LawrenceGrassiMiddle School
School Council
17thOctober 2007
In Attendance: Carole Shea, Marianne Engel, Bud Ettinger, Susan Kwasny,Deb Thiessen, Don Peterson, Monika Helbig, Jill Jones, Dawn Lewis, Kelly Fennel, Paula Hanson (Administration), Brian Wityshyn (Administration), Marg Hauck (staff representative), Nadine Delorme (staff representative), Lesley Reid (parent), Heather Bester (parent).
Tour of New School Site
A tour of the new school site took place before the start of the meeting.
The priority at the moment is to get the roof finished and the buildings sealed, before the onset of winter. Workers are on site from dawn until dusk to ensure that this happens.
The new building will be smaller than the present one, due to dropping student numbers in the valley. However, the gym will be almost as large as the current one and the school design includes an indoor “communal” area for students. 12 of the current portable classrooms will also be utilized.
The building has been designed to maximize the use of natural light, and a large proportion of the interior will have a natural wood finish (beams, ceilings and walls).
1) Call to Order – 7.05pm.
2) Confirmation of Past Minutes – Motion to accept minutes of 12th September 2007. Proposed by Don. Seconded by Kelly. Motion carried.
3) Principal’s Report
The Principal’s Report is attached.
Landscaping of New Site
Phase 1 includes funding for landscaping and also for tarmac around the back of gym. The school will need to find funding for ancillary items such as basketball nets and picnic tables. Grant applications are to be put in for these.In phase 2 (January to April 2009) the old school will be demolished and the site cleared. This land will become a community green space, to include sports areas such as a soccer pitch. This phase will be coordinated by a joint-use committee, although the school board will have overall responsibility. This means that the school will not be responsible for the funding.
EBS
September was a great month for EBS with 637 green cards issued in the month. This compares to approximately2,400 issued during during the whole of the last school year.
Annual Strategic Report
The report for 2006/2007 was presented. The school is showing improvements in the majority of areas. There are some significant improvements. For example,Grade 6 English writing has improved as a result of the 6+1 Writing Traits Program.
There are some results, such as in Math, where the standard of excellence achieved was not as high as the provincial average. The school will analyze the trends in the results and use them for future planning and development, rather than focusing too much on individual results.
The results have been published in the local media but these combine results for “English” and “French” and are therefore harder to interpret.
Draft 3 Year Educational Plan
Paula circulated some copies of the plan (also to be sent by email).Council members were asked to review the document and let Paula have any comments by November 1st.
Action – All – Review 3 Year Plan
4) Treasurers Report
Marianne has reconciled the accounts and prepared the budget for 2007/2008 (see attached).
Motion to accept budget. Monika proposed. Dawn seconded. Motion carried.
Motion to change bank authority so only one person is needed to update the passbook.
Bud proposed. Don seconded. Motion carried.
Dawn Lewis has offered to take on the role of treasurer.
Motion to appoint Dawn as treasurer. Jill proposed. Deb seconded. Motion carried.
5) Staff Report
Marg reported that the staff PD daysare working very well this year, and are a very useful planning exercise. The fact that they take place every few weeks provides a continuity that was missing before.
Nadine is coordinating the mentors program again this year. Student requests have been submitted and she is now working to find mentors. The range of areas requested by students is very varied. Some examples are acting, cooking deserts, robotics, architecture, computers, sewing, interior design, mechanical engineering and movie making.
6) Money for EBS
Due to the difficulty in raising a Council cheque last month, Brian took the money for the EBS pencils from last year’s school fees.
Brian also reported that most of the smartboard equipment has been delivered. One smartboard has still to arrive. Gilles Robertis to give a presentation to staff this week on the technology.
The $300 set aside for gym equipment may not be needed. Brian to keep Council updated.
7) “Spotlight On” Ideas
Lisa Murphy is likely to be very busy for the remainder of this semester, so her “Spotlight On” session will take place in the New Year.
The school has a grant of $2000 to pay for a time capsule. We will need to consider what should be included to represent Council.
8) Pizza DayHot Lunches
All pizza money has now been collected.
