Wilkinson School Community Council
Meeting Minutes
Monday March 9, 2009
Present: Carol Bennett, Sarah Gillespie, April Moon, Alison Motluk, Jill Spellman, Tanya Sterioff (P), Lisa Watts (VP), Paula Weekes-Kahn, Karen Wiseman
Regrets: Laura Bullard-Brezovsky, Susan Haney, John Hykel, Ruby Lederman, Erin Vaillancourt
Absent: Karen Geraci, Sam Vrakking
Guest: Karen Anthony (Dandylion)
Recorder: Alison Motluk
Meeting called to order at 7:10pm
1. Approval of the agenda
There were some additions - movie night and policy on TV use in the classrooms. Motion to approve with changes: Paula; seconded: Sarah; passed.
2. Approval of February 9, 2009 minutes
No amendments. Motion to approve: Alison; seconded: Jill; passed.
3. Treasurer’s report
No treasurer’s report as John was not in attendance.
4. Principal’s update
Tanya informed council that:
• There will be two staff Telling Bees after the March Break, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The days have not yet been decided.
• Report cards will go home on Monday March 30.
• The newsletter will go out one week late this month due to March Break. It will go out Thursday April 2, right before the PA day on April 3.
• Cathy Dandy has arranged a babysitting course at Wilkinson on Saturday April 4, 9:30-4:30. Tanya has no other details yet.
• There will be an “Earth Rangers” assembly for grades 1-6 on Wednesday, April 8.
• Good Friday is on April 10 and Easter Monday is on April 13, so there will be no school on those days.
• We will be having a Storytelling Festival on Wednesday April 15.
• As of Friday March 10, Mr. Kechnie was no longer the gym teacher at the school. New teachers are being interviewed to replace him.
5. Funding requests
None.
6. Committee updates
i) Arts
April reminded council that on April 22, the “Little Red Theatre” will perform two shows for the students, so the gym will be occupied all day.
ii) Communications
Carol advised that the sibling list was still not being used for the last newsletter. However it’s now clear that if you’re using the sibling list, we need 375 copies. Otherwise there are 475 individual students.
iii) Fundraising
April mentioned that a parent at our school who is a promoter for Yuk Yuks is interested in putting together a fundraiser using their comedic talent. He could book in 3 or 4 A-list comics and we could have an adult event in the gym with babysitting. April suggests we set guidelines regarding content of jokes. Council was enthusiastic.
Carol says she’d be interested in resurrecting chocolate sales in the fall. Chocolate sales are good because it taps into pockets other than those belonging to Wilkinson parents. She will bring a proposal to the next meeting and plans to order by June.
iv) Fun Fair
April reported that the first meeting went well and one new parent showed up. Tanya asked about permitting for the next fun fair meeting. April said someone is needed to lead the gym games. Sarah asked that anyone with ideas of corporate sponsors check with her first because we want to avoid double-dipping. Carol said we should start bringing in stuff for Loonieland etc on Friday mornings.
v) Greening
No report.
vi) Health and Safety
Sarah says there are many opportunities for anti-bullying presentations that we haven’t yet tapped into.
7. Earl Grey Pool
Carol brought to council’s attention that Earl Grey pool is one of 39 pools currently on the chopping block. There are groups looking for ways to keep it open by having committed funding for community programs (e.g. camps, day care use, etc.). If anyone has any ideas or interested parties, let Carol know and she can refer them.
8. New Business/ Other Items
Movie Night Problems - Sarah wanted to discuss a problem at our last movie night. The central problem is that kids run wild and many parents don’t stop them. At our last movie night, however, a parent volunteer singled out one child in particular and complained to that child’s parents. That parent was unhappy with the way it was handled. Alison reminded council that the status quo of movie night is chaos and no one has made it clear that that’s not acceptable. Carol suggested we use signs and mention in the newsletter that parents are responsible for their kids and that proper movie theatre behaviour is expected of movie-goers.
Use of television in the classrooms - Alison is interested in knowing how much TV is used in classroom instruction. This follows a recent incident where kindergarten students watched “Batman” instead of doing gym. Tanya said she did not know how much TV was watched in the school. Lisa admitted that she was unaware of the gym incident until a parent brought it to her attention. Alison recommended the administration collect data on TV usage in the school. Karen A said Dandylion is required to do so and offered to share the forms for data collection, however this is a requirement under the Day Nurseries Act. Tanya did not commit to data collection but said she would let staff know there are parent concerns about use of TV in the classroom.
9. Report Back/ Follow Up Items
Wil-Kitchen - Paula is all set to put up posters for the next Wil-Kitchen on March 12. There are seven recipes with a West Indian theme. The kids will make key lime pie. Jill asked how we know how many people will attend. (We don’t). Carol asked Tanya to permit an extra room for child care.
Kindergarten registration - Jill reports that it went well. Many new parents seemed keen on becoming active. Parents with kids already here were less so! Jill thanked Tanya and Lisa for planning an orientation for this year’s intakes, as a parent who didn’t get that last year. Lisa said a supply teacher will look after the kindies during the orientation while the new students get acquainted with the classrooms and teachers.
Sweatshirts - April says that Kim D is doing the order forms. We will only order the ones that have been paid for. There will be samples if people want to try them on. April washed and dried them and logo seems fine. The shirt shrank a bit but thickened too. They fit on the small side. They will go on sale after March break.
Adjournment at 8:43pm Motion: Jill; Seconded: April; passed