Ecole St Mary School Council Monthly Meeting Minutes
May 18, 2017
Attendance: Laurie Catonio, Sandra Fuentes, Jeff Husch, Christine Magosse, Lise Schmidt, Dan Monaghan, Angela Talbot, Sandy Westwood, Lisa Lee, Darren Birrell, Dayna Vucurevich
6:00pm – meeting called to order by Laurie
Opening Prayer: Dan
Approved agenda – motion to approve by Sandra, second by Jeff
Approved minutes from March meeting – motion to approve by Lisa, second by Sandra
Hot Lunches
Fee not able to commit to looking after hot lunches for next school year. Discussion – Challenge to keep hot lunches fun for kids, not boring. Possibility of individual classes taking on a hot lunch? Do we do every two months instead of once a month? Do we just try keep them simple…like hot dogs…pizza was not consistent (different sizes of pieces). How much do classes rely on funds from hot lunches? Why do we do hot lunches? To provide a service…novelty…fundraising for classes who claim.
Bottom line…hot lunch…make it more simple…like hot dogs…
Hot lunches to be revisited in September to see if we can find anyone who can commit and take over the program.
Talent Show – Angela Talbot
June 26 (morning) – Div 1 (gr 1, 2, 3)
June 28 (afternoon) – Div 2 (gr 4, 5, 6)
All students welcome to attend if not on a field trip. Three performances per class – can be too long, want talent so limiting to three performers per class.
Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) – Dan Monaghan
Board wondering if going to School Council to get input?
Dan show us Goals, strategies, measures matrix as found on the ESM website.
Dan query school council for “strategies”.
School priorities made by the school.
Input from council on three priorities:
- Staff and students will grow in their faith and experience the richness of Catholic Education;
- All students will develop literacy and numeracy skills that will prepare them for a changing future; and
- First Nations, Metis and Inuit students will achieve equitable educational outcomes.
Should more ideas come up, please bring them up.
Dan spoke of new literacy program to be put in place for next school season.
Laurie thanks Dan and Lise for including us and wanting our feedback
New Business
Carnival
Bucket Filler: Laurie spoke about how wonderful the carnival was, how much the children loved it, how much the parents loved it (even those who showed up when their own children couldn’t). Thank you to all those involved in putting it on.
Angela to facilitate with students (office leaders) in getting thank you cards sent out to those who donated resources to make the carnival possible.
Net profit $1,691.31 – Scotiabank to match the gross
Retirement Recognition
Staff with St Marys 10 years or longer – need to recognize Bruce Lajeunesse – look into if he has been here for 10 years
Dan to check with how long Bruce has been here, and referring to the minutes to see exactly what was decided on qualifications for recognition from council
Fund Raising
School Council not responsible for fundraising…exists to support children learning
Heard feedback about too much to fundraise – some would like to cut a check
Central office – will not allow anything which appears to be gambling or a gambling scheme (raffles)
Discussion – can we just do one big fundraiser at the beginning of the school year? Money from cards went to leadership. Money can come back to School Council.
Dan – regarding school fees, he can request a certain dollar amount from each student be allocated to School Council
Can teachers use remind to send out messages “School Council Meeting Tonight”?
School fees collected broken down as: agenda, school council, field trip
Discussion - Can we keep our carnival, then do specific fundraising initiates for projects as they come up? Discussion - you need to do it to have money; sometimes when you need the money it’s too late to do an initiative
Discussion – Can we do an initiative later in the year, as opposed to when everyone else is doing it? Lots of fees in September – September is an expensive month. Discussion – can money be carried over to next year? Will grade sixers be able to benefit from the fundraising then – would they be exempt from participating?
What percentage of kids pay school fees at ESM? 65%-70% but hoping it will go to 98% with new online payment system.
Discussion - who will pick up fundraising if School Council doesn’t?
Discussion – can we just make an option for parents to write a cheque instead of doing fundraising…hard for some of the out of town children…no one to sell to.
Possible for next year - SUTP books – coupon books, possible fundraising for next year. - Chocolate sales – oversaturated…everyone seems to be doing it.
Discussion - could council buy some prizes for top sellers?
