St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre
Catholic School Council Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: February 4, 2014
Meeting Location: St James Library
Recorded By: Lorna Kurok, Secretary
St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre Minutes
ATTENDANCE
Name
Position
Jennifer McCathy
Co-Chair
Michael Giovanniello
Co-Chair
Lorna Kurok
Secretary
Amy Giansante
Treasurer
Penny Snowden
Community Rep
Sheila Taylor
Co-Parish Rep
Ellen Lau- Chang
OAPCE Representative
Brian Diogo
Principal
Mr Kalaparambath
Teaching Representative
Ms. Worboys
Teaching Representative
Mr Chircop
Non-Teaching Rep
Tess O’Mara
Exec Council Member
Lenora Sleep
Exec Council Member
Samer Mikhail
Exec Council Member
MEETING COMMENCED
6:30, Tuesday February 4, 2014 in the Library
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St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre Minutes
AGENDA
Welcome
Opening Prayer and Mission statement
Introductions
Approval of Minutes from December 3
Approval of Agenda
Old business
 Financial Gift Covering Council and School Goals
 Uniforms
 Lunch Program
 Week of Hope
 French Program
New Business
 Treasurer’s Report
 Principal Report
 Family Skate (Parent Involvement Grant)
 Valentine’s Day Support
 Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board Policy on Sibling Enrolment in Programs of
Choice
 Interest in Parent Funded School Transportation
Agenda for the Next Meeting March 18th 2014, 6:30 pm
Closing Remarks
Meeting Adjourned
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St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre Minutes
OUR MISSION
We, the Catholic Community of St. James, are called and committed to foster
an environment where our students will grow intellectually, spiritually, and
emotionally to become responsible life long learners and respectful members of
a diverse society.
MINUTES OF LAST MEETING APPROVED
These Minutes were approved by council with no changes to be made.
Tess – Motioned
Sheila – 2nd
OLD BUSINESS
Financial Gift Covering Council and School Goals
In previous meetings we established a list of goals. The goals list was created
from the ideas of council, school facility and the parent body. After creating
this list, we surveyed the parents. The survey informed council as to what the
parents wanted the school focus to be. It also directed council as to which fund
raising methods parents would support. The biggest support was for a monetary
gift then followed by an auction.
Therefore in the month of March we will be sending a notice home requesting a
monetary gift for each child. Parents can donate the amount that is comfortable
for them. We would like to suggest asking for donations from family and friends.
Please remember it is only a suggestion and we have no intent on placing our
community of families in any awkward situations.
One parent posed the question of weather we would sponsor items that would
have longevity. Our answer was yes as we have received a grant of $1000 that
has been purposed for the purchase of water bottles for each student. We would
also like to look into the possibility of changing the fountain to one with a water
bottle dispenser. This is an example of what we mean.
It should be note that a parent informed us that the cost of the labour to install
this fountain is very expensive. We may have not allocated enough funds in the
budget to make this possible for this year.
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Uniforms
Thank you to all of the parents that attended the information session in January.
In this session parents decided that a survey was needed to determine the colour
of the uniform. Therefore the parent population was surveyed. The results
favored blue. On February 4th the voting envelopes were sent home with the
youngest of each family. It was requested that all of the parents submit there
vote by Friday February 7th. There were 2 envelopes in each package one is
blank and the other label with the family name. Place your vote in the blank
envelope then the blank into labeled one. The teachers will mark off which
families have submitted there votes but will never know the results. The blank
envelopes will then be submitted for counting. Thank you to the teachers for
their support in this matter.
We need an 80% vote of yes to then submit an implementation package to the
school board where the trustees will make the ultimate decision.
Lunch programs
It was part of our goals to arrange a secondary lunch program. Also parents
requested to have a milk program. A milk program requires the purchase of a
proper refrigerating system. Therefore as a temporary fix to this situation it was
important to find a lunch provider that could also supply milk. Other factors
considered were portion sizes, gluten free option, organic and the expense. This
provider does not offer an organic option at this time and researched showed the
cost of the organic option did not seem reasonable.
Therefore on Thursdays the lunch lady will be providing our children with option
of a hot healthy lunch. Parents can go on the website (www.thelunchlady.ca) to
order their child’s lunch. If your child is sick you can cancel your service by
8:00am to receive a credit for another day. If you would like to contact the
lunch lady you can do so at 905-569-9036 or malou@thelunchlady.ca. Thank you
to the subcommittee for all of their efforts.
