arises, Pat will share it with us so we can be a part of the process.

Parent Involvement Funds

• To be used for encouraging parental involvement.
• Moved to ask Pat to submit receipts for her cookies that she buys for council meetings. Passed. No P.O. necessary.
• Not using any for purchasing gift cards for volunteers at the seasonal concert, but will use some for the end of year picnic.

Literacy Week activities

• Julie asked what kind of activities the school has planned to promote literacy day. Nothing as yet. Discussed the possibility of having a free book swap, where the children bring in books to a certain day then they get to choose a new to them book. Julie is able to work with Pat to get this going.

Mr Sedaka, the head custodian, is on leave with a rather serious concussion and may not return in January. At present, all the custodial staff are new to their positions.

Path from school to Oriole Avenue, past public pool is the city’s responsibility and maintained to city standards, not OCDSB’s.

Meeting adjourned 8:30 pm

Next meeting, January 11^th, 7pm

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