School Council Meeting
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 6:30 p.m.
SC Parent Members:
In Attendance:
Shane Forsyth
Molly Broad
Lucia Clark
Amber Taylor
Tracy Strain
Natasha Doufexis
Cherisse Tullett
Tammy Dewhirst
Regrets:
Kathryn Gresce
Zhen Wong
Shari Mokry
Lenore Brooks
Lisa Butson
Jen Petruniak
Kim Tylka
SC Members (Non-Parent)
In Attendance:
Georgia Koziol – Principal
Anthea Moreau – Community Representative
Regrets:
Ms. Baggs – Teacher Representative
Raine Rodriguez – Non-Teaching Representative
Special Guests:
Sheila Cary-Meagher – School Trustee, Ward 16
Parent Attendees (non-voting):
Tami Ralston
Cindy Snider
Kathryn Child
*Quorum for 2016/17 year: 11 voting members, with majority present being parent-members
1. Introductions & Updates – S. Forsyth
All attendees were welcomed. Seema Mitchell will no longer be a member of SAC as she no longer has a child attending Selwyn. Tamara Baggs will resume her role as Teacher Representative as Ms. Remisch has retired.
2. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting – A. Taylor
On a motion by L. Clark and seconded, the minutes of the meeting held November 1, 2016 were approved unanimously.
Approval of the June 2015 Minutes needs to be completes with past SAC and ensure the End of Year Report is prepared and presented with minutes.
3. Principal’s Report – G. Koziol
Ms. Koziol welcomed Sheila Cary-Meagher, School Trustee. The next Ward 16 meeting will be hosted by Selwyn P.S. on Tuesday, January 24 at 700 p.m. All Selwyn families are encouraged to attend.
Facility Update – Glen Thomas and other TDSB representatives met with the Principal and Custodian to identify issues on site. A further walk-through will be conducted with TDSB representatives as well as Ministry of Education representatives to ensure necessary upgrade items are identified for funding. Currently there is no timeline for when repairs are expected to be completed.
Extra-Curricular Update - Selwyn has many clubs and sports teams starting up after the holidays. After a discussion with staff, it was decided that Junior sports teams would be offered. This may pose challenges for gifted students to participate as many are bussed in from their home school. Other options for participation for bussed students are being offered. These clubs and teams are offered at no cost to families and are offered by Selwyn teachers. Clubs/teams include:
· Folkfest
· Newspaper club
· Boys basketball
· Girls volleyball
· Coding club
· Social justice club
After-4 Band is the only fee-based program with adequate enrollment to run.
Academics Update – In support of the 3 pillars, teachers are paired up and/or operate within teaching team.
Ms. Stojanovick will remain as the grade 1/2 teacher after Ms. Remisch’s retirement in December. Ms. Stojanovick will be an LTO through June 2017. The transition is going well.
Made possible through SAC funds, grant funds, and school funds, the 2/3 classes are engaged in the First Lego League. The 1/2 classes will begin the program at a later date. This program allows for students to engage in a real life problem/inquiry. In teams, students will design, code and build a product that will support saving the Bees.
Ms. Cini is co-teaching the three-part math strategy lesson with classroom teachers.
4. Teacher Report
Ms. Baggs was unable to attend.
5. SAC Business
a) Formation of By-Law Committee – J. Petruniak (presented by S. Forsyth)
· We are at approximately 25% of our fundraising goals ($5K of $20K)
· Bank Account Balance is approximately $3,400. The Principal and SAC Chair are now co-signatories with the Treasurer.
· SAC purchased a year subscription last week for 8 classes to Raz Kids Online ($1200). Teachers have been emailed and will set up classroom and family access.
· The Holiday concert raised $1,765 (net)
· The next Fundraising Committee meeting is TBD.
Suggestions for future Holiday Concert fundraising includes:
- Moving the silent auction table to the south end of the school or spread auction items out
- Add a raffle
- Raffle off more seats, particularly in the center of the gym
Upcoming fundraising proposed events:
· Marlies Game -March 5 at 3 PM
· April - Move-a-thon during school hours
· May 6- parents’ night out at Topham Park Cafe as possible venue
· May - movie night (date to be determined)
· June 3- Spring Carnival (date to be confirmed pending other schools in area)
· Pizza Lunches -Jan.27,Feb.16,Mar.10,Mar.31,April 21,May 12,June 2
· hot dog lunch - June 23
b) Formation of By-Law Committee – J. Petruniak (presented by S. Forsyth)
· revised by-laws posted to website with track changes to see where edits were made
· edits made were for consistency, formatting and to change the by-law committee to the governance committee.
· Pending approval of SAC, v3.2 will be finalized and the PDF of the by-laws will be posted on the website
· SAC voting members are to review the changes and will be asked to approve the changes via email.
c) Website Refresh – J. Petruniak (presented by S. Forsyth)
It is recommended that SAC create a website separate from the TDSB school site to one that is independently hosted. There will be a minor cost of approximately $5 per month for this service. M. Broad, with the help of other parent-members, will oversee the creation of a new SAC website.
6. Home and School Association
C. Snider provided a spreadsheet and explanation of H&S’s spending allocations for the period of September 2016 to January 2017. The Association has $360 of unallocated funds at this time.
The logistics of the parent mindfulness sessions and family yoga event were discussed. C. Snider will coordinate with the mindfulness/yoga instructor and Ms. Koziol to confirm the details. Sign-up sheets will be sent home with students.
7. New Business
No new business.
8. Termination of Meeting
Meeting terminated at 7:35 p.m.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Additional meetings may be scheduled as needed.
* Parents and community members are encouraged to follow the @tdsb_selwyn on Twitter to receive updates as well as important information.