Wilkinson School Community Council
Meeting Minutes
March 17, 2008
Present: Ruth Allen (staff), Carol Bennett, Karin Deane, Karen Geraci,
Susan Haney, Sunny Mills, April Moon, Alison Motluk, Tanya Sterioff
(Principal), Lisa Watt (Vice Principal), Paula Weekes Kahn, Karen Wiseman
Guest: Daphne McCormack
Regrets: Sarah Jane Gillespie, John Hykel, Jacqui Strachan
Absent: Bambi Alvia, Ruby Lederman, Jamie Stokes
Recorder: Alison Motluk
Meeting called to order at 7:06pm
1. Approval of the agenda
Approved.
2. Approval of March 17th minutes.
Approved.
3. Principal's update
o Tanya gave an overview of the visit from UK teachers.
o Author Marsha Skrypuch will be coming to the school Wednesday, March
19 to work with grades 4, 5 and 6.
o Report cards go home Monday March 31. Interview night is Thursday,
April 3 and Friday, April 4. April 4 is a PA Day.
o The primary choir is participating in the TDSB Music Festival on
Monday, April 7, 10:00-11:30 at Winston Churchill C.I. The junior choir is
participating in the festival on Tuesday, April 8, 12:00-2:00.
o There will be a drumming performance at the school on Monday, April 7
at 9:30.
o There will be a workshop for the grade 5 students on Friday, April 11,
11:30-2:00 in room 3. It's called Superheros and it involves dance and
music.
4. Treasurer's report
o We have $11,289.12 in the bank. About $14,000 is still to be paid out
this year.
o Susan mentioned that there is $384.00 in the safe from the sweetheart
sale. Paula asked that it be deposited.
o Cheques for Wilkinson Hoodies will be returned (Susan H).
5. Committee updates
i) Arts
April reminded council that there will be a drumming workshop April 7 at
9:30 for grades 4,5 and 6. These are professional women who drum for fun.
Daphne expressed an interest in bringing in more visual arts. She mentioned
groups like Artists in the Schools, Inner City Angels, etc, which can
sometimes fetch grant money. April asked Daphne to join the Arts committee.
Karen G, our “grants queen”, offered to help with a grant proposal.
Tanya mentioned that the phys ed teachers want some artwork in the foyer
outside the gym. Daphne confirmed that there is paint left over from a
previous mural. Council discussed logistics of painting a heavily
trafficked area.
ii) Communications
Carol indicated that the parent manual draft is behind schedule. She
invited people to contribute to the newsletter. Anyone submitting photos
for the newsletter needs to submit it in it's original formal (e.g. jpg) so
Kim can use it.
Susan mentioned that googling Wilkinson does not bring up our website.
iii) Health and Safety
No report.
iv) Greening
No report.
v) Fundraising
Susan told council that she's sent out our application to Starbucks for
volunteers. They pay $10/hour per volunteer. It will take 4 weeks to get
back to us.
Sunny announced that the Bee Movie will be showing April 11. The Spider
Witch Chronicles may show May 30. May be a little scary for the younger
children.
There is one more pizza lunch this time around. For the next sign up,
Karin, who's taking over, will shadow Sunny for the sign-up.
Susan asked about our movie licensee, and confirmed they don't carry Disney
films. Sunny said the competitor does, and costs about the same, but our
current contract does not run out until November.
vi) Fun Fair
April told council that because two or three key people are unavailable on
June 7, we will change the date to May 31. Tanya will check with other
neighbourhood schools to make sure we don't conflict. Time will return to
11-3pm this year. We would like to buy some tents and awnings at Canadian
Tire to protect from the sun. Perhaps we could have a Canadian Tire Money
Drive?
April asked where volunteers could do prep in the month leading up to the
fun fair now that room 56 is not available. Tanya suggested the Nurse's
room which is beside the one the council is already using above the main
office.
Sunny mentioned that Melanie will write us a jingle to encourage
volunteering.
6. Funding requests
There were none.
7. Report Back /Follow-up Items
Susan has drafted a letter to go with returned cheques for hoodies. She
will return cheques this week.
Alison said she and John would look into play structure costs and types.
8. New Business
There is a Ward 15 workshop for parents tomorrow at Wilkinson.
Karin discussed how to identify parent volunteers. As we may be renting a
button maker for the fun fair (Karen A has a lead on a free one) we could
buy extra materials and make “parent volunteer” buttons as well. We also
discussed T-shirts to identify volunteers at the fun fair. It costs $2.50
per screening. We discussed how many we might need, and decided 100. Sunny
will order them. April suggested maybe we should do the sweatshirts with
them too.
Carol mentioned that she held an executive meeting to discuss planning for
council next year, as she will not be chair. She encouraged people to put
their names forward.
She also suggested that we should come to an agreement about whether we
will continue selling nut products as a fundraising activity. Karin
reminded council that there may be a conflict of interest in not permitting
nuts in the school, yet profiting from their sale. Paula pointed out that
chocolate-covered almonds are a very big money maker, bringing in about
$5000, and that if we stop selling them, we should come up with something
to take their place. Karen G will look into some other alternatives for
the chocolate fundraiser.
Susan lodged a complaint about the “hoops for heart” event. They sent out
the tax receipts to participants who in turn had to send them to donors.
Karen G said it was too commercialized in any case. Council agreed we
didn't want to participate any longer.
9 Adjournment
Council adjourned at 8:40pm.