Hopewell Avenue Public School Council
Minutes
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013
Hopewell Library
7:00 pm
Present: Judy Cladar, Mike Stewart, Mike Waddington, Caroline Coady,
Jeannine Hall, Christina Stromberg, Paisley Nesmith, Alison Fines,
Rosanne MacKay, Lynn Watson, Maggie Fawcett, Claudia Sanmartin,
Heather Barrett, Nicola Maule, Karen Stevens-Guille, Karen Goodrich,
Sylvie Turnbull, Kimberly Armstrong, Jenn Small
1. Welcome, Call to Order and Introductions
2. Approval of Agenda and Minutes From May’s 2013 Meeting
 Janine Hall moved, Mike W seconded
3. Chair’s Report– Jen
 OOS survey underway – will send out 1 more reminder; great
response so far (around 370)
4. Principal and Teacher’s Report – Lynn (get hand-out from Lynn)

review school organization – added jr kindergarten in morning, .5
E2F to be posted + 4 occasional to cover long term leave (longer
than 3 mos)
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enrollment verified in first few weeks of school pending last minute
registrations; need to know who is not returning
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thank you to M. Martin (surplus), Mr Hiltz (Fisher Park), Mr. Smith
(Putman), Emily Desjardin surplus, Kristos Pantearis (pursuing
Masters in Art), M. Smith (Glashen)

Mme Gervais & Mme Vieria are retiring.

New teachers - Jim Borrance (6), Marya Wayawota, Janet
Zylbersstein (E2FI 6), Roger Needham (English 5-6
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Specialists kept in place for intermediate -- Math, English, Music
(lost Art and Science); librarian reduced from .7 to .6
5. Financial Update – Sylvie, Kerri (see hand-out)
 Presented latest balance sheet
 Current balance $25,686.72
 $17,000 in real cash after everything is paid – we need to save
$4,000 for next year leaving us with 13-15,000 to spend
 $4,000 is not a hard & fast rule, there have been previous years
when it’s been lower or higher
 Mike suggested we leave more for special enrichment functions
 Sylvie suggested saving more for potential grade 6 trip next year –
Claudia also suggested this – Lynn replied teachers are already
discussing trips for Grade 7 (Mackskimming overnight), Quebec
City; looking at Grade 8 – no conversation so far for Grade 6 –
wondering if Space Camp could still be considered
 Jen & Lynn discussed library – school can cover all furniture but
need money to cover painting, around $5,500
 Allison had an idea for budget spending to cover loss of Mr. Hiltz’s
website as some sort of math resource; Lynn replied that she has
allocated around 2K to each division for resources – there is a
website that can be purchased for access that could fill such a
need/also looking a e-version of textbook – cost is considerable,
still reviewing options – Allison requested a review that assesses
whether full curriculum is covered on website if a book is not
available – Jen said that there may be a math book with an eversion available as long as physical copy is in classroom – still may
be cost for licensing
 End-of-year party, no one has stepped forward to take this on – see
agenda item # 9
 Jane – 2 other items to save money for playground & trees
 Jane/Motion – give Lynn $5,500 for painting library? – Lynn says not
to be too concerned if we can’t cover it
 Mike proposed that we look at other enrichment options before
giving money for painting – should save at least $6,000 for
enrichment to honour what previous council set aside for space
camp, for example

Yard funds to cover infrastructure (high cost, tens of thousands)
not just trees and plants, although 6 large trees need to be
replaced

Can’t leave too much money in budget because the money raised in
that year should be spent on students in that year

We are allowed as a parent council to open a savings account for
the yard or something big – Lynn says yes

Jen: could we set up separate fund/account for external
environment; Lynn says this has been done at other schools; Jane
asked Sylvie will investigate and pending answer we will decide
where to allocate money – Jen will check with board, and also
investigate whether school board will kick in funds to help with
tree replacement (Evergreen?)

Action: investigate if we can allocate funds to external
environment, this will depend on whether if we can set up separate
bank account to house these funds and, if so, set up the account
in June
6. Staff appreciation breakfast – Jen
 June 25 from 8-9, need 5-6 volunteers to pick up food, set up, get
gifts for departing and retiring teachers – Caroline & Heather will
help, also need someone to toast/roast Mme Gervais & Mme Vieria
who are retiring
7. First aid training for staff
 Public health nurse administers to staff in Sept.
7. Safe and Caring Cmte – Heather
 Just finished last installment of spoken word workshops in may –
many benefits to students, positive feedback from teachers – point
was to make connections, build connections and respect; less
achieved this year because of teacher action
 Meeting this Friday with committee to determine future roadmap
 Philosophy north star – investing in relationships in all directions –
teacher child, teacher parent, etc.
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Lynn: legislation re: safe & caring committee (we already have on)
but now have to put together formal plan for next year, including
first aid, anxiety reduction, cyber bullying, etc. starting with rights
& responsibilities, review survey results – grades 4-8 – and will share
with teachers & parents – examples – bullying happens at recess,
breaks; generally verbal; most children feel safe a school
Suggestion – matching up different grades to mix it up and have
kids know each other more, network
Coaching on how to relate to each other online
Are other kids getting enough training on what to do when you see
it happen to someone else
Parents also need coaching on how to manage kids’ time and
behaviour online – possibility of parent session at night, or handout
Mike – recent symposium at city hall, what Lynn is doing is forward
–thinking within the school board – school involvement is so uneven
– time/ability – kudos to Hopewell, and Mike willing to support, an
area of expertise – need to balance availability with controls; that’s
why we need a strong teacher resource/expert within the school to
support kids
Nicola – also supports having technical resource in-house, rather
than having to call into school board help line – Lynn – next year
technology will be something that we look at quite seriously
8. Yard Clean up and External Environment Cmte– Mike W.
 Meeting after yard clean up, went well, article in Oscar positive
 Committee will meet over summer and put together hard plan –
trees a priority, climber not a huge impact; we need to take our
time to decide – take opportunity to review how it is being used
and the best use/make a little different that serves all uses/more
natural – also to remember that it is a community space
 Yard is locked over summer unless there are programs over the
summer – e.g., OSCA, summer camps
9. Year end party
 Not going to happen, no one has stepped forward to lead it; skip it
for this year, will readjust for next year
10. New Business

None
12. Adjournment
Moved by Heather seconded by Claudia