School Council Meeting - Thursday January 26

Treasurer’sReport

(M. Cruickshank (Z. Baines absent))

Fundraisers:

Movie nights brought in $223. Gingerbread raffle  - $1,000+. Spirit Wear earned $300, but can be revisited.

Budget:

• Still lots to spend. Teachers should spend their money and can also access pot of gold. ($2,500)
• Leftover money from sound system. $2,000
• Mrs. U wants to purchase science equipment. Equipment needs to be updated
• Alana suggested taking an inventory to see what is available
• Equipment will be used by other classrooms as well.
• Mrs. U has already purchased some kits

MOTION: (Madeleine) Approve spending of $108 on science equipment. Seconded: David
CARRIED

Robotics Club

(L. Umezawa)

• 12 children were purposefully selected
• Q: why were all the members boys?
• Mrs. U had chosen girls for the team, but unfortunately they had other commitments
• Next steps: expand robotics club to more students, currently 48 students from 4, 5, and 6 interested.
• Equipment needed: robotics kits sold by First Lego League. One kit is good for 4 students, Mrs. U wants 3 more. Tuesday/Thursday can do different groups and involve all teachers. After school club will include high school student mentors.
• $750+ tax for the 3 kits.
• Council agreed to fund it but also require a write-up to share with parents and lower grades

MOTION: (Madeleine) Approve up to $900 in spending. Seconded: Lisa
CARRIED

Budget Items

Proposal: Ms. Zampiero is performing “Matilda” with grades 4, 5 and 6. She was allocated $200 for accompanist, which went unspent. Requires $300 for musical production

MOTION: (Madeleine) Approve $300 for “Matilda”. Seconded: Sandra
CARRIED

TD Neighbourhood Grant: Program which donates $1,000 for neighbourhood play. A parent (Sonya) asked about basketball nets in gym. Decision made to apply for this grant to cover this cost.

Fun Fair Kick-off

(M. Cruickshank)

• Volunteers currently being assembled. Eli Klein is taking the lead.
• Orders for bouncy castles need to be placed now, with specific ones for indoor use.
• Outdoors is preferred
• Wristbands: Suggested price of $20, perhaps to include food and a drink. (Will still sell tickets)
• Discussion: what should be included in the wristband. Do the numbers compare?    

Silent Auction Update

(M. Cruickshank)

Venues: Roncesvalles United church basement or St. Casimir’s event space. (Cost of $250)

• Silent Auction Team to investigate further

Parent Reaching out Grants

(M. Cruickshank)

Parent Handbook:

• Kelly McConvey’s students have edited it and put together a draft.
• To be published soon

Anxiety Workshop:

• Madeleine went over our needs for a parent’s evening workshop
• Still investigating potential speakers.
• To be booked for March or April

Pizza Lunch

Pizza Lunch:

• Launching in February and using lunchboxorders.com. Will use Pizza Pizza as vendor
• Q: Why not use a local business? Some discussion around this. Can always try a different vendor
• Council will purchase an extra half pizza for children in need
• Q: For kindergarten students too? Yes.

Lunch Lady:

• Thursdays. Hot meal. 6 week trial? Decided to do a 4-week trial. No volunteers required

Upcoming Events

(M. Cruickshank)

Movie Night:

• February for Junior students

Talent Show:

• To be held at Fern PS as usual - evening of April 20.

LEGO Fundraiser:

• Suggested but now is unnecessary

Backpacks for Malawi:

• Collecting backpacks to be sent to Malawi, for HIV positive children to be able to carry their medications               

Ward 7 Update

(M. Cruickshank)

Childcare in the TDSB:

• Proposed budget cuts
• Interested parents can send form letters to their city councillor or MPP        

Pancake Breakfast

Pancake Breakfast Proposed:

• A parent who owns a local restaurant (Easy) is willing to put on a free pancake breakfast for the school.
• Some discussion around this. Weather, food cooked off-site? Would parents have to stay to supervise? Friday mornings.

Principal’s Report

(A.Hardy)

Report Cards:

• Going home Feb. 14th, all grades. JK summary report
• Feb. 16th Parent-teacher meetings (evening)
• Feb. 17th (PA Day) morning meetings only

SFCS Meeting:

• Positive space to be created in Mrs. Bell’s room (for students who need to talk, or some quiet)
• Impact of info from media on kids.
• Children at Garden seem to lack perseverance. Need to work on building self-esteem and grit. (Idea: Creating a wall of gratitude) Helping children feel they can make change
• Next meeting Feb. 21st for any parents who can come

Clubs:

• Many clubs currently running. Question of how best to communicate with parents what is happening
• Chess Institute has proven difficult to communicate with. Have to decide if we want to continue with them.

Island School:

• Grade 5-6 trip from March 8-10. $75/student

School Trips:

• Make known to parents that costs will be covered for any family in need

TSO Trip:

• Feb. 23rd Grades 5-6
• April 27th. Grades 1-4

Behaviour:

• Play-fighting continues in the school yard, along with other behavioral issues such as vigilante justice
• Alana would prefer that parents enforce the lesson that they should not retaliate. Ex. hitting back if they’ve been hit
• Parents should be sensitive to discussing issues with other people’s children
• The school will always communicate with parents if information is necessary for them to know. Often private reasons that info can’t be shared
• Some discussion around how parents can communicate with teachers/principal about events that happen at school. Some disagreement on the best way to do this.
• Ms. Cundari suggested a note going out to parents to assure them they can always contact teachers about any issue that comes up socially or in the classroom.