Castlebridge School Council 2003/2004 Meeting Minutes
Meeting #5 – Monday, January 12 2004

In Attendance:     Joel Brown, Mahrukh Campbell, Suzanne Liberman, Bhavna Radia, Shahed Rahman, Anita Taylor, Racquel Tonido‑Tsering, Leanne Cook, Jane Fraser, Cathy Wheeler

Regrets:               Charles Atkinson, Robin Hurst, Ingrid Sulz‑McDowell, Tracey Systsma, Mary Thompson, Kathy Konior

Absent:                 Manju Bhattacharya, Ligaya Velasco

Guests:                Zaheda Mosan

Welcome

· The meeting was called to order at 7:01pm.

· The chair welcomed school council members and guests to the meeting and thanked them for attending.

Approval of Agenda & Past Minutes

· The proposed agenda was adopted with the following amendment:

· Appointment of new and lapsed members added after Principal’s Remarks

· The minutes of the December 8, 2003 meeting were approved as circulated.

Principal’s Remarks

Leanne Cook delivered the report on behalf of Kathy Konior.

· Grade-level open houses have been scheduled.  They will be held as follows:

· Kindergarten      February 12, 2004

· Grade 1              April 15, 2004

· Grade 2              March 4, 2004

· Grade 3              March 9, 2004

· Grade 4              February 19, 2004

· Grade 5              April 7, 2004

· There are a number of issues with the Kiss N Ride.  Specifically:

· Things are moving fairly well in the morning but the afternoon pickup is problematic.  Parents must be encouraged to stay with their vehicles.  There are six or seven small buses that are picking up and these are being blocked in the driveway by parents who leave their vehicles.

· Kathy and Leanne would like the members of the Safety sub-committee to visit the school during the afternoon pickup to observe the situation and offer suggestions.

· Leanne would also like to have some additional heavy-duty pylons to help establish a loading zone for buses.  Some money was allocated for Kiss N Ride in December, but additional funds are required.

· The school will be sending further communications home soon reminding parents of safety issues in the Kiss N Ride.

· Early release day: January 22, 2004.  This session will be used by the staff who have been on the “Schools Attuned” training to make presentations to other staff regarding what they have learned regarding strategies for teaching early literacy and early math.

· A schedule of special performances has been sent home to parents.  Donations have been requested to cover the cost of these performances. 

· There have been a couple of outbreaks of head lice.  This is typical for this time of year.  Parents of children in effected classes have been notified and given procedures to follow to contain the outbreaks.

· The school’s attempt to save paper and photocopying expense by distributing the school’s newsletter electronically is under review.  This program has not been widely adopted by the parent community as yet.  It will continue for a least another month and then be reassessed.

· The goal-setting snow man has been set up in the school’s lobby.  Students will be encouraged to set their goals and post them on the snowman.

· There are lots of extracurricular activities underway within the school.  Students are being encouraged to get involved in one or more of these activities.

· The administration presented calendars featuring inspirational messages to members of the school council as a token of their appreciation for the work that the school council does.

Appointment of New and Lapsed Members

· The council welcomed Cathy Wheeler as our community rep member.

· The council welcomed Racquel Tonido‑Tsering as a parent member.

Program Support Spending

· The council discussed whether or not to allocate $2,000 for performances in the 2004/2005 school year.  Historically, this allocation has been made at the end of the school year.  As we have changed our schedule for fundraising this year, it was felt that this allocation might be made sooner to avoid being caught short at the end of the school year.

· The council rejected this idea, opting to discuss the allocation again once the board portion of Castlemotion donations are received from the school board.

Silent Auction Wrap-Up

· The event went very smoothly.  The total funds raised for the library were approximately $2,500.  The exact total must be calculated taking into consideration one final unclaimed item plus the Krispy Kreme donuts.

Ice Dogs Community Event

· We received responses to the survey about this event indicating interest in approximately 70 tickets.

· The cost of the tickets to the school is $7.50 each.  The council decided to charge $8.00 for tickets to put us in line with Our Lady of Mercy and to make for simpler counting.

· The Our Lady of Mercy school choir will be singing the national anthem at this game.  There was some discussion as to whether Castlebridge’s choir might also be involved.  It was decided that we would not attempt to integrate our choirs for this event.

