Stittsville Public School

Parent Council Meeting

Minutes - September 20, 2016

PRESENT:
Co-ChairsSabrina KempShannon Helleman
TreasurerRyan Dawe

Fundraising Donna Edwards Kristin Harcoff

Food CoordLorrie Hayes
Volunteer CoordCathy Coote

PrincipalCatherine Donnelly

Vice PrincipalDonna Boyle

Faculty RepsMaura CuffariVirginia O'Halloran
OCASC repStephanie Pulleyblank
Com & Web AdminJackie Connors

SCSC RepAngela Viktora, Cathy Coote, Kristin Kilby and kimMedaglia

Jacqueline DavisBinish MohmandDeanne EvansElva Mitchell

Catherine SpenceLaura BakerAdriana OultonLaura Neal

Jacquie BaillieJulie SmithHamid MohmandGeorge Ingraham

Debbie Seltitz

Megan Baker

INTRODUCTION

  • Welcome and Introduction - Sabrina Kemp and Shannon Helleman
  • Sabrina opened meeting at 7:05pm
  • We went around the circle and everyone introduced themselves and indicated which grades their kids are in.
  • Agenda: motion to approve agenda as projected (Sabrina, Kristin) - motion approved

PREVIOUS BUSINESS
Outdoor Classroom Update - Sabrina Kemp

  • we received a grant from the City of Ottawa for $2800!!
  • Michelle Legault - thanks for applying for all those grants!
  • 800 form has been submitted to the board, we hope that that procurement request will be quickly accepted and that the outdoor classroom can be commenced this year. We need another $20000 to complete phase 2.

NEW BUSINESS
Elections
The following names were nominated for the respective positions and were all acclaimed

  • Co- Chair - Sabrina Kemp (gave notice that she would stay for 1 more year) and Shannon Helleman
  • Vice Chair - not required with co-chairs
  • Secretary - George Ingraham
  • Treasurer - Ryan Dawe (gave notice that she would stay for 1 more year)
  • Fundraising Coordinator - Kristin Harcoff and Donna Edwards
  • Food Coordinator - Lorrie Hayes
  • Volunteer Coordinator - Cathy Coote
  • Communications Coordinator - Jackie Connors (not present at meeting, will vote in at October meeting)
  • Web Administrator - Jackie Connors (to be votes in in October)
  • OCASC Representative - Stephanie Pulleyblank
  • Safe and Caring School Committee Representative - Kristin Kilby and Kim Medaglia, Angela Viktora, Cathy Coote
  • OCDSB forms were circulated for completion and collected by George Ingraham. Vote to accept roster (Sabrina, Hamid) - motion approved
  • Members at Large:

EXECUTIVE REPORTS

Chair Report - Shannon Helleman and Sabrina Kemp

School Year Calendar
The 2016-2017 school year calendar is available on our website . Summarizes the school year.

Continuing Education Newsletter
Continuing Education Newsletter for September/October 2016 available and is interactive, Click anywhere to be linked to our website for more information on all our programs.
Math Facts
Doing Mathematics with Your Child (Kindergarten to Grade 6)
Today, critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning ability and ability to communicate mathematically are essential skills. These processes are the foundation of mathematics instruction in Ontario schools. "Doing Mathematics with Your Child" is a guide available for parents of students in Kindergarten to Grade 6. This guide offers ways to engage their child in thinking and talking about mathematics around the four strands: number sense and numeration, measurement, patterning and algebra, and data management and probability. Check out this Parent Guide created by the Ontario Ministry of Education. All tips are based on Ontario's curriculum and are connected with what your child is learning in school.
Parent Conference 2016 and School Council Training Day
OCDSB hosting the Parent Conference. Will be incorporating the School Council Training Day into the Conference. The conference is held in partnership with the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) and the Ottawa-Carleton Assembly of School Councils (OCASC). Conference in Novemberr 19, 2016 from 8:30 am to 12:30 am. There will be workshops on a wide range of topics including school council finances, well-being, learning and more. A full agenda will be released in October. Everyone is welcome and the session is free. We will be asking for all to register in advance to help us with our planning.
Speaker Series 2015/2016
We will be holding our Speaker Series again this year. Stay tuned for a list of speakers, dates and times! The presentations begin at 7:00 p.m.

