School Council Minutes – December 2017
Westminster Woods P.S. School Council Minutes
Meeting Date: Monday, December 4th, 2017
Present: Allison Stoffman, Tim Dickieson, Cherise Johnson, Beth Greenfield, Melanie Taylor, Valerie Jameson, Jacquie Hulm-Mehagan and Lisa Matchett
Welcome: Meeting called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Beth
EDGEucation Dance Workshop Presentation: Brad Kelly
- Program goal is to increase student physical literacy by doing dance in a fun and inviting way
- The program is focused on community building
- Has curricular and cross-curricular connections and encourages student engagement
- YouTube – The Groove For Kids; or visit their website at www.theworldgroovemovement.com
- Will train teachers to use the program in their classrooms
- Session #1 – takes place over two days at the end of January; all students are involved plus teacher workshops for a cost of $1400.00 + HST
- Session #2 – two days in May/June; all students involved plus teacher workshops for a cost of $1300.00 + HST
- Could have a presence at the open house with dance presentations; cost of $500.00 + HST
- Community building – discuss physical literacy with parents and encourage healthy family activities
- We would need to raise money to cover the costs of the two sessions
- We do have the funds to cover the cost of the open house event
- Would we get the all or part of the HST back from the open house portion?
- Do we have a dance-a-thon to raise money for the program or ask for parents/guardians to pay $2.50/student to fund the first session in January and hold a dance-a-thon between then and the second session if the program is a success?
- Presentation at the open house may be too much with everything else that is happening that night
Review and Acceptance of Past Minutes: Motion to accept the minute of November’s meeting by Cherise, seconded by Lisa
Principal’s Report:
Staffing Information: N/A
Updates:
- 1. Multicultural Fair: Thank you and a great success
- 2. The Giving Tree – 10 Days of Giving started on Friday
- 3. Holiday concerts December 19, 20, 21 and Kindergarten concert on December 15th
- 4. Lego League Competition
- 5. Book Fair December 14-20
Events in December:
- 1. Grade 5 and 6 to Wonder on December 8
- 2. Grade 2 Festival of Lights on December 8th
- 3. Intermediate Volleyball December 12th
- 4. Police presentations
- 5. Term 2 Lunch orders due on December 15 th
- 6. Winter Break December 23 – January 7
Information Items:
- New online Kindergarten registration coming in January
- escarpment climbing.com; ropes course and climbing facilities set up in the gym
- Mini ninja course for the kindergarten students
- $10/student for two climbing sessions during the week
- Almost half the schools in the board are participating
- Discussed having it during a week in February or EQAO week in May (kids could play outside while the gym is occupied)
- Rep is at Sir Isaac Brock this week – Cherise and Beth will go and check it out
Treasurer’s Report:
- $39.00 in milk sales
- $2795.48 paid to the Dairy Depot. Current milk balance is $5232.66
- Planet Bean sales were $399.50; made a $339.00 payment for the math night
- Community building current account balance is $4071.82 (have not issued Planet Bean a payment yet)
- $954.00 Big Box and $1224.00 Storm ticket deposits into fundraising and Special Projects
- Big Box fundraiser generated $6605.00 and the Storm game generated $280.00
- the school bought four tickets; two for admin and two that were unpaid for by a student
- Angela was reimbursed $1566.00 for Storm tickets and Cherise was reimbursed $100 for purchasing the Big Box contest winners gift card prizes.
- Current Fundraising and Special Projects account balance is $6486.71
- Future Schoolyard Improvements current account balance is $15611.74
- Angela was absent so we will defer to the January meeting for more details
- Motion to accept the financial report by Beth, seconded by Cherise
Fundraising Report:
Big Box of Birthday Cards:
- follow-up on the pizza parties from Big Box
- Cherise bought the individual prize winners gift cards to stores of their choice
QSP:
- finished for the year but people can still renew through the website
Planet Bean:
- the order will be ready Thursday December 7th; need grocery bags to package the orders
- made ~ $300.00
- there was a lot of fundraising this term which could have impacted the sales
- could send home a survey in April if people would prefer making a single donation to the school or for us to continue the various fundraisers
- the events that are most successful are tied to community building
Community Building:
Storm:
- we had a good turnout and a good time!
- would like to do it again next year but plan farther in advance
Multicultural Night:
- was a success and we would like to do it again next year
- make the event shorter (5:30-7:00) and include more live performances
- people indicated that they would like to be involved in other, similar events going forward i.e. teaching cricket at the open house
Playground & Greening:
- Evergreen Playground Workshop
- Tatiana is the new rep and is developing a plan for the new outdoor classroom area; need to get her the snow removal plans
- existing trees in the schoolyard are in distress; surrounded by hard packed soil and the roots are showing
- the roots need to be covered with mulch + triple soil mix (to keep the mulch from blowing away) before winter
- sucker roots also need to be removed
- the Arboretum no longer provides free mulch
- would the city provide free mulch?
- Terra: mulch is $6.99/bag and we need ~40 bags
- will contact Guelph Building Supply and Compact Sod for prices on mulch and soil
- trees will need to be fertilized in the spring with Quick Start Root Booster
- also need to prune the evergreens
- Green Team could take care of the trees and earn the school eco points
- Board will fund teachers to attend workshops at the Arboretum on how to teach in an outdoor classroom
- Kindergarten playground – there are three rotting logs around the sandpit
- take pictures and send to the company
- they were only put in three years ago; check if they are under warranty
- do we want to replace the rolling logs?
- kids like loose materials but we would need a shed to store them in
- do we want to investigate getting edging around the climber and the kindie yard?
- would contain the mulch and sand
- would it be a tripping hazard?
- one option is a wooden walkway that would also function as a creative play structure
- would leave an opening for accessibility
- if items are less than $5000 we are not required to get three separate quotes
- we can apply for grants once we have a formal playground plan
- need to get permission on the location of new basketball nets; will be part of the spring plan
Milk Program:
- We will be getting new milk bags
- Payment will come out of the milk account but not until year end
- Will cost ~ $300.00
- Motion by Beth to hold money from the milk account to reimburse the school at the end of the school year; seconded by Melanie
Old Business:
Bulletin Board:
- deferred until the next council meeting
New Business:
School Tech from Big Box Profits:
- $6605.00 Big Box profit
- ChromeBooks are currently on sale; used all the time by junior/intermediate students
- can get two ChromeBooks for the price of one ipad
- Motion to use Big Box Profits to purchase 13 Chromebooks (one for each junior and intermediate classroom) and a set of five ipads (to be checked out for primary classroom use) using funds from the Special Projects Account by Cherise; seconded by Beth; unanimously passed
Feedback on Board Policy – Fees for Learning Materials & Resources:
- Can visit www.ugdsb.ca/policy or write to Policy, UGDSB, 500 Victoria Rd. N., Guelph ON N1E 6K2
- Deadline is December 28th, 2017
Next Meeting: Monday January 8th , 6:30 pm
– No meeting February 5th due to the math night February 8th
Adjournment: 8:10
Categories: School Council