School Council Meeting Minutes – Sept 2023
James McQueen Public SchoolSchool Council Meeting Agenda – September 13, 2023
Meeting location: JMQ library OR googlemeet
Start Time: 6:30pm
Agenda
- Welcome
-In attendance: Deanne Prins (Principal), Melissa Miller, Shelby Isaac, Lija Tovell, Bronwyn Tolmie, Sarah Lennox, Seanna Murphy, Erin Longworth, Amy Shields, Deanne Prins, Ashley, Kayley, Sarah Barrow
- Land Acknowledgement
- Principal’s report
-Attached below
- Voting – Council roles
-Only 3 people had applied for executive roles so all 3 are acclaimed. Amy Shields is chair; Bronwyn Tolmie is treasurer; Seanna Murphy is secretary.
- Insurance & Community Use permits
-We discussed the option of having School Council purchase insurance for the school year, so that we can act as permit holders for events instead of staff members. It means that a staff member (usually the Principal) doesn’t have to stay for the entirety of a council-run event. Decision was made to apply for the insurance.
- Identify all known events for 2023-2024 year…school endorsed OR school council?
- Open House September 27th – SCHOOL
- Movie Night x2 (October 26th and November 9th) – COUNCIL
- Spring Fling pancake breakfast April 20th 2024 – COUNCIL
We also discussed ideas about a Winter craft sale or garage-sale-type event in which students could buy gifts, as well as a potential Art night (gallery walk or art sale) which could land in the Spring.
- Open House – September 27th – pizza orders?
- As in previous years, parents can pre-order pizzas to eat during the Open House. Cider and baked goods or sweets will be provided for free. It was noted that last year’s system for preparing & dispensing cider was a lot of work so Amy will look into getting carafes/dispensers for an easier system. Bronwyn to purchase treats.
- Classes will be open from 6:00-7:00pm.
- Fall movie nights
We will be having two separate movie nights and encouraging families to attend ONE in order to reduce capacity (last year was over-attended).
We need to select from the school board’s access to “Criterion On-Demand” titles. Council members looked through the list, considering age/rating, content and running length. Our long list was Horton hears a who; Ice Age; Ice Age 2; Shaun the Sheep; Paddington (95 mins); Gnomeo and Juliet (84 mins), Scoob (93 minutes)
Final choices:
October 26th: 6:00-7:30/8:00pm – Scoob
November 9th: 6:00-7:30 – Shaun the Sheep
To give us an idea of numbers, Deanne will look into putting it as a SchoolCashOnline item (free) to have parents select which one they would like to attend. Movie night will be free but we will encourage families to donate something for the food bank. Amy will look into getting popcorn donated. Council will provide juice boxes. We will look into getting volunteers to hand out popcorn.
Pylons or caution tape will be used to mark off walking path, to make it easier for people to move around the Gym.
- Greening Committee Update
-We have a pre-approved design plan for greening/improvements in different areas of the yard. We need to get/submit three quotes for any project. Last year’s council looked at starting with the outdoor learning space closest to the front of the school on the church side. Some elements (e.g. picnic tables) may be available through the school board’s purchasing catalog; Deanne to look into that.
- Ideas for the year ahead to table
-Greening sub-committee to be created later in the year.
- Any Questions
-Breakfast program and snack bin: Deanne explained how the school gets funding from “Food & Friends” (we will do a LiveFree fundraiser for the program later in the year). The breakfast program will be starting up again at JMQ.
-We discussed Spirit Wear. Melissa and Shelby will organize the sale of Spirit Wear at upcoming school event(s).
- Next Meeting – October 11th @6:30pm
Categories: School Council