FALGARWOOD SCHOOL COUNCIL MINUTES
November 2, 2015
Attendance: Gail McDonald, Sylvia Dodds, Deanna Carless, Gill McLaren, John
Gaidatsis, Karen Morrison, Sabrina Ramdeholl, Louise Van Zeller, Jodi McDaniel, Tina Katz,
Danielle Ferguson, Sunita Vagadia, Isabelle Meunier, Asia Jensen, Heather West, Adriana Zagar
Regrets: Jen Hedges
1. Welcome, and meeting called to order: 7:05pm (Gill)
2. Approval of Agenda: Motion made by Deanna to approve the agenda. Asia seconded the
Motion. Motion carried.
3. Approval of October 2015 Meeting Minutes: Motion made by Jodi to approve the Minutes.
Asia seconded the Motion. Motion carried.
4. Business Arising from the Minutes:

Regarding installation of water-bottle filling stations, John reported back that his contact
would be able to install these at a cost significantly less than the Board’s price. Sylvia
noted that this vendor would have to be on the Board tender list.
5. Principal’s Update: (Sylvia and Gail)

During the “We Scare Hunger” campaign that culminated on October 30th, 1,075 items
were collected and delivered to the local food bank – a fabulous contribution!

Our “Me to We” Student Committee has decided to do a series of mini projects
throughout the year. The next “Me to We” initiative, “We are Silent”, will be introduced
from November 9th to November 20th. The event itself will take place on November 20,
2015. During this event, students in Grade 6, 7, and 8 can participate in being silent in
support of girls around the world who do not have a voice.

Upcoming Spirit Days include the following:
o November 13th – Wear Purple Day in support of Halton Women’s Place
o November 20th – Wear Pink Day in support of Anti-Bullying
o November 26th – Moustache Day
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
Labour Update: CUPE and ETFO have finished bargaining and contracts are awaiting
ratification. Office staff are still in a bargaining situation. Progress reports will be going
home on December 11th.

During two recent volleyball tournaments, both our girls’ and boys’ teams did well. The
girls’ team made it to the finals.

Through the Canadian Tire Jump Start initiative, 278 student response forms were
returned, and as a result, we were able to order $6,700 worth of gym equipment. We are
appreciative of this corporate sponsorship. In order to obtain this funding, student data
has to be entered into a data base by our secretarial staff. This data entry will take
approximately one day. Gail asked if the School Council would consider funding one
day of secretarial time for this data to be entered. This would cost between $166 and
$200.

On Wednesday November 4th, a delegation of principals from China will be visiting
schools in Toronto and the GTA. Falgarwood was one of the three schools chosen in
Halton for the delegation to visit. The delegation will be touring our Kindergarten
classes, French classes, Junior classes, and Intermediate classes. Teachers will be
providing a cultural potluck for the delegation during the first break. Gail requested that
we seek about 20 parent volunteers to relieve teachers of their supervision duties (10:45
to 11:45am) for this special occasion. Asia will post this request on the Falgarwood
Facebook page.

Gail provided a review of our new Behaviour Class in response to some concerns and
complaints that have come to her attention. This class is a Halton-wide class (students
from any school within the HDSB can be recommended for this program) with a capacity
of 8 students who have average cognitive development, but who have been formally
identified with a behavioural difficulty. These students have lagging skills within the
realm of behaviour and require support to build these skills in order for them to return to
a regular classroom setting. Sometimes students are integrated into a regular classroom
for a portion of their day to build skills. The students have one-to-one supervision during
recess.
Our behaviour class currently contains 5 boys ranging from Grade 4 to Grade 6. There
are five staff in the classroom, all of whom are specially trained to work with these
students. In spite of this, however, there have been challenges for the staff and for the
office. As the class was placed at or school, we will continue to do our best to support
these students.

The School Board has once again requested School Council input on the annual principal
survey. The survey looks at identifying characteristics that make our school community
unique. Factors such as our special classes (e.g. Life Skills Class, Behaviour Class),
support from the Halton Learning Foundation, community issues, School Council
priorities, special programs, etc.) are typically included. Gail, Sylvia, Gill, and Deanna
will meet to complete the survey before the end of November
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
A Remembrance Day Assembly will take place next Wednesday (November 11th).
Information will be sent out to parents.

