Wilkinson School Community Council
Meeting Minutes
April 10, 2012
Present: Leasa Adams (vice-principal), Bipasha Choudhury, Sarah-Jane Gillespie, Susan Haney, Sharon Hennessey, Raihana Ingar, Kris Kearns, Ruby Lederman, Bruce MacDonald, Kirsten McGoey, April Moon, Deanna Rosolen, Paula Weekes-Kahn (council chair)
Regrets: Laura Bullard-Brezovsky, Shauna Dobbie, Helen Ferraro, Kirsten McGoey, Emma Reid, Martin Saxton, Jill Spellman, Karen Wiseman
Guests: Sarah Hoac (Dandylion Daycare), Lindsay Whitfield (JK/SK teacher at Wilkinson)
Recorder: Deanna Rosolen
Meeting called to order at 7:05p.m.
1. Welcome and Introductions: Paula Weekes-Kahn welcomed everyone.
2. Approval of the Agenda: Agenda was approved.
Motion: Kris Kearns. Seconded: April Moon
3. Approval of the Minutes from March 20, 2012: Approved.
Motion: Sarah-Jane Gillespie. Seconded: Bipasha Choudhury.
4. Principal and Vice-principal’s update (Leasa Adams v-p):
A. Day of Pink: Everyone was involved with Day of Pink, the International Day against Bullying, Discrimination, Homophobia and Transphobia in schools and communities. Leading up to the day – April 11 – each class took part in different exercises set out in a Resource Guide from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).
B. Laptop roll out: The TDSB has decided that schools have to apply for the laptops to be considered for them. Mr. Krentz and Ms. Adams worked on Wilkinson’s application, which they already sent in. The TDSB wants to get the laptops into schools that have a plan as to how they’ll use them. The laptops will likely be in schools in May.
C. Staffing: The TDSB has been slow in releasing these figures. Usually schools have this information by now and are already planning for the next year. Principal Allan Kelly will likely have the numbers this week and update Council at the next meeting.
D. Safety walk: The walk is scheduled for April 12 at 11am.
E. Risers: The risers have arrived and are set up.
5. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Martin Saxton could not attend.
6. Funding Requests: See *Education under Committee Updates.
7. Dandylion Daycare: Sarah Hoac thanked Jill Spellman, communications chair, for including the day care in the school communications and updates she sends out.
Garden: Dandylion’s JK and SK kids will start helping out in the Wilkinson Garden in April. They’ll be helping with weeding and other light gardening work on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-2pm until the summer. During the summer, the school-age kids will take it over.
Tanya Sterioff: Dandylion has made a donation for Tanya Sterioff, a former principal at Wilkinson who passed away March 18, 2012.
Fun Fair: All Dandylion daycare staff will be volunteering for Fun Fair.
8. Committee Updates:
A. Arts: Comedian, speaker and disability activist, Alan Shain, is performing on April 18. Shain has cerebral palsy and aims to “smash” stereotypes people have.
B. Communications: Chair Jill Spellman could not attend.
C. Education: Chair Bipasha Choudhury has been looking into organizing an Internet safety and cyber-bullying workshop for Wilkinson parents and students. She presented her research to the Council and it was decided that Steve Chapelle, a local expert on both topics, would be the best speaker.
Steve charges $495 for:
• A 90 min evening workshop for parents (no cap on # of attendees);
• A 45-60 min day-time workshop for students (no cap on # of attendees);
• 25 42-page parent handbooks designed to give detailed instructions on how to implement the methods learned in the workshop (he will charge $5 per extra copy requested); and
• An event advertisement in PDF format.
The parent workshop will include five topics such as User Account Security, Internet Content Control ( i.e. parental controls as it applies to the Windows operating system, MAC OS X, and Apple mobile operating systems e.g. iPod, iPhone, iPad), File Sharing, Social Networking and Cyber-bullying.
The student workshop will focus on the importance of password use, good selection and handling; safe behaviour when communicating with people online and discussing such contacts with parents; privacy settings and profile information while social networking; file sharing risks and directions; and protective behaviour before and after cyber-bullying.
Council discussed offering two student workshops: one for the Grades 3 and 4 and one for the Grades 5 and 6 at 60 minutes each. A parent workshop will be held one evening before the student workshops and will include snacks and childcare.
The Council also discussed how to reach out to the Muslim community, translating the posters for the event and offering on-site translation. Council also discussed how to draw more parents in general to the workshop.
The parent workshop will likely be held on Wednesday May 9 at 7-8:30pm in either the staff room or library. The Art Show is also taking place that week and will be open for parents to see.
Both student workshops will likely be held on Thursday May 10 in the gym.
Council approved $1,100 in funding for the workshop. This includes: childcare ($100), snacks ($100), translation ($150) and fee for the workshops ($750).
Motion: Susan Haney. Seconded: Sarah-Jane Gillespie.
D. Council also discussed Council funds. Council members asked that at the next meeting there be a more detailed discussion of the budget. Council members said they want reassurances that there is enough in the budget to cover everything earmarked at the beginning of the year.
This topic will be added to the agenda for the next meeting in May.
E. Council also discussed adding another fundraiser, something that would take place in the fall. If this is to pan out, Council may have to decide on an event by the end of this school year.
F. Fundraising:
Movie Night:
The next Movie Night is April 20 and will feature the movie Treasure Buddies.
Just a couple of housekeeping notes: the “Box Office” area is becoming too crowded with parents coming out to chat and children playing. Box office volunteers need to be able to see who’s coming in and keep an eye on the children who leave to use the washroom. Children are welcome to play quietly at the back of the gym. There is also an issue of people sneaking into the gym without a donation.
*Volunteers are always needed and most welcome!*
Fun Fair: April Moon is chairing the event, which takes place on May 26, 2012. All the sub-committees have started meeting. A Fun Fair meeting for everyone is taking place on Monday April 23.
G. Greening: Chair Kirsten McGoey could not attend.
The Kindergarten play area art installation that she was working on is almost complete. BUT she does still need volunteers to help wrap it up.
Kirsten and her family are moving to Whitby this summer and she will not be able to oversee the Greening Committee any longer. John Hykel, a former parent at Wilkinson and someone who has still been involved with this committee, will be taking it over until the end of the school year.
H. Health & Safety: Will follow-up at next meeting with results of Safety Walk.
9. Report back/follow-up items: None to report.
10. New Business/Other items for future meeting: Lindsay Whitfield, a JK/SK teacher at Wilkinson, will talk to Council at the next meeting about what the JK and SK teachers would like to see in the kindergarten play space. She’ll also talk about what they see in the same spaces throughout our community of schools.
11. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm.
Motion: Sarah-Jane Gillespie. Seconded: April Moon.