TEPS School Council Meeting Minutes

From - February 15, 2018

Name / Present / Name / Present
Abernathy, Mike / Keesmaat, Ken / P
Blacklock, Rose / P / King, Adam
Bousfield, Jen / P / Kridli, Rami
Dales, Rachel / Macesic, Sanja
Galda, Andrea / Madan, Amy
Galda, Dave / Martin, Julia
Garniss, Ann / McMeekin, Tracy / P
Gouk, Alan / P / Moynihan, Cathie
Grasley, Scott / Nasswetter, Katie
Hammond, Jackie / P / Neumann, Jeanette
Hocken, Jamie / Stevens, Melanie
Hocken, Jodi / Tunney, Ashley
Holland, Jenn / vanLoon, Ruth
Hutchinson, Melynda / Zinger, Sally
AGENDA ITEM / INFORMATION/DECISION / PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE
Review & Approval of Minutes / ●Minutes approved
●Rose made note that her name should not be in the last line for next meeting. / All
School Report / Immigrant Services:
  • Guest speaker – Dayami
  • SWIS program (Settlement Workers in Schools) has just been introduced to Guelph. They have 6 schools on board now and are working to add TEPS.
  • Their target students are newcomers, but they are not excluding people who have immigrated many years ago
  • They offer many services, including interpretation. They are able to interpret 17 languages.
  • They can help schools to understand things like how to handle students who might be triggered by the fire alarm (students previously in refugee camps), help to tailor classroom activities to better engage some cultural groups, etc
  • TEPS will likely reach out in June when we are preparing to welcome some of the new kindergarten students
  • They help newcomer families through the whole process of getting the kids in schools. They help to find their school (giving them choice of public, French, catholic), help them register for school, help integrate the children into the school, orientation, walkthroughs, etc.
/ Ken
Fundraising Update / Grade 8 fundraising:
  • Chocolate bar sales
  • Letter went home this week
  • Sales start Feb 23, end Mar 8(money to be in by Mar 9)
  • Laura Secord assorted box again (same as fall)
  • Letter specified they would prefer not to have coins, as it is time consuming to count
  • Each box sells for $90, students receive $40.50 for each box sold (45%)
  • Dance-a-thon
  • Send Dance-a-thon letter home on Mar 8
  • Dance will be scheduled Mar 29. This gives enough time to figure out how much money is still owing for final payment on Apr 11
  • Money raised by grade 8’s will go towards their trip. All students participating and those that are not going on the grade 8 trip, money raised will go towards recess equipment and to the technology fund
  • Need parent council members to help count money on the day of the event (Rose to send email to council for volunteers)
  • In previous years, Rose has reached out to local businesses to ask for a donation from their business. Plan to do draw on Apr 3. Rose and Tracyto start approaching businesses:
  • Dairy Queen
  • Stone Rd Mall
  • Mastermind
  • AirU
  • Grotto
  • Mastermind is great about donating to our school, but they do not do gift cards, only prizes, so we have to pick a prize and propose it to them
  • We’ve also had a pizza party to celebrate the class that raised the most money in the past.
Graduation:
  • Date set: June 26
  • Ceremony 7-7:45pm
  • Dance to follow
  • Ken may have booked the DJ already, needs to confirm this
Dough Raising:
  • Money collected for the next 2 sales will go towards gym equipment again
Milk program:
  • Milk is ordered until March break
  • Next segment will be from after March break until the end of the year
  • Need volunteer to count the money and set up the Life Skills classes with the info they need
/ Alan/Rose
Treasurer Report / ●Defer to next time due to absences / Melynda
PRO Grant Night / Where we are:
  • Event happening April 17
  • 6:30 – 7:30: keynote speaker for ages 9+, there will be a craft and childcare room
  • 7:30 – 8:30: booths and activities in the classrooms (making calming bottles, mandalas, etc)
  • We will have booths to display different topics (mental health, addiction support, Parkwood Gardens, DAIR, etc)
  • Would like to have some translators from Immigrant Services and be able to hand out some brochures.
What is next:
  • Approach several groups about advertising still
  • Next planning meeting will be Feb 20
/ Amy, Jodi, Ruth, Rose, Ken
Other / Flu discussion:
  • Is it general practice for all the grades to wash their hands before eating? Yes
  • Do teachers check this? Sometimes yes. They have been known to ask to smell the hands
  • Classrooms are supplied with sanitizing wipes, etc
Florida Shooting:
  • Teachers will have a quick stand up meeting tomorrow to discuss
/ All
Next Meeting / Thursday, March22th @ 7:00 pm
Items for Next Meeting:
●Graduation

School Council Executive 2017-2018:

●Chair – Rose Blacklock

●Treasurer – Melynda Hutchinson

●Secretary – Jackie Hammond

●Fundraiser Coordinator – Amy Madan/Rose Blacklock