Present: Jennifer Fentum-Littlechild, Melanie Holmes, Tina Shahed, Jackie Steinmiller, Outi Leis, Robert Carter, Cathlin Henze, Jane Vivian, Brad Whittick, Jennifer Worden, Tania Boudreau, Jennifer vanNostrand, Noula Halikias-Mintsoulis, Wendy Mudge, Amanda Van Veen, Lorie Schoenrock, Radhika Natgunarajah, Brad Derry
Absent with regret: Marlene Foran, Mary Zikavovic
School Council September Meeting – September 17, 2015 7pm WHPS Library
Meeting called to order Brad Whittick
Treasurers Report:
Rob Carter –
There is $7,000 in the bank; $4k was allocated to the long jump pit at the school, $577 to a tenor sax, repair and maintenance
Money left in the following fundraisers from 2015:
Silent Auction - $2500
Acorn Cards - $1000
QSP - $950
Pita Lunch $800
Skiing $700
Invest in Ed $652
Meet the Teacher - $600
Turkey Lunch - $262
Gift Shop $100
Staff Report – provided by Brad Derry
- Cross Country Running is started, with the Area Meet on Oct. 8th (82 students between grades 4 - 8 consistently coming out to practices!) Practices are at morning recesses M/W/F
- Terry Fox Run is scheduled for Sept. 30th ("Toonies for Terry" is the simple fundraising plan. Jump Rope for Heart is our major fundraising project)
- Music programme up and running – bands are also starting – Ms Mitchell is running Jazz, Concert and Rock bands
- all new outdoor playground balls have been ordered, should be here some time next week
- 6 new "Out of Bounds" signs to go up around base of hill
Admin Report – provided by Brad Derry
-background bio information – 25th year with the YRDSB – 14 yrs classroom experience and now entering my 11th yr in administration
-Whitchurch Highlands is my 3rd school as Principal – with 2 yrs at Schomberg P.S. and 5 yrs at MacLeod’s Landing in Richmond Hill
-live in Newmarket – ecstatic to be part of the Whitchurch Highlands community and the CEC North area of schools
-believe in the concept of a community school where the school serves as a hub for the students and families – also firmly believe that all students can and will learn with high standards and the appropriate levels of support and it is incumbent upon all to work towards providing the resources and supports
Diversity is our strength, Equity our commitment, Inclusion our goal
-Staffing Update – happy to have returning off of leaves Ms. Giannatselis (Gr. 2), Ms. Lam (Gr. 3/4), Ms. McKechnie (French/Prep) and Ms. LePage (Student Support Centre) – two new EA’s working in the school – Ms. Fiorito (CYW) working with a number of children throughout the school and Ms. Tucker (CYW) in the Fresh Start programme
- down in our overall numbers from approximately 290 students last year to 255 – did have some surplussed teachers last year and lost a few EAs
- at the end of next week is the time where we make the adjustments to classes for re-organizational purposes – compliance of 20 or less in grades 1-3 classes, 23 in 3/4, 25 +/- 5 in Junior (4, 5, 6) and 27 +/- 5 in Intermediate classes – we do have a few areas that we need to address so be prepared for a slight re-organization but it will not affect a large number of students
-Labour Update – ETFO still does not have an agreement- talks broke off on Friday of last week – at this point we are still not sure what next steps may be introduced as it relates to the job action
- theTrack & Field runway and two sand jumping pits, ideally framed with wood
-Safety Week is the week of Friday, September 25th through Friday, October 2nd – we have already begun our emergency preparedness activities with a fire drill yesterday – during safety week, we will be conducting a mandatory Lockdown drill that week; other activities will include classroom activities related to safety; daily announcements and possibly another fire drill
-Roots of Empathy – at this time, we do not have a trained facilitator and the parent of the baby had second thoughts about it and pulled out; we’re not scraping the idea at this point in time, but putting it on hold until we can have an EA or someone trained and have a baby that fits the age criteria
-parking lot update – spoke with our AMM Mira Laserson and the board along with the municipality will not support the addition of parking spaces – ratio of teachers to spaces here at WHPS exceeds the formula that is used for parking
Questions for Brad Derry:
- What will be offered and what won’t be offered?
- Still too early to know. Extra-curriculars always have been and always will be voluntary.
- Meet the Teacher cancelled
- Roots of Empathy cancelled this year – we don’t have a baby or mom in the community to volunteer
- How many children are in the school this year?
- 290 last year, 255 at this time
- Any reorganization?
- Potential, but disruption will be minimal – will know by end of September
- Parking lot changes happening?
- No changes, we actually have more spots than we should according to the municipality
- Pizza and Sub lunches?
- Yes, but all provided by cash on line, no money can be handled by teachers
- Class trips
- At this time, no class trips due to union rules
¾ of the marks not picked up from 2014/2015 school year
Communication:
Potential for Brad and Tania to provide communication to parent community on job action, what is pending, communicate the structure (i.e., this is between the union and the provincial government, not the teachers and principal – help people not in education understand that the teachers don’t have a choice at this time, they have to do what the union says)
Communicate potential CUPE strike as of September 10th they are in a legal strike position
Upcoming Events:
October 29th - Hallowe’en Dance and Silent Auction – Jen Fentum-Littlechild and Jane Vivian, Melanie Holmes, Tracy and Nava
December (not sure what date we landed on? 16/17?) - Gift Shop – Noula and Therese
December 18th – Turkey Lunch) Angie Whittick and Jenn W
February – Skating Event – Tania Boudreau to make calls for ice time
Jan/Feb - Ski nights – Grade 6,7,8 at Lakeridge – will happen (thank you to Therese Harris)
Fundraising for 2016
Jennifer Worden: Explanation of history of Invest in Ed. Will prepare forms for 2016. Goals discussed:
$9K goal ($4K for tech and we need to do the board matching, $1K to improve the kindie pen, $1K for literacy, $2K for arts, $1K for athletics), perhaps we should just say, as needed in the school?
Jane Vivian: Volunteers – Form was shared with school, returned forms given to Jane Vivian so she can connect interested volunteers with committee heads
Jennifer Fentum – can we share email addresses and phone number to create a contact list for school? Brad Derry – Sharing information is fine, cannot be done in a mass email, cannot solicit otherwise it is against the Anti-Spam laws in Canada.
Jackie S- volunteered to start a Facebook page.
Jennifer Fentum – Littlechild – do we allow 3rd party suppliers into the school for extra-curriculars this year – like the play, dance etc? Brad Derry to do a needs assessment and get back to parent council
Jennifer Fentum-Littlechild – is there going to be a choir? Brad Derry to find out, still too early in September to have an answer.
Jane Vivian – Parent Directory? – response, yes – as long as it is clearly stated on the form what the collected information will be used for, parents can opt out and that it is shown to be a parent initiative. Jane to share details with Brad Derry for final approval.
Jennifer van Nostrand – family would like to donate an organ for the music program. Brad Derry to ask Ms. Mitchell if the school music program can use one.
Brad Whittick: moves to end meeting, Jennifer Worden seconded
Meeting Ajourned
Next meeting October 15th 7pm
Council Elections