Principal's Report - Catherine Donnelly

Enrolment update

  • 670 students are enrolled and we were projected for 679.
  • Only one class was over the primary class ministry cap of 20 by only one student.
  • We are pleased to announce that we will not require any class/teacher reorganizations.
  • We have 39.69 teachers and 30 homeroom classes – 13 English & KG (Kindergarten) and 17 EFI (Early French Immersion).

Oct 7 PD day: Staff will be working on the development of the School Learning Plan

and Student Wellness Plan on the Oct 7th PD day. Math across the subject areas

will be the focus for the professional learning that day.

EQAO Results: For a detailed look at the school results the EQAO website is accessible to the public. Individual student results will be going home in the next few weeks. Overall SPS students achieved above the Board and Provincial averages with the exception of Grade 6 math - this will be an area of focus for our school this year.

Resource request – Staff are compiling a list and will be prioritizing at our next staff meeting – we will bring results to the October School Council meeting. Thank you for the teacher/EA/ECE classroom allocation.

Promoting SPS in the Community – We would like to showcase our school to the community but will need to wait for the media permission forms to come in (it can be challenging to photograph school events because it is so difficult to ensure students without media permission are not in the picture).

Outdoor Classroom: An 800 form has been submitted to the Board for the Outdoor Classroom for Phase one in the amount of $10,000 funded by School Council.

Parent Book Club: One of our teachers, Kelly Littlemore, would like to offer a parent book club based on the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck. More details will be sent home through our School Connects e-mail system.

Keeping Connected: We want to know what parents/guardians think and welcome you to share your suggestions, questions, concerns and compliments. If you are wondering about a decision that is made, a policy or routine that is in place or just want to touch base, please don’t hesitate to connect with your child’s teacher (if it is a classroom or academic item) or myself or Vice-Principal Boyle.

Next Month: School Budget will be reviewed with Council

Vice Principal's Report - Donna Boyle.

  • We conducted a very successful First of six fire drills that we will be holding throughout the year. It was the first for a large number of our Kindergarten children, and they were amazing!
  • Bus Evacuation practise which should be held within the next few weeks.
  • Lock Down on Wednesday, September 28th, in the morning. We are pleased to welcome our School Resource Officer, Genevieve Hupe, and another SRO, Cindy Cybulski, who will assist us in the school.
  • Starting on the 17th of October, every Monday we have a parent coming to our school to teach 4 ½ hour sessions of Yoga rotating through every classroom and portable in the school. She is a certified Yoga Teacher and will be teaching the classes incorporating fun yoga, meditation and mindfulness. She will be making it interactive and a fun opportunity!

Teacher's Report - Virginia O'Halloran and Maura Cuffari
List of clubs at SPS - soccer, cross country knitting, chess?,Rubik's cube club, environment club, etc.

  • Ski club - Mrs. Goodyear
  • Harry Potter Club - Deb Jackson
  • Student Council starting in next month
  • Free the Children starts next week

Last May/June

 Track and Field was a great success last June! 70 students attended Regional Meet

  • Sacred Heart allowed us to use their track again this year for practices which helped the students prepare for the track events.
  • The parent volunteers for our school track day and at the regional meet were AMAZING!!!!
  • The students placed very well with many top finishers which made it a very exciting day.
  • Grades 3-6 will continue to participate in our school Track Meet but the Regional one is only for grades 4-6. There is no official date yet, but we will keep you posted as soon as we know.

The Free the Children Group held their second annual Mini We Day. The student lead assembly was full of speeches, dance and inspirational films that taught students in grades 3-6 about social justice issues.

Over 26 teachers and educators participated in our annual Pie in the Face event! It was a great success. Students were VERY VERY well behaved!!! We raised approximately $1100, half to Free the Children to the Fort McMurray Red Cross Relief

The total for the Free the Children Group last year was $ 5,195.11!!! This year our goal will not be to beat this.

