January School Council Minutes-2024

Posted January 19, 2024

Salem Public School Council

Date: January 16th, 2023 (revised from the original date of January 9th 2024 due to winter storm)

Start Time: 6:33pm

Location – Salem Public School, Learning Commons

Welcome

Attendees: Kyla Lightfoot, Amanda Marson, Adam Lyle, Jessie Price, Thomas Sampson , Lauren Harris Selby, Andrea Catteau, Johanna Hilditch, Courtney Ecclestone and Vanessa Cordes

Approval of Minutes for November: LINK to November Minutes 

Approve: Courtney Ecclestone

Seconds: Adam Lyle

Teachers Report (Amanda Marson)

  • Students have settled back into school routines since returning from the winter break.
  • Snow carpeting is in full swing now that we have some snow.
  • The grade 5/6 classes are writing and presenting speeches. The finalists from our school will be competing against area schools in February – sponsored by the Belwood Lions Club
  • We have a volleyball clinic with a professional volleyball coach and we will be taking a junior girls and boys team to a regional volleyball tournament at Elora PS.
  • One Kindergarten class and Ms OM’s class won a visit from a paramedic (silent auction).
  • January 17th skating trip is postponed due to extreme cold weather, we are looking at rescheduling this. Thank you to all that help and sponsor this activity. There is always a need for skates and helmets for school use if you have any at home.
  • At the end of the month Mr. Farnworth, Mrs. Lambier and Mrs. Oakes Martin will be going to Island Lake for an Indigenous presentation and exploration. 
  • In the French club, students have been learning about numbers from 1-20 and have created posters that are currently being voted on for a contest. 
  • Mrs. Andreadis is planning on hosting a creative writing club for those interested Friday’s at 2nd break. 

Principals Report (Kyla Lightfoot)

Meetings with the divisional teams (eg. Kindergarten, Primary and Junior) determined their literacy and tech needs are:

  • update chromebooks
  • get ipads and headphones to create ‘listen to reading’ centers
  • organize class libraries and individualized book bins so students have books at their exact reading level to grow from.
  • School Budget can probably cover tech and books, but a school council wish list would be:
  • Continue to save for playground repairs
  • Utility rolling carts of balls/skipping ropes etc. for recesses. The hope would be for each class to have their own bin and equipment. The cost for this is estimated at $100-150 per class x12 classes= approx-$1200-1800.

Upcoming Events:

  • January 9th- JK Registration Opened, please spread the word to any families with children turning four before December 31 2024. Registration is open online.
    • January 26th – PA Day, NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
  • February 15th- Report Cards Available online
  • Language will be a “One mark” (focus will mainly be on reading/writing)
  • February 19th-Family, Day NO SCHOOL 

January Meeting Business: 

The School Council Silent auction/ Holiday Craft Night held on December 6th:

  • 60 Lots were collected from the community for the silent auction, which included a “make a donation” lot and a “buy it now book sale” lot.
  • This event was a huge success for our school!
  • The local businesses were so generous as to donate so many amazing items and experiences to our silent auction! As a thank you, Salem School is having cards made up to mail out and show our appreciation.
  • The School Council wrapped and prepared all items for display in the Library in advance of the event.
  • The auction was presented online via Gala Bid (there was no cost to use this platform and the participants were automatically invoiced)
  • Credit Card payments were processed via Stripe, and deposited into a Charity Account held by K. Giddy, which was then transferred to the school via cheque.
  • The Gross sales were $4,421.60
  • Fee charged to process payments by Stripe was $395.84
  • Net Income from the Auction $4,025.76 (a cheque to Salem Public School was cashed on December 20th 2023)

Krispy Kreme:

Council will book the time slot for next year’s Krispy Kreme fundraiser. The tentative date of this being TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12TH 2024. This fundraiser is well received from our community as well as profits the school well, so the council is potentially looking into securing an additional date for next school year (these dates need to be secured a year in advance). The potential date of the second fundraiser will hopefully fall close to “National Donut Day” in JUNE 2025. This would coincide with our Spring picnic. More info to come.

Skates:Skates were purchased by a Salem School parent for our skating trips. This was done so anyone who may not have their own equipment could still participate in the trips.The skates and helmets purchased are now property of the school and will be stored for years to come. Donations of this equipment are always welcomed! The cost to purchase the equipment was $350.18 (this was for 7 helmets and 5 pairs of skates). Council voted in favor of paying for the equipment.

Chicken fundraiser:

  • A potential Chicken fundraiser date is being set for March 4th pick up (timing on the pick up date will be communicated toward the end of January).
  • School Cash Online will be used for parents to pay. Once parents have collected all funds from their sales they can make one payment via School Cash Online.
  • Sales made by grade 6 families will go towards offsetting the cost of their grade 6 end of year trip. There will also be an option for anyone who chooses to donate their funds raised to the grade 6 students. The goal is for every student to have the opportunity to attend trips, therefore offsetting the amount is helpful. We are hoping to have volunteers from the grade 6 class to be involved in unloading the chicken at the school once it arrives. 

Next School council meeting we will look at planning our annual Rise The Dough event!

Treasurer Report (Courtney Ecclestone) 

  • Charitable lunches: $0
  • Fundraising: $12, 837
  • General Fund: $312.37
  • Nutrition Program: $4387
  • Parent Engagement: $-58.75 
  • Playground: $4364.12 
  • Playground maintenance: $668.77
  • Student Activities & Teacher Allocations: $0
  • Ending Balance: $ 22,512.02

 

  • A motion was made and approved to transfer funds from the fundraising account to the Parent Engagement account to make it above zero.
  • A motion was made and approved to move funds from the fundraising account to the Playground account in anticipation of a new playground in the future.

Next council meeting Tuesday February 13th 2024 @ 6:30pm

End Time: 7:45 pm




 

Categories: School Council News