Discussion – we could do grocery cards – Save on Foods
Sandy volunteered to look into SUTP
School Council agrees $8 on school fees to go to Student Council – no one opposed
Staff Recognition
Have used school council money in past – lunch for staff, Tim’s cards
Would we like to do something this year?
Discussion – classes busy with field trips this time of year, might be challenging to organize a day for lunch even though lunches are nice. Do we alternate – lunch one year, gift cards next year.
For ease, let’s do cards this year.
Looking at about $300 – 60 staff, $5 gift cards. Lise to look into exact number of staff members.
Motion from Jeff - school council to fund $5 per staff member for gift card for staff appreciation. Second by Christine. All in favor. Motion passed.
Treasure’s Report
Presented by Laurie.
Motion from Sandra - school council to fund a hot dog lunch on Sports Day. Second by Jeff. All in favor. Motion passed.
School Report – Dan & Lise (see handout from Dan)
Grade 5 volleyball started
Morning running club started – run by Christine and Crystal Dory
School Cash – online school fees – should have many benefits…save time for staff. Small fee attached to each transaction…exact fee not known yet.
Staff movement – Mr. Lajeunesse retiring. Mrs. Frizzly moving to Red Deer.
School Report – School Council Meeting
May 18, 2017
- Grade 5 volleyball has begun. As there were only 5 boys who committed to the program, it was decided to join the boys and girls. Sessions are being held on Mondays and Wednesdays.
- Running Club has also begun in the mornings (Mon., Wed. & Fri. at 7:40 a.m.)– special thanks to all who have helped in making this such a success, particularly Crystal Dorie… Staff have also started an after-school running club. Permission forms were sent home with the students.
- Exams are in full swing – gr. 6 students have completed their part A in both English and French language arts. We are also in the process of completing the CAT 4 tests with our grades 4-6 (this is only being done in the areas of literacy: vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, and writing conventions). Students will also be completing a Divisionally developed assessment for math/numeracy… Finally, grade 6 students will also be completing PATs as per the following: June 16 – FLA Part B, June 19 – ELA Part B, June 20 – Math, June 22, Science, June 23 – Social.
- DREC update – Mme Schmidt
May Parent Council Meeting Notes
Father Kevin was at the school on Tuesday, May 16th to celebrate mass with the grade 5 students.
Our next school mass will be on Wednesday, May 31st at Assumption Church at 9:00am. ALL are welcome to attend.
ALL SAINTS PARISH – CORPUS CHRISTI CELEBRATION, JUNE 18TH, 2017
All Saints Parish will once again be celebrating its Corpus Christi walk on Sunday June 18th. These walks are open to families from Lethbridge even if they are not members of All Saints Parish. Students are encouraged to participate with their families and this might be a great time to spend with dads on Father’s Day!!
One group will be processing from St. Basil’s after the 11:00 a.m. mass and another will be processing from OLA after a prayer service at 12:00 p.m. Each has a prayer stop en route and anyone can join at any part. Some drive to the prayer stop and then go on by car to CCH where everyone meets for Benediction and a social including activities. Details will be in the churches and on the website in June (AllSaintsLethbridge.org).
Musicians and singers are more than welcome. Many who cannot walk come to CCH early and love to hear the students who come out and sing.
First communicants are invited to join and are encouraged to wear their white dresses and shirts as a special way of celebrating their reception of the sacrament. All participants are encouraged to wear white – the color for Corpus Christi. Red is a second option.
Volunteers are always needed the day of the event, so please contact All Saints Parish if you have an hour or two to help with this event.
- Staff Retiring:Bruce Lajeunesse
- Staff Leaving:Selena Frizzley
- KEV Update – Online Payment (video clip)
- School Fees for next year – to include a component for School Council
- Field Trips
- Important Dates to Remember:
May 18 JRFH – concluding activity
May 23Staff PD – no school for students
May 30ESM Heritage Day – all are welcome
May 31 – June 2Grade 6 Camp – SABC
June 15Final School Council Meeting
June 16Last day for ELP
June 22Last day for kindergarten
- Other
Bucket Filler
Laurie spoke about how wonderful the carnival was, how much the children loved it, how much the parents loved it (even those who showed up when their own children couldn’t). Thank you to all those involved in putting it on the entire community coming together to help – all the staff, families, children.
Closing Prayer: Laurie
7:26pm – meeting adjourned