· Orders for tickets will go out with the Friday Folder on January 16, with orders due back the following Thursday.  All payments must be made with the order and in the form of a cheque made payable to the school.

Reports of Officers & Committees

Chair

· Chairs from the school councils of the Clarkson, Fraser, Erindale, and Woodlands families of schools are invited to a meeting on January 29 at Thomas Street to discuss school council issues with the Peel board’s Director of Education, Jim Grieve.

· The Peel board is running a number of information sessions for parents interested in French immersion.

· Items for receipt:

· The school council has received a note from Janet Young thanking us for our support of programs within the library.

· Our Pizza Day coordinator, Sonya Barber has written the council in response to a question that was put to her earlier in the year regarding the practicality of implementing a pre-payment plan for pizza lunches.  Sonya believes that such a scheme is impractical at this time.

Treasurer

· Anita Taylor reported net proceeds from Pizza Lunches since the last council meeting of $1004.48.

· Net proceeds from the sale of wreaths was $176.00, which is down slightly from last year.

· The funds available for program support and projects as of January 12, 2004 are $2,551.10, allowing for a float of $1,000 and $200 previously allocated for the grade 5 graduation.

· The school has still not received the Castlemotion money that was submitted to the board for tax receipts.  The board predicts that this money will be made available before the end of February.  Leanne Cook agreed to have Mrs. Mohorovich follow up with the board regarding this money.

Community Connections

· Nothing to report.

Education

· A parent information night will be held on January 15, 2004.  The event has been organized jointly by the Castlebridge and Our Lady of Mercy school councils and will be held at Castlebridge.  The topic for the session is “Learning Disabilities 101”.  Based on the survey that we conducted, we expect approximately 25 parents to attend.

Fundraising & Partnerships

· The schedule of upcoming fundraising events includes:

· February 22, 2004 – Ice Dogs Community Event (orders placed in January)

· February 14, 2004 – Valentines chocolates (orders placed in January)

· April 29, 2004 – Chapters Night.

· The milestones for the Valentines chocolates event are:

· Order forms go out on January 16.

· Order forms must be returned by January 23.

· Orders must be placed with the vendor no later than January 28.

· Orders will be delivered to the school on or before February 13.  Mahrukh will contact the vendor and ask for additional lead time if possible.

· Other notes for the Valentines chocolates event are:

· Payment must be made in the form of a cheque payable to the school.

· Parent volunteers will be needed to process the orders as they come in and to verify the shipment in February.

· The letter that accompanies the order form must be clear that participation in this fundraiser is completely optional.

· The profit margin for this fundraiser is 50%.

· Steps must be taken to ensure that the orders are distributed in such a way as to ensure that there are no problems with children who suffer from nut allergies.

· At the December meeting, the council discussed placing a disclaimer on the partnerships web page.  Shahed Rahman had a disclaimer drafted for review at this meeting.  The approved text of the disclaimer is as follows:

The website links provided above are for your information and convenience in recognition of the support for programs and projects at Castlebridge Public School provided by these organizations.  These links do not represent an endorsement by Castlebridge Public School or the Castlebridge School Council of the organizations mentioned on this page nor of the products or services offered by these organizations.  Please satisfy yourself that the products or services are appropriate for your needs prior to purchase.

Safety

· The school still does not have a public health nurse assigned to it.

· There was further discussion of the Kiss N Ride.  The issue of volunteers for the morning drop-off was raised.  Additional volunteers have come forward recently.  A suggestion that grade 5 students be asked to help escort smaller children to supervised areas (thus freeing teachers who work at the Kiss N Ride from this activity) was rejected by the administration.  Although some grade 5 students are occasionally asked to help the teachers in this way, this is not seen as being practical to implement as a standard practice.

Bylaws

· The proposed changes to our bylaws were presented.  These changes will be posted publicly and notice will be given in order to permit adoption of the changes at the February school council meeting.

New Business

· The council approved an allocation of $240 for additional pylons for the Kiss N Ride.

Public Question Period

· There were some questions and discussion amongst council members.

Preliminary Agenda for the Next Meeting

· The next school council meeting is scheduled for Monday February 9, 2004 at 7:00pm.

· Proposed agenda items for the next meeting include:

· Bylaw Changes

· Movie Night

The meeting was adjourned at 8:34pm