St. Brigid’s School
CSAC Meeting Minutes
April 11, 2011
Present:
Joanne Greco (Principal)
Mike Bethke (Vice Principal)
Larisa Van Loon (Co-Chair)
Jen Clarke (Co-Chair)
Liz Nastasi (Vice Chair, Co-Special Events)
Angela Hamill (Secretary)
Catherine LeBlanc (Special-Ed Rep & Church Liaison)
Nalini Bateman (Volunteer Co-ordinator, Co-Special Events)
Vincy Angelone (Teacher)
Mimi Gregoire (Teacher)
Karen Cameron
Rita Doto
Josie Harvey
Karin McPherson
Mr. Wigglesworth
Regrets:
Liz Nastasi (Vice Chair, Co-Special Events), Diana Gonzalez (Communications Rep),
Julie Malichen-Snyder (Treasurer)
Meeting Minutes:
1. Prayer led by Mike Bethke, followed by welcome and introductions.
2. Motion to accept previous minutes of February 7, 2011: Karen; Second: Jen; Carried.
3. Teacher Rep’s Report – Vincy
I. Mrs. Stewart has researched replacing the school’s old piano. A new portable Yamaha keyboard would be $500. Total with taxes is $512.44. This piano would only be used by the school and not for after school lessons. The piano is used by all grades in the music room. Motion to approve the purchase of a Yamaha keyboard: Carried by show of hands.
II. Two buses are needed for the first Cross Country meet. Another bus will be needed for children who advance to the second and third meets. Joanne suggested that we approach neighbouring schools to see if they would share bus costs. Motion to approve up to $1000 for transportion to the cross country meets: Carried by show of hands.
III. Mr. Sherriff and Ms. Aguila looked into purchasing new uniforms for volleyball and basketball. Ideally, they would like to have one set of uniforms for girls and one for boys. The cost is $672 for one set of all sizes (20 uniforms). Total cost would be $1344. CSAC will revisit this request in June, when we have a better idea of funds available.
IV. Theatre performances have been ongoing. The only group that hasn’t had two performances this year is the juniors. An artist named Mark Sepic will do a week’s worth of art programming for the junior classes for $500. This money will come from approved theatre disbursements.
V. Larisa needs $300 for more TTC tickets. Motion to approve: Karen, Second: Jen, Carried.
VI. Mr. Wigglesworth presented some information about a proposal he is considering that would encourage St. Brigid students to raise funds to purchase bicycles for children in Cambodia. He is working with Lisa McCoy, Field Co-ordinator for Rotary Ontario. By participating, St. Brigid would have the opportunity to connect with a “sister” school in Cambodia with the hopes of creating a lasting partnership. On May 27, Lisa will visit St. Brigid’s and talk to our students about education in Cambodia.
3. Communications Report – Web team led by Jen
Jen presented the new CSAC Web page, explaining the site navigation and content. Larisa will determine how much Primus (our current provider) charges for DNS (Domain Name Service) and whether we can use Gmail for DNS. This must be determined before our new Gmail site goes live.
5. Chair’s Report - Larisa
I. Dress code is coming in September.
II. Spirit wear – Jen and Karen went to Eagle Beaver (a past provider) to look at spirit wear options. Items include navy and white crew neck shirts and track pants with the school name, as well as gold shirts that can be worn on field trips and as a gym uniform. For comparison, they also visited In School Wear at Laird and Eglinton. Eagle Beaver T-shirts were roughly $7 vs. $15 from In School Wear. The spirit wear discussion will continue at the next meeting.
III. Annual Teacher Luncheon – This event is held in June. Catherine mentioned that the church hall should be ready by the end of May and can be considered as the venue. Mimi will ask the teachers which location they prefer (gym or church hall).
IV. Curriculum Fun Night – Planning needs to start soon, but more volunteers are needed to help organize this event. Jen suggested holding a separate Curriculum Fun Night planning meeting.
V. Minutes –A discussion of how minutes are approved and distributed will take place at the May CSAC meeting. The approval process can become much easier with the new Gmail web site.
5. Volunteer Co-ordinator’s Report – Nalini
Nalini looked into label providers for our spring fundraiser. She is leaning towards Oliver’s Labels, which have a unique tracking feature. She will ask them about paperless fundraising and make sure it is as seamless as Mabel’s Labels (i.e. labels are ordered online and then sent directly to homes, rather than to the school). Once the fundraiser is set up, and it will always exist online. CSAC will do a marketing push in the spring and the fall to encourage parents to order.
6. Vice Chair and Special Event Rep’s Report – Jen on behalf of Liz
Allyson Schafer will be coming to the school on May 3. Diana will be contacting the Canadian Martyrs and Earl Beatty parent councils to see if they are interested in attending. Depending on RSVP numbers, the event will be held in either the gym or the library.
6. Treasurer’s Report – Larisa on behalf of Julie
I. Larisa reviewed the Treasurer’s Report. We have about $9000 left to spend, minus tonight’s approvals. Money is still trickling in from QSP and pizza lunches, plus additional funds will be generated by spirit wear and label sales. Motion to approve the Treasuer’s Report: Catherine, Second: Jen, Carried.
II. Some discussion ensued about the swim team, which raises funds for itself with great success. Joanne recommended that we revisit the idea of hosting the annual swim meet that is held at the Etobicoke Olympium, as the profit is quite large. This will be discussed more at a future meeting.
7. Principal’s Report - Joanne
I. Joanne said that she is starting to think about staffing for next year. She anticipates lower enrolment due to the huge Grade 8 class that is graduating this year.
II. The Ministry of education is coming out with guidelines for fundraising that may impact how CSAC can fundraise. It exists in draft form on the Ministry web site now.
7. VP’s Report - Mike
I. CAT4 testing is coming. Mike is purchasing a specific brand of calculators to help with EQAO.
II. The safe schools team has done a number of surveys about safety in the school building. Another survey discussed the safety of our location (i.e. proximity to banks and stores). Parents are now being asked to complete an online survey about facility condition. The address is www.surveymonkey.com/s/TCDSB_facility_condition This address will also be posted to our Web site and distributed by e-mail.
III. Forty refurbished computers from RTCO (Computers for Schools) will be going into our computer lab. They should be arriving soon. Newer lab computers will be distributed throughout the school.