Wilkinson School Community Council
Meeting Minutes
November 8, 2010
Present: Leasa Adams (vice-principal), Laura Bullard-Brezovsky, Paul Dobson, Leslie Domenico, Carolyn Eagle, Sarah-Jane Gillespie, Sayma Kapadia, Kris Kearns, Allan Kelly (principal), Ruby Lederman, Kirsten McGoey, April Moon, David Phillips, Deanna Rosolen, Martin Saxton, Jill Spellman, Paula Weekes Kahn (council chair), Karen Wiseman
Regrets: Heather Fitzgerald, Susan Haney, Raihana Ingar, Alison Motluk, Saeka Shaikh, Erin Vaillancourt, Sam Vraking
Guests: Rachel Ault, Karen Anthony (executive director, Dandylion Daycare)
Recorder: Deanna Rosolen
Meeting called to order at 7:05 p.m.
1. Welcome and Introductions: Paula (council chair) welcomed everyone. She made note that this council meeting is a continuation of the Oct. 12 council meeting. The Oct. 12 council meeting ran out of time before all the items on the agenda were covered.
2. Principal’s update:
• Mural project is underway. As of Nov. 8, the artist, Dan, had begun priming the space. The cost is also much less than anticipated from $5,000 to $3,500.
• Book Fair is coming up (it took place during the week of Nov. 15).
• The school library will begin offering a selection of books, both new and used, for parents to borrow from. Parents are also welcome to contribute to the collection. There will be a portion of the budget set aside for books geared to parents.
Paula suggested that the parent council contribute funding and welcomed the librarian, Joel Krentz, to put in a request.
• In addition to the year’s regular sporting events, the school will be organizing a hockey team. The team will be co-ed and open to Grades 4 to 6. It is open to any student but is not geared to novice skaters. Students can bring their own equipment or it can be provided. Wilkinson will partially pay for the services of a referee. Games will be held at Moss Park Arena or the Ted Reeves Arena.
• The Art Club organized the Remembrance Day event on Nov. 11. It took place at 10:30 and parents were welcome.
• The School Ambassador program will be starting up soon; likely to be up and running by January. Students involved will be most, if not all, the Grade 6s.
• Benches and seating were removed from in front of classes. This was done to keep traffic and noise levels down in the foyer.
• Staff meetings will focus on the school’s Code of Conduct. The aim is to remind the school community that those rules apply to everyone. There will also be assemblies.
3. Treasurer’s report: Paula noted that the council’s bank balance is $23,509.02. As of Nov. 8 this did not yet include the proceeds from the chocolate sales.
Martin Saxton, the new treasurer, will be taking over the budget soon.
4. Purpose of council: Paula reminded everyone that this year she would like the parent council to remember its purpose and work to achieve those goals. As per the council’s Constitution, the purpose is to enrich education, foster a strong parent-staff relationship, raise and distribute funds, and provide advice to the principal and board. The council needs to focus on what is best for the whole school community and keep this in mind with everything it does. Everyone is encouraged to offer opinions, but keep the council’s purpose in mind.
5. Council communications: The school’s administration and the council chair MUST first approve every piece of communication that goes out to the community. The school is accountable for everything the council distributes.
6. Council supplies cleanup: Parent council supplies have been labelled and are now in storage in two locations in the school. April Moon and Susan Haney headed this project. Eventually all supplies will be stored in one location. The council may commission a crew to further sort and move supplies.
Principal Allan Kelly agreed to let the council store its supplies in the unused boys’ change room but not exclusively and only as a temporary measure.
7. Dandylion Daycare: Karen Anthony, the executive director, announced that as of Nov. 8 the daycare had two openings for children in Grades 3 to 6. She asked that the council post the openings in the next newsletter.
Also, Dandylion staff continue to support Wilkinson school teachers by monitoring the playground and field in the morning and during the lunch recess. Dandylion children are also outside between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. during which time staff are again monitoring the grounds.
8. Direct Donation program: Paula led a discussion as to whether we should use the Direct Donation program again this year. The Direct Donation program involves sending a flyer to parents asking for donations for parent council initiatives. Parents will receive tax receipts if cheque donations are over $20. Funds will go through the school’s bank account as the Toronto District School Board is registered as a charity and the parent council is not.
Last year, Paula created a spreadsheet document that included all donor names and their donations. Those donations, along with some funding from the school, paid for the Wigwam (the triangle climber) that is in the junior and senior kindergarten park.
The discussion turned to whether or not the parent council should ask parents for donations for a specific initiative or just request donations in general. Also, the question was raised if the flyer should be sent to local businesses in addition to parents.