Regarding hot lunches; Mariawill leave next year so Council will need to find someone else to take over this role.
9) Staff Appreciation Day
This took place on Monday 17th September and received very positive feedback from staff.
Susan managed to obtain a $50 gift card from Safeway. In addition to this just over $100 was spent by Council.
10) Futures Planning Report
The Futures Planning process officially kicked off on 10th October 2007with a presentation from David King.
This process was initiated by the Board of Trustees, and is a chance for everyone (parents, teachers, students and members of the community) to discuss what we want for our children’s education, and to provide direction for the educational establishment. Two professional facilitators are helping to direct the process, which involves all schools in the CRPS area.
There is a steering committee of 25 people, with a number of sub committees. Monika’s committee produced two questions for the first Community Forum on 14th November (to be held in Canmore and in Banff).The process will go right back to basics and look at what we want of our children when they leave high school, and how this can best be achieved.
We are the first community in Alberta to go through this process.
11) November Council Meeting
This is due to take place on November 14thand therefore clashes with the first Community Forum. It was decided that the November meeting should be cancelled (as the December meeting will be held early in the month).
Action – Monika - Communicate the fact that the November meeting has been cancelled to parents.
12) Cook Book Fundraiser
Heather and Susan presented three ideas for cook book fundraisers.
1) Parents/kids submit their favoriterecipe;these are then combined into a book and sold as a fundraiser.
2) Sandi Richard (a Cochrane based author) has written a cookbook which focuses on planning meals for families. As a fundraiser the books are sold for $30.00 each, $15 per book then goes to the school.
3) Heather is currently writing a book of nutrition makeover ideas. This should be complete by the end of this year and could be sold to raise money in the same way as the Sandi Richard book.
It was agreed that these could all be potentially useful fundraisers, although it was felt that option 1) would involve a lot of work in compiling the book.
These ideas to be reviewed later in the school year, when we may have specific funding requirements. Heather’s book would also be available for review.
13) School Website
The new website should be up and running by the end of October.Council’s email address has now been set up.
Action – Carole - Contact Darren to verify address.
14) Maggie Mamen’s Presentation
This will take place at the Banff YMCA on November 8th at 8pm.
Council has six free tickets which were distributed at the meeting via a draw.
15) Advertising in School
Bud expressed concern about a program to collect McDonald tabs to raise money for Ronald McDonald Houses. The issues were a lack of communication to parents about the program, and concerns about corporate promotion within the school. Bud also expressed the view that the school should not fundraise for essentials, as successful fundraising by schools can result in reductions in central funding.
Marg explained that the McDonalds program involved children collecting pop tabs which are then sent for recycling. The focus for the children is on recycling and it helps to raise money for Ronald McDonald House. The class that manages to collect the most tabs gets a free McDonalds meal.
Paula confirmed that the school is allowed to acknowledge corporate contributors. Also(with the exception of the magazine drive)all school fundraising is related to causes such as Terry Fox. These causes therefore benefit financially, and there is a benefit in raising awareness of issues amongst the children.
Specific to the magazine drive, it was suggested that the school communicate to parents where the proceeds of this fundraising effort will be directed.
16) Volunteer Update
Volunteer lists went out to all parents. The details have now been compiled and Susan and Jane can both provide lists of available volunteers.
17) Grade 8 Quebec Trip
This trip is not part of the school program and therefore not guaranteed as an annual event. It relies on staff volunteering to go.
Carole asked that parents be informed as soon as possible if it is to go ahead, to allow for budgeting.
Cathy Harris has investigated costs for a trip this year, and details were emailed to Carole.
Full discussion of this agenda item was postponed to the next meeting, due to time constraints.
18) School Supplies
Audrey and Jackie at ERS have agreed to co-ordinate collecting monies for stationary packs for students moving to grade 5 next year.
Ann Peterson has agreed to head up the supply committee.
19) Correspondence
The only item of correspondence was the email from Cathy Harris mentioned in item 17) above.
20) Meeting Schedule
Dec 5, Jan 9, Feb 13, Mar 5, Apr 9, May 14, June 11 AGM 2008.
21)Meeting Adjourned–8.50pm