Parent Council Meeting
Minutes from December 7th, 2015 - 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Members in attendance:
Staff:
(A) Principal – Pam Lone
(B) Vice Principal – Sabrina Bineesari
(C) Teacher – Shirley Tisdale
(D) Teacher – Amrit Kaur
Council Members:
(A) Co-Chair – Rajeev Kumar
(B) Co-Chair – Sandy Dhillon
(C) Secretary – Bob Nagra
(D) Council member - Claudette Thompson
Parents:
(A) Preet Shahi
Regrets:
(A) Council member - Alicia Clarke
Meeting Proceeds:
1. Meeting was presided by the Co -Chair, Rajeev Kumar.
2. Minutes from November 26th, 2015 reviewed and approved.
3. Rajeev:
(A) Introductions to start meeting.
(B) Approval of todays agenda.
(C) Events and activities – looking at suggestions to raise funds for the school and the students.
a. Pam - there will be a family fitness night and this is still in the planning stages. This
will be centered around fitness and nutrition.
i. A movie night is a great time for the parents and kids to get together and it
generates good funds for the school. A date brought forward was February
11th 2016 at 6:30pm to 7:30pm. There are guidelines for what movies we
can show. The flyer is already done from last year. A license to sell raffle
tickets will need to be purchased and approved prior to (possibly 8 weeks to
get approval).
b. Bob – popcorn, water and cookies will be sold at the event.
(D) For the council meetings, can we send out a message (Syner voice) to the parents a day
before to generate more attendance at the meetings.
a. Sandy suggested that council members try to be present during important events at
the school; set up a table and allow parents to interact with council members. We
can put our agenda out on the bulletin board to let parents know what we are
doing. It is easy and effective manner to generate possibly more attendance.
b. Pam advised she can send out that syner voice message two days in advance to
make the parents aware.
(E) Is there a program out there that can assist parents in teaching French so they can assist
their kids.
a. Shirley mentioned there is - French Tumble and there are apps out there that can
assist them as well.
4. Pam:
(A) Grade 4’s will be doing the CCAT testing and it was delayed due to the staffing issues, will be
done Jan 11-25th 2016.
(B) Parent council has a board at the front and are free to decorate it and use it.
(C) Mail received for the Parent council – will need to be reviewed for next meeting.
(D) Fence along the parking lot has been approved and it will be installed at no cost to the
school. The basketball nets have been installed and the electronic scoreboard will be
coming shortly and there will be no cost.
(E) Still waiting for approval for the outdoor sign; money has been set aside from last year’s
Pizza funds.
(F) Principal and VP profiles need to be done at the next meeting (January and February 2016);
this has to be done every school season – deals with what qualities parents look in the
Principal and Vice Principal of the school.
(G) Parent engagement fund has been deposited $500 and there is approximately $600
something in the account as well.
a. Rajeev suggested we purchase an item(s) that the school needs.
b. Pam recommended murals, books for the library, technological items that will
enhance their creativity. A possibility is to have a classroom library where kids can
take books home from their classrooms.
c. Sandy is asking if JK/SK kids need anything? Pam advised each grade level has
money and they are using it.
d. The suggestion was brought forward to have people bring in books but Bob advised
that there is an issue with bed bug infestation that could occur.
e. Shirley discussed the option of using ‘Razz kids’ instead of moving forward with
people bringing books in. There are huge benefits in this and our Grade 2 students
all use them. Shirley and Amrit have two extra licenses that could be used. The cost
is $100 per 36 students.
(H) Winter musical concert– Snow biz will be on January 21st 2016.
(I) Spring concert – April 14th 2016.
(J) Gift for the Grade 8 Students like we did last year – June 28th 2016. Last year council gave
them a small token which consisted of USB (Walnut Grove) drives, etc.
5. Sabrina:
(A) Pizza sales are going well and we will continue to do them.
(B) “Lunch box” will commence on January 13th 2016 on Wednesdays (Mr. Sub and Extreme
Pita) alternatively. Issues with online payments have all been fixed.
(C) Parents have been asking about a milk program and the “Lunch Box” will be able to
accommodate that as well; it will be an everyday program. There have been positive
comments being made for the program.
(D) ‘Beyond the hurt’ program (bullying) – January 21st and 22nd training for Grade 7/8 and it is
being offered through Red Cross. They also offer a parent session that can be held during
the evening. The present members all agreed that it should be offered for the parents as it
will be worthwhile education session for them. This will be communicated through
newsletter and a hardcopy sent home with the children for the parents. It will be a onehour program. Funding has been received and it will be of no cost to the school.
6. Sandy:
(A) BBQ – May 26th 2016 at 4:00pm to 7:00pm – date approved. It will go on rain or shine and
worst case, we can bring it inside.
a. Pam suggested we can make this an OPEN HOUSE and BBQ night.
7. Preet:
a. Wanted to thank the coaches for the volleyball tournament and it was a great day.
She noticed a student filming the tournament and she didn’t think it was
appropriate as she (Preet) had to get approval to videotape her daughter. The
student was from another school and the issue was addressed.
b. Pam advised that Walnut Grove has a strict code of conduct policy on cell phones
and there hasn’t been an issue but still she will talk to the staff and make it
effective.
Questions/Concerns:
N/A
Next Meeting Date: January 5th 2016 at 6:30pm.
End of meeting and thanks to all that attended.