Week of Hope
We do not want to forget to recognize our world has people in need of our
support. Therefore the youth faith ambassadors will be having a week of hope
which will begin on Monday February 10th. This week will bring awareness to our
students of the tragedy that occurred late last year in the Philippines. Along
with this awareness the students will have the opportunity to learn about
another country. This event helps to focus on the global concept of our school.
The faith ambassadors will designate one colour of the Philippine flag for each
day of the week. The morning of that day a prayer will be read. Mrs. Worboys
informed us that the ambassador broke up into 3 working groups. Each group
had a different focus:
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St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre Minutes
Group 1 – Create a banner of the Philippine flag to hang in front of the school.
Group 2 – Learn to sing the national anthem
Group 3 – Research facts about the Philippines and share this new knowledge
from class to class.
On the Monday Development and peace will be giving a presentation to our
children about there involvement to support the Philippines. The kindergartens
presentation will be from 9 to 9:45am and then grades 1 to 6 will be from 10 to
10:45am. All parents are welcomed to come for the presentation.
French Program
There has been an interest by some of the parent population to increase the
French exposure in our school. A sub-committee has been established to explore
the options of how to accomplish this task. At this time they are still in the
brain storming stage. The committee welcomes anyone wanting to be involved.
Some ideas that have been brought fourth are:
 French club
 Increasing French language resources
 A French program after school
 Events delivered in French
 A French drama group
If you would like to be a part of working group please send an email to
stjamesCGLcouncil@gmail.com.
NEW BUSINESS
Treasurer’s Report
As of the end of December we had $2930.81 in our account. In the beginning of
the year council submitted a request for a government eco grant. Approval for
$1000 was given. Cost incurred since December were for the drum clinic program
$450, school clubs and bank fees. This brings are closing balance to $3347.
Principal Report
Hacking School makes me happy
We viewed a video describing what is hacking school and how does it work. You
can view this video on you tube. (Hackschooling makes me happy: Logan
Laplante at TedxUniversity of Nevada) It is a video about a young boy who does
not attend a conventional school. He is in theory home schooled but much of his
education comes from experiences such as walking along trails, going to factories
and so fourth. He still studies the traditional classes but these lessons are learned
through the child’s individual interest. Logan explains how this method of
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St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre Minutes
schooling makes him happy. As an adult Logan would like to continue to be
happy. Happy individuals make better students and absorb more information.
This video was shown as it aligns with many of characteristic of St. James. I would
strongly recommend taking the time to watch this video.
The Ice Fort
Over the winter the children from grade 1 to 6 have built a fort in the yard. They
have learned how to work as a team and have created their own community.
They were not guided by any of the teachers. Mr Diogo was impressed that they
were all able to collaborate in such a positive format. The fort became a
representative of a group of people can accomplish using a positive mind set.
February Virtue
The virtue for the month of February will be respect. All parents are welcome to
come to the monthly assembly’s. Dates and times can be found on the St James
website.
St James Classes
It has been determined that the St James location will be housing grades Jk to
grade 8. As mentioned in previous meetings there are benefits to housing these
grade levels in one location. Going forward in the future there will only be one
class per grade level. Students in grades Jk, SK and 1 may experience split class
due to the amount of students accepted in the opening year of St James. This is
not encouraged by the IB program as students should never repeat the same
curriculum twice. Therefore this will increase the work load for the teachers. The
IB program requires that our school have a learning environment devoted to
French with posters and materials in the correct language as of now we have a
French classroom. In the future we will likely loss the French classroom for a
couple of years due to the first enrolment. It is foreseeable that a second catholic
IB elementary school will be opening and possible a high school.
Pathway to High school
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Some parents have been enquiring about the IB high school program. The IB
high school program is very academically demanding. Students attending this
program find the work challenging and it leaves little time for extra curricular
activities. Therefore the grade 11 and 12 diploma program is not suited for all
students. There is no lottery system to get into this program but it does require
entrance exams and an essay. Students that complete the diploma program can
indicate on university applications that they have attended an IB program and
therefore may receive preference. Some of the grade 12 diploma courses can be
used as credits for first year university classes.
