Monday April 3rd
- CALL TO ORDER
Becky Belcher called the meeting to order at 6:23 p.m. and the following were recorded
as being present.
Parents: Becky Belcher, Krista Shelly, Kathy West, Kim Peterson, Samantha Welch,
Avery Pawelek, Brian Andreasen, Steph Oats, Sarah Maki, Emily Carty
Student Council Co-Chairs – Declan & Shay
Regrets: David Hallet, - WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS
Becky welcomed the group to the meeting.
No introductions - REVIEW & APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The agenda was approved. - REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
The Feb 19 th have been sent to post - STUDENT REP UPDATES:
Spirit Day Ideas
-Wednesdays will be special themed days
-Friday – spirit day
*Days may change as two days a week may be a lot
Freezie Friday – will begin to sell on May 24th
Kindies will need to preorder
Grades 4-8 will sell, $2 each – Jumbo Freezies
BBQ – Monday June 17 or 18th
Frist block would be outdoor games
Middle block is water games
Last block would be movie (only for grades 6/7/8) 105 students – total = $180, charge
students $5 each
All money raised will go towards grad trip to Ottawa.
Spring Fling dance – Thursday April 18 th
-44 kids rsvp’ed so far, Tanya – hoping for more kids
-if the dance is a success than we may do again. Test run. Monck’s dance was cancelled due to
low numbers
-Our dance is open to all schools.
Graduation
-Tuesday June 25th at Rene Cassi theatre and reception at river walk restaurant.
- Principal Update
April 8 th was our new PA Day (eclipse)
First half was focused on recognizing and using strategies for mental health.
Second half was focused on violence training and cyber security.
Issue with Attendance
-not just our school, this is becoming a problem everywhere
-MPS’s goal is 75% of our students attending 90% of the time. We are missing our goal for at 64%
90% of the time.
-Reasons? Since Covid, attendance has gone down. Inclement weather doesn’t count unless they
walk. Needs to be an ‘unexplained absence’.
Why are there so many unexplained absences?
Since Covid, all boards have seen a drop in attendance. Its hard to get students to want to come
to class. Inclement weather doesn’t count as an absence, unless the child is a walker.
-unexplained absence – is that child actual ill or is it a mental health issue?
Paul Davis – Kids and Social Media presentation
-We would like him to come again and spend the day with our students (grade 5 and up). Need to
drill home how unsafe technology can be.
-Sam Bigley came to talk with the higher grades about ‘hands on behaviour’ and responsibility for
yourself in your community
EQAO
-grade 6s have received their one-to-one devices
-Can start practicing using them and how to log in
-try to familiarize themselves with the text they will be writing
-can start to take them home next year in grade 7
TLAC – 12 students will be attending.
Summer Learning
- Available to close some of the learning gaps for our most vulnerable students in math and
literacy - Two weeks
- Teacher Updates
Kindergarten – Cardinals – Matt Hodges & Michelle Thompson
-learning about Oviparous animals (those who lay eggs), and space.
-currently have chickens in an incubator which will also lead into the study of life cycles of
animals.
-proud of our collaborative Art Showcase, “Better Together”
-sks are learning to apply diagraphs (two letters, one sound) when they are reading and writing.
-applying phonic awareness to phonics skills to read decodable sentences.
-jks are learning to apply labels to their drawings and re decodable words.
-math, the focus is on representing and identifying numbers in different ways (tallies, number
lines, ten frames, fingers, numerals, and words)
-introducing data management and why we collect data.
-with the warmer weather we are excited to spend more time learning outside
2/3s Lisa Thompson
-Involved in “Better Together” Art Showcase
-learning how we are all unique and different and how that makes us ‘better together.’
-we continue to build our mindset around learning, particularly in Math. Connecting the mindset
to help prepare us for challenges, new ways of looking at things, grade 3 EQAO etc…
-working on writing using supporting details, particularly in paragraph writing
-working on being persuasive and supporting ideas to convince people which animals makes the
best pet.
Grade 7/8 Robin Allison
- Gr8 ski/snowboard elective was AMAZING.
- Both 7 and 8s are participating in speeches – not as part of a formal competition, just to
increase oral communication skill. - 7 and 8s are participating in a Skills Canada “Future Cities” project. This integrates Geography
and Science expectations, and the challenge is for groups of students to research, design and
build a city 100 years from now in response to the current climate crisis. - Student co-chairs will be asking the Parent Council if they would support the purchase of BBQ
items, which could be sold to 6/7 students in June as part of a “Fun Day”. All proceeds would
go towards offsetting the cost of Grad.
- District Meeting – Krista
- Focus on Mental Health and how to prioritize this for our students.
- Listening to students and their voices, student census
- ‘four finger affirmations’ (“I believe in me”, “I am good enough”)
- Helping and educating staff
- Parent engagement has moved to May 9 th – this is with Dr. Robin
- There will be no purchasing of Chrome Books
- Encourage councils to use their grant money in more creative ways
– $250k has already been allotted to councils in the District
- Fundraising
Theme Baskets – $830 was raised Allocated to EOY bussing
Would like to run one more fundraiser – 33 Cards
We have a lot of ‘asks’ and need money to approve the asks. Need to make money in
order to give it
End of the year can be hard on parents - Purple Slide and Replacement
Purple slide is no longer functional
Applied to Canada Post for a grant to help replace the slide (5k)
The Board will match what we raise, (5k) but needs to see the money in the account first.
Canada Post releases successful candidates in the Spring and then the money comes in the
summer
Total for the slide will be ~13,690 – this does not include transportation, install, tax)
Use playground fund.
- Finances
Holiday Skate – $1100
Baskets – $831
School Cash fees – $-280 (School Cash takes 3% of everything we do)
Some expenditures – skis, cash online
Legacy fund – $16,101 (this will make the slide possible if the board will match)
The slide will be the number one thing to look to replace.
In September, please ask the staff for their top three asks and council can work on raising money for
those specific things. Need to prioritise for the larger items. - Asks
-Sound System – Brian has quotes from Long and McQuade
-$6800 vs $7700
-our current system is in terrible shape
-must manage the sound from the stage, can’t adjust
-speakers – we only have one and we can’t move it (would like to be able to use it outside)
-sound system is not subsidized
-Bussing and EOY activities $1300
Motioned by Sam , seconded by Steph.
-1/2 and kindergarten class would like a Zoo to You – $525 per grade, one class at a time and they will
charge $8 to the student, council would fund the rest. About $400 from council (there would be a head
count closer to the date).
Motioned by Kim, seconded by Steph.
-Grade 8 BBQ $200
Motioned by Kim and seconded by Steph.
-Cursive Writing Club $200 for writing notebooks and pens
Motioned by Avery and seconded by Steph.
Total asks, not including the sound system, is $2880
-Sound System
This could be on of the three priority asks created in September. Might have more enthusiasm
during the start of the year for fundraising. We could have the system before Christmas. We can carry
over some of the money for the year and use it in the fall towards this goal. We will table this for the
fall. It will be brought up in the first staff meeting in September.
-Slide – ~ $22k
We can commit at least $10k, Canada post may be granted, and the board could match.
Motion to commit $10k to the purchase of the slide from the legacy fund.
Kim motions and Steph seconds.
Motion to grant all of the pervious asks
- ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 8:02pm
Next School Council meeting will be held on Monday June 17 th at 6:30 (try to align with the staff
meeting)
