St. Joseph Catholic School Council
Minutes
Thursday January 22, 2015
7:00 p.m. – Library
Attendance: Rose Polak, Sandra Corte, Maria Le, Jenn Auyeung, Nicole Lazar (teacher rep), Andrea Hagman,
Sherri Kovacs, Lian Lanthier, Regina Petate, Catherine Yeh, Charlene Mack, Giuliana Marinelli, Joseph
Manuelpillai
Regrets: Dina Cinerari, Jennifer McMillan, Maria Andre-Filtsos, Adrian Coutinho, Linda Liscio-Mirkovic, Lina
Spano, Georgia Pelegris, Sharon Fernandez, Mary-Alison Peksjar
1. Welcome & Prayer
2. Approval of Minutes via email – December 4, 2014
 Minutes from December 4, 2014 meeting approved via email by Rose Polak, Sandra Corte, Maria Le,
Sherri Kovacs, Linda Liscio-Mirkovic, Georgia Pelegris, Lian Lanthier, Jenn Auyeung.
3. Approval of the agenda – January 22, 2015
 Approved by Maria Le and Josepth Manuelpillai.
4. Principal’s Report – Ms. Polak
Cinderella – Prologue Presentation
 The performance was today and it was a great success.
Drums Alive Performance
 The performance will be on Monday for grades 4-8.
 Tales by Moonlight is a performance in February that will be for K-3.
 These performances are part of Black History Month programming. The emphasis for these
performances is respect and an anti-bullying message.
Family Literacy Night
 Next Tuesday night (January 27). Messages have been sent to parents about this event. Parents will
have an opportunity to register for a public library card at the event.
PA Day - February 2
 This PA Day will involve in-service for teachers. Most teachers will be at the school. Music and Phys.
Ed. teachers will be at the Board office.
 Teachers will be introduced to the Board’s new concussion protocol. Ms. Polak will be making a
presentation at the February CSC meeting regarding this new policy.
 Teachers will also have a half-day in-service on math, specifically on procedural fluency in math for
grades K-8.
February 3
 First term reports go home.
Carnival February 9 – 13
 More information to come.
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School Solemn Blessing and Opening
 Held Tuesday May 5 at 7:00 p.m.
 Wanted this event held during Catholic Education Week. This date is a day that fits into the schedules
of the Bishop, priests and Senior Administration at the Board
 Staff at the school have met to talk about this event. Volunteers will be invited to join one of several
organizing committees. Each teacher has a role as a committee chair for this event.
Confirmation Classes
 Confirmation classes will be starting next week. The classes will be taught by Father Neiman and
Mathew McCarthy the Intern Seminarian.
Play Structure
 Ms. Polak has received all 3 quotes for moving the playground from the old school to the new school.
Ontario Playgrounds came in with the lowest quote at $15,610.
 Once the frost is gone they will dismantle the play structure and bring it over to the new school and
put it back together in a way that meets all of the safety standards.
 Payment – Purchase order will need to be created and the company will look for payment when they
start the project. It won’t be until April/May until everything is in place for the job to start.
 The date that the play structure is ready may not align with the date that the kids will be allowed on
the grass field. Ms. Polak will find out from Plant and Maintenance. (Ms. Polak)
 The play structure will be put in the primary section closer to the bus loop than to Morning Dove. The
outdoor classroom will be closer to the school.
5. Teacher’s Report – Ms. Lazar
 Scientist In The School at the end of the month – for Grade 1.
 Grade 1 students have enjoyed skating. Their last skate will be next week.
 Communion retreat is on Tuesday February 24 at St. Patrick’s.
 Grades K-2 will be having a ‘100th day of school’ celebration on February 10.
 On January 23 grades 4 and 5 will be going to the Ontario Science Centre.
 Sound Sense 4.
 Dance specialty artist in the school.
 Ms. Erwin is leading a crochet club. There are 48 students in the club.
 Ms. Agnello would like to put together a dance group for friendly competition. Grade 8 students might
be interested in doing some choreography. This group would not start until March.
 Grade 8s are doing Scientist in the School.
 Grade 8s just had their graduation photos taken.
 Luke 4:18 group from February 9 To 13 - Free The Children donations to buy goats, sleep nets.
 On February 12 there will be an anti-bullying presentation. Mr. Howell and Ms. Giacomel’s grade 6
class will be performing.
 On February 18 there will be an Ash Wednesday mass at 11:00.
6. Treasurer’s Report – Jenn Auyeung
 There is not a lot to report since the end of December.
 Cheques have been written for Prologue. We are getting to the top of that budget. The performances
are almost over for the year.
 Another large deposit for pizza was made in December. There will be another deposit at the
beginning of February.
 We are still on track for annual CSC expenses and paying for the play structure. The surplus from last
year will cover the majority of the play structure cost.
 Some ideas to spend money on for next year: Basketball nets? (The basketball nets would need to be
on poles). Some painting on pavement? Add something to the kindergarten yard for the kindergarten
students to play with?
