School Council Minutes September 2023
TEPS School Council Meeting Minutes
From – Sept 14, 2023
Voting Members in Attendance for meeting
Name Present Name Present
Hammond, Jackie x Garon-Nielsen, Michelle
VanLoon, Ruth x Hocken, Jodi
Martin, Richard x Rea, Brooke
Nasswetter, Katie Ho, Amy
Galda, Andrea x Barett, Tricia
Other Attendees: Ken Keesmaat, John Lindsay, Meaghan Jones, Amber Maxwell-Gibbins, Carly Werner, Julia Baldwin,
Jeff Msangi, Pam Gallego, Caroline Turnbull, Nausheen Farhan, Meghan McCoy, Olivia Msangi, Lisa Ditoro, Nirmaula Giri,
Leslie Burton. Shouib Masoodi, Brittany Beach
AGENDA ITEM INFORMATION/DECISION PERSON(S)
RESPONSIBLE
School Report Great Moments in Teaching:
● staff are excited, students are excited, adults are excited
Website
● check often because Newsletters will be posted, as well as
calendar. UGConnect and School Messenger are both useful
tools for communicating. Check under Parent Resources there
are lots of resources, Code of Conduct handbook, Parking info,
Bullying Prevention info, etc.
Reorganization
● There will be no reorganization this year!
Staffing/Special initiatives
● TEPS has about 450 students this year, resulting in an
additional 2-3 full classes from previous years
● PA Day topics have been released – focus on literacy (science
of reading, phonics, continuity over grades)
● The school has a Grade 3 math resource teacher working on
numeracy and math skills
● Early reading teacher (.7) – working with targeted groups of
children
● Child and Youth Counselor (.3)
Questions regarding School Report:
● Is there enough coverage for lunches? Does the school wish
there was more? There is always a need for more eyes. The
money to pay them comes from pizza sales
● For Pizza sales – is there an option for bi-weekly purchases? It
becomes hard for the ordering process. It is worth noting that
the pizza is a healthier version than the pizza sold in stores. If
Ken had volunteers to help, they could certainly look at this. Topic for Oct meeting
Elections – Had to defer to electronic voting due to lack of attendance by some of
the key voting members from last year and some possible executive
members who want to self-nominate.
● Co-chair – Ruth and Jackie (last year)
● Secretary/Minutes – Katie (Last year)
● Treasurer – Richard (last year)
● Fundraising Coordinator – OPEN
● Voting members in attendance: Amber, Caroline, Shouib,
Andrea, Brittany, Leslie
Please email [email protected] with your nominations.
All attendees from this meeting, along with previous years will receive a
SurveyMonkey link to vote for nominees.
Direction Items Volunteers needed – Open House booth 5:30-7pm
● Jackie, Richard, Brittany, Ruth, Amber
School lunch – Booster Juice, Pizza, Popcorn, Pita Pit?
Set Meeting dates – 2nd Wed of each month
Newsletter
● include a note about volunteers needed and what they are
needed for
All
Fundraising Fresh from Farm
● submissions due Oct 12
● feedback is to do better marketing (provide stickers to teachers
to add to agendas, hang posters at all entrances, school
messenger/email blast,twitter, website, etc)
● explain more about size of bags, quantity, etc
● include photos of actual product for size reference
Chocolate bars
● This is always a successful fundraiser. Will plan for early next
year and decide what to raise funds for in Oct/Nov meeting
Richard/ Ruth/
Jackie
Treasurer Report Summary of current account
● Opening balance is $5,200
● Greening $500
● Music $878
● Playground $3500
● Recess $1000
● Science $850
Basic summary is that most of the funds raised last year were also
consumed last year. Very successful year!
Richard
General
Questions & Comments
Pizza alternatives
● The school is willing to accept any option, as long as parent
volunteers are willing to run it
● Pita Pit – their process is to collect money in the morning, place
the order the same day and distribute. This is very difficult
Ruth/ Jackie
● Money collecting (adding to teacher workload) is discouraged
School Spirit Wear
● Would like to do it earlier in the year
● Ken needs to see which staff member ran this in 2021/22
PIC event – Oct 25 Inspiring Parent Engagement
Movie night for April/May before license expires (June 1)?
● council likes this idea
Milk program?
● Ken was not able to handle this on top of his tasks last year
● If someone from council is able to help support this, we can run
it again this year
● What is involved in running the program? When Milk is
delivered (twice a week), unload and stock the fridge, ensure
dates are OK and rotate stock
● Distribution is usually done by a classroom
● Amber mentioned she could help, but would like 1-2 volunteers
to help as well
● Are there milk alternatives? Only if parents can run the program.
Again, too hard to manage with staff
First day of school procedures
● Could the classes be organized numerically?
● Can there be a master list with all students and class?
● Emails from teachers that go out the week before school?
Teachers don’t usually work before the first day of school,
unless there is a PA Day
● If we are able to provide Ken with a school as an example, he
can reach out to their administrator and see how its done
● Might need to take it to the Board level
Field trips
● Will all grades participate? It is decided by the classroom
teacher
● What are the current obstacles? bussing, availability of bus
drivers (9am-2:30), parent volunteers with appropriate
paperwork (Board requires Vulnerable police sector check to
volunteer – cost is approx $40)
● What are the rules about WHERE field trips can go? with bus
restrictions they had to be local, age appropriate activities
● costs can be subsidized by school
Will Little Jammers happen again?
● Unfortunately board rules have changed and now they have to
be done outside of school hours and there are insurance
implications so they do not want to participate
● several teachers know how to play the ukulele so there might be
an opportunity within the staff
Assemblies
● Can we invite all parents this year? There were still COVID
restrictions on the number of people in the gym. Might be able
to re-evaluate this year
Next Meeting Wednesday, Oct 11 th @ 7:00 pm
Agenda items for next meeting:
● Ken’s budget
● Discuss food trucks/entertainment for Fun Night
● Fundraising goals for the year
School Council Executive 2023-2024:
● Co-Chairs – TBD
● Treasurer – TBD
● Secretary – TBD
Categories: School Council Minutes