After some debate, it was decided that it would be more effective if the Direct Donation program asks for donations for a specific initiative. It was also decided that it is best to distribute the flyer to parents only – local businesses are already asked to support the annual Fun Fair.
Direct Donation program for 2010 was approved. Paula will send out the flyer shortly (it was distributed the last week of November). It will have a Dec. 11 deadline.
Motion: Paula (chair). Seconded: Martin Saxton (treasurer).
9. T-shirt Design: Jill Spellman reported that the T-shirt design has been chosen. But there had been a delay in the T-shirt production after it was raised that the Muslim community will not wear shirts with faces and/or eyes on them. After some discussion it was decided that there wasn’t really an issue. The original design choices had been put to a vote and the school administration supported the winning design.
April Moon and Jill will look at prices and the T-shirts should be on sale in December. To keep costs down the design will not wrap around from front to back.
10. Council Committees: This year, the council would prefer to avoid there being one-person committees. With such a large number of members on the parent council, there should be a team for each committee.
All the committees are listed in the parent council constitution, including their roles and focus.
One committee that has not been established is an Education Committee.
11. Ward Meeting: Sarah-Jane Gillespie attended the ward meeting. Cathy Dandy spoke about how some schools in the ward will have choirs. The meeting also discussed a way to use school space (when school is not in session) as community hubs: offering programs for seniors, for example.
Wilkinson will be receiving six laptops. Leasa (vice-principal) explained that rather than have them throughout the school, they will be kept in the library.
There is a concern that the ward meetings are not drawing enough people. There is a proposal to set a theme for upcoming meetings. There may also be a ward meeting on the subject of nut allergies.
The next ward meeting is scheduled to take place on Dec. 7.
12. Council Committees continued: The discussion returned to the topic of the various committees.
• Arts Committee: April Moon is the chair.
This committee’s mandate is to ensure students have two live performances per year. April has started surveying school staff to see what they liked, didn’t like, what worked and what didn’t work. She meets with Leasa to coordinate dates. April would like someone to take over this committee.
• Communications Committee: Jill Spellman is the chair. Communications methods include: the web, newsletter, a Facebook presence. The newsletter goes out the first of each month if all the content is in on time, otherwise it is delayed. Content comes from several different sources. There is a plan in place to do away with a hard-copy version of the newsletter and make it completely digital. Jill is still in the process of collecting names and e-mail addresses for this. Also, some “sending logistics” need to be ironed out.
• Movie Night: Susan Haney is the chair. Dec. 10 is the date for the next movie night. She will need parents/students to help with setup, during and/or cleanup.
There is now an Emergency Preparedness plan in place for Movie Night.
This committee also asks that a Code of Conduct be adhered to during the evening. For example, children should not be running in the gym. The committee asks that parent council members spread the word to other parents.
Proceeds from the last movie night totalled between $550 and $600.
Susan welcomes movie suggestions.
• Pumpkin Fest: Ruby Lederman heads this event. This year’s event was the second and included apple cider, pumpkins, a crafts table and food donations. The event is not intended to make money. Proceeds from the pumpkin sales totalled $300. The farm takes half.
• Chocolate Sales: As of Nov. 8 only 80 per cent of the funds had come in. Erin Vaillancourt will contact those families to either return the chocolates or submit the funds.
• Greening Committee: Kirsten McGoey is the chair.
One of the aims is to keep the front northwest garden thriving and add new species to it. Right now there are native species in it. The aim is to create zones that different members of the committee can tend to.
• Fun Fair: April is the chair.
Fun Fair usually takes place in May. Meetings to organize the event will begin in January. April will send out volunteering information in January as well. One focus this year will be to have more school staff involved on the day of the fair. The staff from Dandylion Daycare each takes a shift.
The budget has decreased from $5,000 to $2,500. This came as a result of soliciting support from local businesses (“knocking on a lot of doors”).
The fair needs committed volunteers (with any number of talents) so the event can be bigger and have more variety.
Another goal for this year is to form a Fun Fair Communications Committee to send information out to all parents.
• Sweetheart Bake Sale: To take place on or near Feb. 14. Parents are asked to donate baked goods and other items for sale.
• Wil-Kitchen: Began as a parent outreach event. It allows parents and children/students to come out and cook a meal together. The idea is to have everyone meet and connect. One or two Wil-Kitchens are held each year.
A Wil-Kitchen is also organized on the Thursday evening before Fun Fair to prepare dishes for sale.
13. Follow-up items: None.
14. New business: All windows are to be replaced.
15. Adjournment at 9 p.m.
Meeting was adjourned. Motion: Ruby Lederman. Seconded: Kirsten McGoey.