Norma Rose Point Parent Advisory Council

Meeting: September 16, 2013

6:40 pm Meeting called to order by RoosSpanjers (Co-Chair)

Council (a.k.a. Parents)in attendance:

Jody Yau (Interm co-chair), Eagle Glassheim, Csilla Tomas, Joshua Folk, MaramBabsail (hot lunch coordinator), Derek Poon, Melanie Antweiler (Immediate Past Chair), Amin KhiAmiri, Jennifer Zhu, GayathinSamarasekera, Julie Wang, Victoria Yang (Treasurer), Kofi Gbolonyo, Bharat Joshi, Pragna Dave

School Staff:

Rosa Fazio, Principal, John McCormack, Vice Principle, Karen Noel-Bentley, Gade 5/6 Teacher

  1. Introductions:
  2. All Council members in attendance introduced themselves followed by Karen Noel-Bentley, Rosa Fazio and John McCormack.
  1. Approval of the Minutes from last meeting (in June).
  2. Moved to approve last meeting’s minutes by Eagle. Seconded by Jody Yau. Vote called and Motion carried unanimously.
  1. Chair’s Report:
  2. Roos discussed the new structure of the PAC including the introduction of four (4) sub committees in order to
  3. Get more parents involved
  4. Help make the PAC meetings more efficient
  5. The 4 sub committees are:
  6. Volunteer Committee
  7. Fundraising Committee
  8. Safety Committee
  9. Playground Committee
  10. This committee has already been established. They are working on designing and finding a company to build the three (3) playgrounds at the new site.
  11. The sub committees will be autonomous and arrange meetings on their own. Each will be responsible for sending at least one member to each PAC meeting (though more are welcome to attend) in order to give updates to the Executive board.
  12. We need to find a volunteer to start up each of the 3 remaining sub committees as well as volunteers to be a part of each. Although the playground committee is already established more parents are welcome to join.
  13. Next PAC meeting will be September 30th. We will hold the AGM that evening too.
  14. This means we will need to get people up for nomination in the positions of: Chair, Co-Chair, Secretary, Fundraising, Treasurer (though Victoria is willing to continue hopefully with help of a Co-Treasurer or two). Jody has agreed to be the contact person for names being put forward. We will have people email the PAC Gmail address:
  1. Treasurer’s Report: Victoria Yang
  2. Fiscal year is September to June. Currently there is $6776 in the PAC Account and $1600 in the Gaming Account.
  3. As of last week, through the direct donation letter campaign, we have raised $8600! Rosa noted that there have been more cheques sent in that has not been counted in that. A huge thank you to every parent that was able to donate!! With these funds we have almost reached the goal amount. The school has already ordered the on-line library at a cost of $120 per classroom. They have also placed an order for some balls for the children to play with at recess and lunch.
  4. Victoria noted that we are needing to change the name of the PAC bank accounts to our new name Norma Rose Point PAC.
  5. Eagle made a motion to have the name changed to Norma Rose Point PAC. Jody Yau seconded the motion. Vote taken and motion passed unanimously.
  6. Victoria has asked to have more names added to the list of co-signers. Eagle made a motion to nominate Roos and Jody. They accepted the nomination. Motion seconded by Gayathin. Motion carried.
  7. Victoria is also requesting the PAC purchase a stamp and a cash machine. The cash machine will make counting and depositing cheques much easier. In total Victoria estimates both purchases will cost about $100 (she will get a proper quote soon). Motion to set aside up to $100 for purchase of a PAC stamp as well as a cash machine made by Roos. Seconded by Eagle. Vote taken and all agree. Motion carried.
  1. Principal’s Report:
  2. Karen Noel-Bentley spoke about the new school song. Thanks to Lowry Olafson for helping her class brainstorm ideas. Within 3 hours the children had written the lyrics and title. The song is now posted on the Rose Point website:
  3. John McCormack spoke about the Terry Fox Run held on Friday. All the children ran for about 30 minutes. Raised a total of about $500! There were some questions from parents as to why there was no notification sent home to bring money for the run. The school opted not to send out pledge forms but rather spend the time teaching the children about who Terry Fox was.
  4. Rosa Fazio spoke about the portables. The library is looking very good this year. She thanked all those parents who worked hard last year on it. With the new librarian they have brought it up to the VSB standards. One of the teachers was gifted a multi touch smart board which will soon be mounted in the library.
  5. Technology- The school has wifi, a wireless projector and 25 iPads. They are also currently looking at a technology plan for the new site with an eye towards ESL integration.
  6. Staff- Ann has returned to the office this year. We are all very lucky to have her. There is also a resource team of 4 people, and 3 education assistants.
  7. Enrollment: Currently 212-215 students. This is excellent. In this number are also 15 students from Uhill Elementary.
  8. Queen Elizabeth issues- Working on finding efficient times for lunch etc. There is a new timing for lunch including play and then eating in their classroom. Most students now have enough time for lunch.
  9. Communication- Please speak to your child’s teacher first, then come to the office staff. Teachers are happy to help.
  10. Facebook page- discussions for and against having a Facebook page.
  11. In order to make things less confusing for new parents which is the most important forum for communication?
  12. Principal’s plan is for 2-4 emails/month to go out to all parents. This will list important links and new information. Also will text out simple reminders. Parents can register for Rosa’s text’s at: 604-227-3809 Type in “@NRPS” on the subject line.
  13. Questions around how best to announce messages from the PAC
  14. Bus Communication- Things were tough the first day but things are now working well. There will be discussions between bus administration, drivers, VSB and Norma Rose Point staff about how to make better plans for next year.
  15. Bus 1 and Bus 5 have swapped because there were so many bus 1 kids and this was the simpler group to move.
  16. There will be one more email going out to parents about the bus
  17. John McCormack emphasized the great efforts of the school despite not much help from the bus company.
  18. Representatives of Meetings:
  19. Playground Committee- Eagle is the liaison to this committee. They are working with Rosa to implement fundraising. So far the parents have identified the type of apparatus’. It will be an accessible playground with some connection to Special Olympics 2014. Patricia is the chair and they will be meeting with the architect next week.
  20. New Business:
  21. Melanie voiced her disapproval of the direct donation drive. Did PAC vote on it? Not clear. What is a better date? First week of school or Lunar New Year? Rosa explained the advantages to the first week of school. There are complexities to what the school can ask for financially versus the PAC. The schools are very limited in what they are allowed to ask for.
  22. Questions about how much of these materials are translated? Thought that the Parental Education Committee could either translate or organize for translation. Chinese translation is critical but the school cannot do this. Some ideas of how to do it:
  23. Through library
  24. Through website
  25. Internet translation
  26. Hiring a company
  27. Parent to offer to translate

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm . Next meeting September 30th .