This year:

  • Mrs Doherty and Mme Mitchell will be coaching a boys and girls soccer team consisting of grades 5/6 students. The tentative dates for the tournaments are Oct. 12 and 13, but they did not specify which date for the girls and which for the boys. The teachers will be having a meeting this week to hand out forms that must be filled out prior to trying out and then try-outs/practices will begin.
  • Cross-Country –Mrs O’Brien and Mrs Takahashi will be running this event/team . The date is Thurs Octr 18th from 12:30- 2:30. Assuming it will at KRC.
  • The SPS “Gotcha” program is up and running already!
  • The grade 3s will be going swimming this year at the GRC. It is a free program
  • The Terry Fox Walk is scheduled for September 29th from 145-245.
  • Mrs Pantalone and Mme Kearns are going on 2 field trips, Millers Pumpkin Patch end of Sept, and Baxters Conservation For 2 Outdoor Education Workshop mid October.
  • The grade 3 classes of Mme Tessier, Doherty and Sheppard classes will be going to Bill Mason on September 30th to learn about plants and soils.
  • Grade 6 math teachers (Goodyear and Littlemore)
  • Students are exploring growth mindset. Students engaged in Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math where they learned some of the newest research that suggests that understanding and having a growth mindset is key to success.
  • Some of the key messages that they have learned include:
  • Believe in yourself
  • Speed is not important but thinking deeply is
  • Our brains think about math visually
  • Our brains grow and change
  • Mistakes are powerful for learning.

Students have reflected on the statement “ I am a Mathematician” and place a sticky on a value line. They will revisit their selection throughout the year as we learn more about growth mindset.

We have started doing Number Talks in mathematics. Through number talks students are strengthening mental math abilities and learning to work flexibly and fluently with numbers. They are sharing different strategies to solve math expressions, learning how to effectively communicate them and name them.

Fundraising Report - Donna Edwards and Kristin Harcoff

  • Funfair - George Ingraham will do it again. He presented rough summary of the financial commitments and income for Fun Fair June 2016.
  • The goal for 2016/17 is to raise $10,000.00by conducting the following events:
    School clothing2 movie nightsTrivia night

2 dancesPink shirts3 McDonalds nights
Poinsettias and wreathsSchool clothing Little Caesars
Fitness BingoCake WalkAmazing Race
Fun Fair

  • Focus to get people out and together.
  • Need lots of volunteers to help run campaigns.

Treasurer's Report - Ryan Dawe

  • last two years and budgets for this year
  • some money earmarked for items already
  • bag for tent
  • motion to proceed with teacher allocation of $200/full-time educator (Ryan, Shannon) - motion approved
  • motion to run Mathletics for grades 3-6 for an estimate of $3000 (Ryan, Julie) - motion approved
  • send ideas for spending to , everything will be discussed at October meeting
  • $10,488 surplus.This was due to the following issues
  • not all the teachers used their $200 allocation,
  • a handful did not summit any receipts,
  • scientists in the school and Mathletics less than what we had budgeted for.
  • received the outstanding booster juice invoice for food program was also lower than anticipated.

-$10,488 surplus to the opening cash balance of $34,875 resulted in an ending cash balance of $45,363 at June 30, 2016.

Of the $45,363, we have already agreed to the following

  • $10,000 aside for the outdoor classroom,
  • $5,500 for the mounting of projectors in the kindergarten rooms and portables, An email vote conducted to add $7k for a total of 12.5K
  • $2,000 for the buddy bench and
  • $895 for the kindergarten yard improvements.
  • This will leave about $27K available to be allocated in 2016/17, in addition to any additional funds raised.

Some discussion was had about the budget for 2016/17, but it was agreed we’d need feedback from the teachers and school administration on what needs the school has for 2016/17. It was agreed we’d update an present the existing budget at the October meeting.

Treasurer put forward two motions to include in the 2016/17 budget.They are:

  • The first being $200 teacher allocation for each full time teaching position, EA’s and librarian. Total budget amount $9,000.Motion passed
  • The second being $3,000 for Mathletics.Motion passed.

Food Program Report - Lorrie Hayes
- food orders are coming in, about half of what we had last year has been ordered
- so far so good!
- we need volunteers
Volunteering Report - Cathy Coote
Not much to report. First day went well. Working on food volunteers
Picture day coming up!
OCASC Report - Stephanie Pulleyblank
Not been to a meeting yet
Safe and Caring School Report - Kim, Kristin, Cathy and Angela
- first meeting was today
- next meeting is October 25 to discuss stunt well being planyoga
CONCLUSIONS
Adjournment - motion to adjourn meeting at 9:07pm (Sabrina, Donna) – motion