Parish
Dates to remember regarding parish events are:
March 5th Ash Wednesday Liturgy at St James – 1:30pm
May 7th Easter Mass / Feast Day at St James 1:30pm
Date TBD School Blessing at St James 1:30pm
June 18th – Year End mass 1:30pm
Family Skate (Parent Involvement Grant)
The government issued our school a $500 parent involvement grant. We must
use these funds in events involving the parents. In December we allocated $325
to the purchase of gingerbread men for each student and invited all the parents to
join in the decorating. This event was a success as many parents participated and
the children loved it. We still have $175 to spend on a second event and council
has agreed a family skate night would be fun. We will be renting the ice at the
port credit rink for one hour on Friday March 21. You can enjoy crafts and snacks
from 6 to 8 pm and a family skate from 7 to 8 pm.
Valentine’s Day Support
The school will be selling love buttons during first and last recess for $2. The
money raised will support Free the Children’s Adopt a Village. The children can
purchase the buttons for themselves or give them to their friends.
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On Valentine’s Day there will be a cake raffle. We are asking the parents to either
bake or donate baked goods to be raffled. Parents are welcome to come and
purchase raffle tickets the morning of Valentines. At the end of the day the baked
goods will go home with the ticket winners. Thank you for all of your support!!
Dufferin – Peel Catholic School Board Policy on Sibling Enrolment
School Boards Point of view
St James is a regional program that all students should have the equal opportunity
to attend. If the school gives preference to students with siblings it reduces the
opportunity to others. As a government funded school it must act in a democratic
and fair manor where enrolment is concerned. Parents were asked to put
themselves in the shoes another parent who may be entering the school system
for the first time. How would you feel about this policy looking at it through the
eyes of others? Mr Diogo spoke from the heart “I feel your hardship and struggle
and the Lottery system is not perfect. But a publicly funded school must be fair to
all groups”. Apologizes were made on behalf of the trustees and directors that had
been invited to the meeting but could not attend.
Parents and Council Response
Council opened the floor by Thanking all the staff of St James for all of their hard
work and dedication. This dedication is a big reason why many of the current
parents want there other children to attend St James. So they can incur those
same benefits. We do not want this issue to create a spike in our relationship
between council, parents and facility as we understand many of these decisions
are not in their hands.
Tess and other parents who attended the second meeting in the spring of last year
felt that there was a strong sense given by board members that families would not
be split up. This indicated to those parents that St James would have a
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grandfathering rule. Parents believe by not implementing a grandfathering rule the
school is ignoring its catholic ethics. Many parents felt that it as not feasible to
have children at multiple locations. It was also noted that this would be an on
going topic for years to come. Even first time Parents who win the lottery now are
likely to have other children and will then want to change.
Both sides voiced their arguments bring up many factional points but the
conclusion was no change could happen at this meeting. Council and parents
agreed that they wanted to continue to have their voice heard at the board. We
requested to have the lottery postponed but were denied. Therefore emails and
further communication will be continued with the board. The taxpaying parents of
St James believe that rules should reflect their desires. Board members are voted
as dignitaries to represent the beliefs of the parents.
Parent Funded Transportation
Considering how many of students travel to attend our school we wanted table
the idea of implementing parent funded transportation. Parents at the meeting
seemed interested. Therefore we will be looking into cost of type of program.
This program would be available to all students whose parents would be willing to
incur the cost of hiring a bus to pick up and drop off their children. If you are
interested in this program please email the council and give us an idea of your
housing location. stjamesCGLcouncil@gmail.com
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AGENDA FOR THE NEXT MEETING March 18, 2014
Welcome
Opening Prayer
Mission Statement
Introductions
Approval of Minutes from February 4, 2014
Old business
 Sibling Priority
 School Transportation
 Uniform Outcome
 Lunch Program Progress
 French Program Progress
 Family Skate
New Business
 Treasurer’s Report
 Principal Report
 Easter Support from Council
Agenda for the Next Meeting (April 22nd, 2014)
Closing Remarks
CLOSING REMARKS
Some of the topics of this meeting were very emotional driven. All parties
involved not only gave input but were also able to listen to other view points.
Some topics could were respectfully ended without a full conclusion. It was
agreed by council that we would take further action to have our view point heard
at the school. There is a mutual respect between school officials, parents and
council members. Considering the sensitative nature of this meeting all members
of this meeting conducted themselves with honor and respect.
Please
feel
free
to
contact
us
through
our
email
address:
stjamesCGLcouncil@gmail.com
MEETING AJOURNED – 9:00pm
NEXT MEETING:
6:30 Tuesday March 18, 2014 in the school library.
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