Parent Council Minutes Oct 2012.pdf

St Martha Parent CouncilOctober 16, 2012@1815hrsLillieShillington - Chair Rich van der Pryt- Vice Chair Rosalynn St Germain- Treasurer, R Tricia Anderson- SecretarySue Birnie Wortley Heather Hook Chantal Oleschuk Marsha ValenteTara Blake Sherry Lachine Laura Raycraft Sylvia YankovaDevon Cosgrove- absent Tanis Lattanzio Tracy Ringrose Paul Couture, Parent RepLynn Darling Danielle McCarron Kari Ritchie Suzanne Desrochers- Dobie, CUPEDeanna Dennis Lori McGriskin- absent Serra Russell Lisa McDonald, Vice PrincipalMelanie Gagne Regan McLeod, Teacher Tawnya Stringer Jim Murray, Principal1. Opening PrayerMr. Murray opened the meeting with a Thanksgiving prayer2. Acceptance of the AgendaMotion: Moved by H. Hook, and seconded by L. Darling, to accept the agenda with no additions. Motion wasunanimously accepted.3. Acceptance of minutesThere were no minutes from the September agenda to accept.4. Review of Council Roles and ResponsibilitiesMr. Murray circulated pages 1.1, 1.2 and 5.5 from a document from the Ministry of Education, Schoolcouncils: A guide for members found athttp://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/council/council02.pdfMr. Murray highlighted the shared role with the parents of making a school a positive place to learn, theimportance of parents getting more involved through supportive roles and the ability of council to adviseadministration on what it feels it needs to offer.He encouraged the council to look at the big picture or broader issues i.e. the building, safety, andfundraising, rather than individual classroom concerns while working together and collaboratively usingconsensus for decisions.Mr. Murray has suggested that subcommittees may be an appropriate way to examine issues in more depth.5. Treasurer’s reportR. St. Germain was unable to attend and provide the treasurers report. L. Shillington indicated the accounthas ‘just over 11 000 dollars’ with hot lunch still to be debited.

6. Old Business6.1 Kindergarten fundraising – H. Hook has approached the parents in the Kindergarten division, identifyingthe need to improve the kindergarten play yard and the need for donations. To date $361.32 has been raised.Discussion followed regarding the choice to toys to be purchased, and whether there should be financialsupport from parent council funds. Points were raised questioning whether a precedent would be set ifparent council made a donation, the health of the parent council bank account, who would be looking afterthe toys and replacement costs of disposable toys.Motion: moved by D. McCarron and seconded by T. Lattanzio that a one-time donation of 500 dollars bedonated to the Kindergarten Play yard Improvement fund.Approved: unanimousMotion : moved by M. Valente and seconded by R. McLeod that the Kindergarten Play yard Improvementsubcommittee can disperse raised funds as required on behalf of parent council.Approved: unanimousH. Hook is still seeking volunteers for the subcommittee that she will chair.Action: H.Hook will update council at the next meeting.7.0 New Business7.1 Constitution and Bylaws- L. Shillington brought forward the discussion that occurred at the end of lastyear regarding acknowledgements from parent council to staff members who have reached milestones suchas retirement or changing of schools, as well as those on sick leave etc.Last year there was much electronic discussion on the topic but no resolution. L. Shillington asked about thecurrent constitution for council. It was recognized that the constitution (2006) has not been revised in manyyears. Within the constitution will be guidelines regarding voting rights of council members and this needs tobe updated.Action: T. Latanzio offered to create an electronic copy of the constitution for circulation to current councilmembers.7.2 Voting privileges- In conjunction with the update to the constitution, discussion occurred regarding whatwould be the required attendance of council members to give them voting privileges. The suggestion wasmade that if two consecutive meeting are missed without extenuating circumstance or regrets then votingprivileges would be revoked.Action: L. Shillington has asked council member to consider what would be an appropriate for decision at thenext meeting.7.3. Potential presentations –Last year Dr. Wendy Craig presented to parents on bullying. This presentation

was open to all parents at St. Martha as well as the offer was extended to parent council at JE Horton.Action: Mr. Murray asked that council members think about potential speakers for this year.8.0 Principal’s ReportMr. Murray highlighted the following;- Open house was held at the end of September. The faith cross was in the library during the openhouse and the icon of Guadeloupe was at the school.- Cross country running- St. Martha had a successful day with over 100 participants and team titles won- The Terry Fox walk raised 1500 dollars.- Andrew Chin was at the school. He is an Australian faith based singer that provided a workshop forsome of the students followed by a concert which included the workshop participants.- The older students are participating in PALS which will assist with DPA on Monday, Wednesday andFriday’s .- The Roots of Empathy program will be introduced into Ms. Smalleganges’s class in October.- Regiopolis Notre dame high school will be celebrating their 175 anniversary this year.- R. McLeod brought a thank you to council on behalf of the staff for the money council provided toeach teacher at the end of the year.- Discussion occurred at the September meeting around the large hole between the fence and theground by the dragon climber. This whole has now been filled.- There is a social justice student committee that will be sending information home- There will be three Kingston Frontenacs games this season which will have tickets available for St.Martha students.- There will be three teacher candidates at St. Martha this year, one in grade 6 and 2 in the primarydivision- Mr. Wolfgang Piribauer will be providing three blocks of art this year, one in each division.- Ms Lucy Harris will be in the school providing music and drama- The school website has been slow to be updated due to administrative changes. This should change inthe near future.- Smartboards – two remain to be installed and there are some installation corrections to be made.- Traffic concerns continue regarding the flow of cars in front of the school at peak times. There will bemore signage is coming including no parking and drop off zone along the drive to the back parking lot.Questions were asked by council members about the use of crossing guards, more stop signs andwhether the media has been alerted to the concerns. Mr. Murray is going to connect with theprincipal of Ecole Sir John A Macdonald School. He has also spoken with the on-site Daycare regarding

the delivery truck that comes between 0800 and 0830hrs.Upcoming dates for St. MarthaOctober 17 School massOct 22 United way campaign beginsOct 25 Best foot forward- Eco conferenceOct 26 School retakesOct 29 PA day, faith retreat for teachersNovember 7 Steer clear of drugs for juniorNov 8 Remembrance Day Prayer ServiceNov 12 Progress reports go homeNov 21 School massNov 23 PA Day & Chili Day for clothes for kidsDecember 7 Jingle bell walkDec 19 School massDec 21 Last day before Christmas breakJanuary 9 PALS training for students part 2A question was asked about the schools involvement in the regional science fair and do St. Martha’s teacherssupport it. Mr. Murray indicated that the teachers decide as a division if they will be incorporating it into thecurriculum for that year or they may choose to suggest it to some students who may be interested.Action: Mr. Murray will take the request back to the staff for consideration.There was an offer from parents at the council meeting to assist with the Christmas event if needed.9.0 OtherP. Couture acknowledged the donation from parent council at the end of last year which purchased newjerseys for athletics at St. Martha. He will be organizing a school order of athletic wear available to allstudents which will be technical material and have the updated St Martha Maverick logo. P. Couture indicatedthat he will donate up to 1000 dollars in profit to the parent council if able.10.0 Date of next MeetingNovember 20 th at 1815hrs11.0 AdjournmentThe meeting was adjourned at 1956hrs.