1. Introductions made for all members present.
2. Next game night is Dec. 4. We have volunteers from the lacrosse program at
the school that are going to run stations at game night. We still need volunteers
to make food and help keep the night organized. Anne Marie and Camille
volunteered to attend. Thank you! I'll ask for more volunteers on email.
3. Mr. Allwood's mother passed away after a tough struggle over the past few
months. Camille volunteered to find out about details of the service to see if we
should send flowers or a donation of some sort. Council approved $150 for this
item.
4. Wellness update: Halloween experiment in K2 went well--several parents
showed an interest in keeping classroom celebrations a bit more healthy. Kids
still came home with lots of candy, so there is still work to be done, but we were
excited to hear from parents that this is something they support.
Sarah Bob, one of our parent Wellness Committee members called into the
meeting to update us on the meeting they had with the grant-giving organization.
It was determined that our two activities for the grant will be Zumba nights and a
chef demonstration. There are also many more wellness projects on the list of
things to do, but for paperwork reasons, we need to select two to report on, so
those are the one they covered. The Zumba nights and chef demo will happen in
Jan, Feb or March. We are looking for a child-certified Zumba instructor. The
council decided that the Zumba night should NOT be on a Thursday night (to
make it possible for people with conflicts on Thursday to be able to make it). We
also advised the Wellness Committee that doing the chef demo on a Tuesday
AFTER the Trotter market made the most sense because that way the chef could
work with exactly the ingredients that families were given that week.
Sportsmens Club also offered to host a wellness night (with health screenings
and kid activities). The council was enthusiastic about this activity, but agreed it
should be on a non-game night time.
5. Coat drive: we're going to use some of the TJMaxx money to purchase some
larger coats, but otherwise we're doing well and having enough coats for families
in need, according to Mr. Allwood. We'll use the rest of the TJ Maxx cards to help
put together raffle baskets.
6. Fundraising update: the gofundme.com fundraiser has raised $550 so far. In
order to meet our goal we need more people to spread the word about the site,
so please send a letter to your friends and family with the link to the site
(www.gofundme.com/elzxks).
We'll also be raffling off a winter-themed basket starting at game night. We're
asking parents to donate ice-skating passes, a nice scarf, some cocoa--and any
other winter activity items. Cameron Dominick is taking the lead on this project.
7. Teacher proposals: All is going well in the planning stages for the K1 end-ofunit celebration (the K1 teacher proposal). Ms. Wright was present at this
meeting and wanted help with new headsets for the students. She will investigate
the best kind and get back to us. She would also like to get printers that would
stay in the pods so that teachers could print class material without interfering in
the computer lab or running all the way to the office. If your company is getting
rid of printers, please be in touch with parent council.
8. T-SHIRTS: members of the council gave feedback on the t-shirt designs
presented. We also talked about and agreed on some basic logistics for how to
"sell" the shirts. The priority is that every kid can have one, but as a council, we
probably can't pay for all of the t-shirts outright. So, it was suggested that we sell
the t-shirts (via order forms in the classroom), and allow classmates to check a
box to buy a friend a shirt. We'll also sell adult t-shirts for a little bit more than
they cost to make up some of the difference (maybe sweatpants, too). We still
need a volunteer or two to be the leader of this project.
9. There will be an arts festival in January. There will also be celebrations and
activities to conclude the end of the first Journey into learning for each grade.
Council decided to ask the teachers specifically how we can help these
celebrations (in order to get more teacher proposals). Ms. Richardson attended
the meeting and filled us in on what all the grades are doing for their Journeys of
Learning.
10. Other topics: the council expressed some concerns about inappropriate
behavior in the classroom, bus, etc. It was related to bullying. We talked about
different ideas to address the problem (including but not limited to getting
Sisterhood program or cops or some other group to come in a do programming in
the classroom). In the end, we think it's a project for the Governance Board,
since they work on curricular issues. Camille is on that board and they are
meeting soon, and we asked her to bring our concerns to the board, with the
additional note that we could help pay for or staff the program that they choose.
11. Finally, we discussed having alternate meeting times in order to help boost
attendance. Some council members thought that an early morning meeting (right
after drop off) would bring people in that wouldn't otherwise be able to attend. We
decided to try it out for December. Council members also thought that we could
meet during the first part of a game night, too. We'll try that out at our next game
night—Krystle offered to make announcements to the group about parent
council. It wouldn't' be a full meeting, but it would be more parent council
business than we normally do at game night (maybe while the kids are eating?).
—Trotter parent council secretary, Jenna Leschuk
Jenna Leschuk