Conestoga Public School Council Meeting s1
CONESTOGA PUBLIC SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING
October 5th, 2014
7:00 pm
In Attendance:
Cathy Buchner - Principal
Sandy Sparks - Vice Principal
Mariam Taqdees - Parent
Shakeela Azmal - Settlement Worker
1. Welcome and Introduction
- Mrs. Buchner welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked all the parents for a great start to our school year
2. Principal's Report
a) Reorganization
- Overall school enrollment increased about 46 students; as a result added a new FDK class and combined classes at every grade
- Movement of students in grades 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 to align with Ministry Requirements for primary class sizes
- Mrs. Buchner thanked all the parents in the community for their understanding and flexibility
b) Upcoming Events
- Sept. 16: Terry Fox Run
- Sept 19 – 1st day for karate Kids (Grades 1-4)
- Sept. 29: Meet the Teacher Night & Book Fair
- Oct 5: Teacher Recognition Day
- Oct 7: PA day no school
- Oct 10: Thanksgiving no school
- Oct 11: Picture Day
- Oct 13 – Grade 1 & 2 Family Math Night
- Oct 21: Grade 4 & 5 soccer tournament at Agnes Taylor
c) EQAO
- Presentation on EQAO results will be given at the November meeting
d) School Initiatives
- Board and school’s focus this year will continue to be on numeracy across all grades
- Spending money to purchase portable devises for all classes and initiating BYOD in October with a letter going to parents explaining expectations regarding students bring personal electronic devices to school
e) Non Board Funds
- Moneys raised by Student Parliament through pizza, milk & cookies and other fundraisers (i.e., smelly pencils, icedawgs) will go towards
o Purchasing technology - IPads and/or Netbooks
o School-wide presentations (i.e., Black History Month, Author visits)
o Grade 5 Graduation
- Principal Non-Board funds will go towards
o Subsidizing cost of occasional teachers to release classroom teacher(s) to attend tournaments with school teams
o Bussing for school teams to tournaments
o Costs related to entry fees, t-shirts for special events (i.e., Special Olympics, Day of Pink)
o Purchasing technology - IPads and/or Netbooks
f) Babysitting
- Will be provided for all meetings this year.
3. Financial Report
- Current balance in School Council account is $1,037.57
- Will be paying $650 to sponsor the Gr 1 & 2 Math Evening for parents as approved by last year’s School Council
4. Other Business
- Discussion ensued regarding attendance at meeting and how to get more parents to attend
- Will do a synervoice on the Monday prior to a Council meeting as well as send home a notice on Monday in multiple languages
- Parent Council meetings will continue to be held on the first Wednesday of the month and start at 6:45 p.m.
- Meeting dates for 2016-2017 school year
November 2
January 11
February 1
April 5
May 3
- Discussion ensued regarding clubs for students; Mrs. Buchner commented that they will be starting soon; suggestion given to have a writing club
5. Elections
- Elections were held for the 9 positions on our Council
- Only received one nomination Sumreen Naz who will serve as the Chair
- Mariam Taqdees volunteered to assume the role of secretary for the year
- Mrs. Buchner will contact those elected member(s) not present at the meeting and inform them of the results
6. Adjournment