Vaccinations for Grade 7 and Grade 8 students will take place next Thursday (Grade 7s –
Hep B, Grade 8s – HPV). Halton Health will set up a booth in the office area and will be
providing the vaccinations.
6. Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) Update: (Louise and Isabelle)

Louise recently attended the 8th Annual PIC Conference at White Oaks Highschool.
There were several workshops offered during the day. Dr. Jean Clinton, who gave the
keynote address, was excellent. She spoke about how to connect with your kids.

Several talks are being hosted by schools (through PRO - Parent Reach Out - Grants) and
organizations in the community this month. These include the following and will be
posted in the Week at the Woods:
o November 9th - Robert Bateman High school
LMAO –“Laughing My Anxiety Off” (Parents, and children age 12 and up, are
welcome to attend.)
o October 2015 to June 2016 - Learning Disabilities Association of Halton (LDAH)
Lecture/Workshop Series around Learning Disabilities (also through PRO grants).

“Family of Schools” Meetings occur monthly. The purpose of these meetings is to share
ideas and resources which are then shared with the individual school councils. School
council members are then able to share the information with the wider school community.

The Board hosted an Information Session around English and French Immersion
Elementary Programs. Because of the growing demand for French Immersion, the Board
is running into difficulty with staffing this program. Four French Immersion options are
currently being considered, and public consultation is part of the process. The Board
hopes to make a decision around programming by June 2016, and implementation of the
new program is scheduled for September 2016.
7. Treasurer’s Update: (John)

The Halloween Dance-a-thon generated approximately $4800 after expenses. This
reflects an increase of $1300 over last year. We had a corporate donation of $500 from
one of our parents which helped significantly. We will be sending out a thank you letter
to this parent together with a tax receipt.
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
We started the year with an opening balance of $7944. Five thousand of this had been set
aside for the Kindergarten renovation. However this project has been put on hold. Gail
suggested that instead of the renovation, we may wish to allocate $1000 to painting the
blacktop in the Kindergarten area in the Spring.

Gail further reported that she and Sylvia met with Jodi to review fundraising ideas and
the teachers’ wish list. Wish list items included the following:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Technology
A community garden in honour of our 50th Anniversary
Updated iPads
Scientists in the school
Heavy-duty iPad cases for the Kindergarten classes
Athletic canopy

It was decided that Gail, Jodi, and Sylvia will meet to review this list. Factors to be
considered include the grade level of students that will benefit (to ensure equitable
spending across divisions), approximate cost of each item, and how each item would fit
into our school improvement plan (especially with respect to technology items). In
addition, it was suggested that we may wish to look into grants and community donations
to assist with the construction of a community garden, should we move forth with this
initiative.

Motion made by Gill to spend up to $200 to cover the cost of one day of secretarial time
to enter student data required for the Jumpstart Program. John seconded the Motion.
Motion carried.

Motion made by Gill to spend up to $3000 total for the installation of three water-bottle
filling stations ($1000 each). Motion seconded by John. Motion carried.
8. Funfair Review

It was requested that any comments and suggestions regarding last year’s Fun Fair be
emailed to Deanna and Gill. They will compile the feedback and share with council.
9. Fundraising Chair Update: (Jodi)

Gill has offered to run the “Bean Ladies” Fundraiser

The council decided to move forth with the “Wreaths” fundraiser. The school will
receive $5 to $7 for each wreath ordered. This fundraiser will start this month.

Other fundraising ideas included the following:
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o Drop and Shop
o Movie night
o Boxed greeting cards ($30 per box, with $9 going to the school per order, $150
one-time delivery fee)
o Valentine events
o Fun Fair

After much discussion about a Drop and Shop, it was decided not to go forth with this
idea at this time as it is difficult to organize and run, and as it does not generate a lot of
income for the school.

Jodi will put together a concise plan for fundraising and send it out to the council.
10. Other Business

There was much discussion about a celebration in honour of Falgarwood’s 50th
Anniversary. Louise will send out an email to organize a planning meeting for this event.

It was agreed that Karen would compile a list of email addresses of the School Council
Meeting attendees and send this out.
11. Next meeting date:
December 7, 2015 at 7:00pm in the School Library. All welcome.
12. Meeting Adjournment:
Gill adjourned the meeting at 8:32pm
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