Parent Council Minutes
November 19, 2012
Attendees: Kelly Caddel, Chris Lanis, Amanda Lemming, Melanie Plewes, Nooshin Mohtashami, Nancy Pitts, Nancy Dennison, Allison Brady, Kim Delonghi, Natasha Barrett, Susan Moorehead, Rebecca Saha, Jody Greifenberger, Karen Miller, Corry Haslam, Kristin Kidd
Welcome – Karen Miller
- Minutes from previous meeting could not be passed as there was not quorum.
Update from Kelly
Staffing:
- Ms VanSchoor is back in January teaching grade 2
- Ms Shklar is back in January as well
Activities Update:
- TDSB currently in closed door meetings to discuss capital projects because government put freeze on capital spending (renovations)
- The question is now what will they do about full day kindergarten and the required renos?
- LKS will have full day kindergarten in 2014 which would require 4 new classrooms with a bathroom in each
- TDSB is looking to sell off playground land to raise funds
- On Dec 10 the TDSB will be in a legal strike position
- Holiday concerts will likely occur during sharing assemblies during the day
- “The Lunch Lady” program will be trialed for 1 day in December but only for those students who are regular participants in the lunch program – it will have to be a boomerang lunch and all garbage will need to come home.
Update from Chris Lanis
Safety Committee:
- Have started Peer Mediators program for Grade 6’s – they are peer helpers who help with conflict resolution /mediation on the playground
- Now starting safety reps for grades 4 to 8 – anyone who wants to make a difference in the life of LKS – almost everyone volunteered so it has been limited to a few students per grade.
Spelling Bee:
- National Post has pulled sponsorship for the program we participated in last year
- Now we are looking for another program, LKS will have something but may not have the possibility of going to the next level - likely 3 separate Bees based on grade.
Treasurer Update – Corry Haslam
- Last meeting Parent Council voted to suspend the budget to review proposals to potentially reallocate funds to areas affected by the teachers “pause” in extracurricular activities.
- There was a discussion between Corry and Kelly as to whether the recently received Smartboards required new PCs to operate the software for the Smartboards-Corry will look into this further and discuss with Kelly
- It was proposed approximately $9,000 be held in reserve – no vote on this will be held until more information is received on Smartboards
- Amanda Leeming asked if all the current Smartboards are being used, Kelly Caddel said they were and teachers required outside training on the technology before they were given one for their classroom
- Other funds spent so far are Band Camp $1200, $1000 Music repairs, 3 author visits and scientist-in-the-school. Parent Council pays for 1 session per classroom of Scientist-in-the-schoo at a cost of approx. $6000
- Our current fundraising activities are: QSP, Pizza Lunch, Dinner Dance and Springfest
- Springfest funds the Parent Council operating budget for next year
- Mrs. Missios tree has been planted in her honour but she had been unable to commit to a date to have a dedication ceremony
Classroom Fund – Kristin Kidd & Karen Miller
- It was suggested that communication be sent out for the classroom fund as it is an optional donation and parents can chose to do whether or not they donate.
- A motion to approve this was made and seconded by Nancy Pitts.
Bill 115 – Nancy Pitts
- Nancy prepared minutes after the last trustees meeting and they were forwarded to all parents through the LKS Bulletin, she also circulated these minutes.
- Nancy encouraged all parents to sign up for the trustee’s newsletters as they are very valuable
- Chris Lanis said these newsletters are also posted on the LKS Website
Stonegate Holiday Baskets – Rebecca Saha
- Stonegate is preparing lists of “parent families” within the community for each of our classrooms
- The Outreach Committee is looking for a corporate donation of laundry baskets
- Parents are urged to donate ‘necessities’ (e. diapers) vs. ‘nice to haves’ (ex. Perfume)
- Information letter will go out to all parents this week
- Gift cards are a great idea (ex. Shoppers) and this year each class will be given a special box to store the gift cards in so they don’t get lost
- Nancy Dennison said the Stonegate website was really interesting and the parents should be given a link to it
- Grade Parents will co-ordinate their classes basket to prevent duplication
New Voting Members Election – Karen Miller
- There was now quorum so Amanda Leeming, Kristin Kidd, Kim Delonghi and Rebecca Saha were voted in as voting members of Council for 2012
- Motion was seconded by Nancy Pitts
Dinner Dance – Kim Delonghi
- Survey went out to all parents, 161 families responded, enough families indicated that they would attend that the event will go ahead
- Main issues were parents wanted a cheaper ticket
- Dinner Dance committee will look for a cheaper venue and will reduce the price of the ticket
- Event to be held in April 2013
- Dinner Dance committee wants to be able to tie the funds they raise into a specific item
- Susan Moorehead suggested putting proper basketball court in the playground. This project would have to be tendered out to TDSB vendors, it has been submitted for a quote by Kelly Caddel and Chris Lanis
- Parent Council will ensure a Capital Project is voted on for 2013 prior to the Dinner Dance ticket sales.
Other Business
- Susan Moorehead suggested having a Movie Night fundraiser one evening in the gym.
- Kelly Caddel said we would need to make sure the school had the license for the movie before it was shown otherwise we could get sued.
- We would need to permit the gym as well.
- Susan will look into it further.
Motion was made to adjourn the meeting. Nancy Dennison seconded it.