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7. Chair’s Report – Sandra Corte and Maria Le
Progrant Literacy Night – Tuesday January 27
 Refreshments will be served: apple juice, coffee Take Tens from Tim Horton’s and nut-free cookies.
We have $50 to spend on refreshments.
 Ryan from the Markham Public Library will be speaking.
 Maria will be there at 6:30.
 The author sent us the invoice for the event. It is somewhere around $500. We have $1,000 to spend
and we have to use it or we lose the Progrant funds.
 An idea for the next meeting on how to use the remaining $500. A lot of schools have done
something around mental health. St. Edward’s is having something on Monday night around mental
health. St. Justin or St. Julia have also done something on mental health. (Sandra and Maria)
 Ms. Polak will talk to some local principals about what mental health program they did, who they
contacted and what they did. We can look at doing something in March/April. (Ms. Polak)
Pancake Tuesday – Tuesday February 17
 Past years we had parent volunteers make a couple boxes of pancakes at home and bring them to
the school. Parents then served juice and pancakes in the gym to students. Giuliana Marinelli has
coordinated in the past and will do it again this year.
 Should we have parents make the pancakes again this year or ask Cora’s to donate the pancakes?
Giuliana will talk to Cora’s to find out. (Giuliana)
 We have two stoves at the new school – one in the servery and one in the staff room.
 This is a fun event and a lot of parents come out to help. It is the event where we get the most
volunteers. We need 25 volunteers to make pancakes, which means we need 38 boxes.
 We have leftover syrup from last year. We did return some of the unopened syrup but we still have a
few left.
 Last year we got a few donations: Walmart and No Frills. No Frills was the cheapest for buying
pancake mix and they donated some as well.
 Need the volunteers on the day to serve and clean.
 There are about 392 students at the school. Our target 400, which means 40 boxes of pancakes.
 If we are going to have parents make pancakes then we would send out an email to get parent
volunteers.
 If we make the pancakes the pancake mix will be at the office and parents will come in and pick up
their box and get a scheduled time to bring in the cooked pancakes the day of the event.
 Every 20 minutes another class comes into the gym for pancakes where the pancakes are served.
The students are all fed by 12:00. 20 volunteers are needed to help serve pancakes and with the
clean-up.
 Juice boxes, paper plates, cutlery – through No Frills.
 Cora’s would do pancakes and we would do the other stuff.
 Check servery before purchasing. (Giuliana)
 How many pancakes they are serving per student for Cora’s? Older ones eat 4 or 5.
 Last year had some pancakes left over and gave them to staff.
 Jenn Auyeung is going to get a whole bunch of tongs as there were not enough last year. Then the
tongs will be left in the servery. (Jenn A.)
Carnival Volunteers
 Ms. Polak is waiting for Mme. Rabbito to give her more detail about this event. (Ms. Polak)
 Will probably have hot chocolate in the classrooms but not in the cafe.
 Maria will bring thermoses. (Maria)
 February 9 – 13. Not sure what day yet.
Milk Coordinator(s)
 Dina emailed Sandra. Last meeting said we needed a milk coordinator for next year. Dina has found
somebody to do it next year. A kindergarten mom has volunteered.
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Outdoor Classroom
 Giuliana is working with Ms. Bouckley on an outdoor classroom.
 Looked at different grants from banks, Toyota and others.
 The school has a charitable registration number, which is needed for the grant applications.
 It is a very lengthy process to do a grant application. We are looking for a $2,000-$3,000 grant.
 There is a lot of planning and organization that needs to be done before we complete a grant
application so that we have a better idea of what we want our outdoor classroom to look like.
 We need a detailed map outlining what the outdoor classroom will contain. Do we want plants, tables,
logs, stones etc.?
 One guide was 60 pages in how to plan an outdoor classroom. Ms. Bouckley is working with that.
Working with Evergreen consultant.
 Once there is more information from the Board to know what things cost, then we can go to the CSC
to see what we can get. Every year we can apply for a grant. We can apply for more than one grant.
 Met with Larry Tadman our consultant. Have to be aware of what we put in the outdoor classroom so
that it doesn’t end up being something that students can hurt themselves on. We can’t put anything in
the outdoor classroom that would require putting another yard duty teacher to supervise that area
specifically.
 What about a little garden? Another school had a community garden and grew vegetables and gave
them to the food bank. This is not something for this year but something to work towards for next
year.
 Where can we get donations for the outdoor classroom?
 Once we have a plan we can form a sub-committee to continue to work on the outdoor classroom.
Marlene Mogado
 Marlene Mogado, our Trustee will be invited to the next CSC meeting. Sandra/Maria will invite her.
(Sandra/Maria)
Servery
 When we first moved to the new school, the daycare was using the servery. They are not there now
as the daycare construction has been completed. The servery is used just by Council now and is
locked.
Newsletter
 February newsletter coming out. Open to content ideas. Send to the Council email if you have any
ideas.
 The newsletter looks great.
End of Year Event Planning
 Friday June 19 – bbq and a movie.
 Booked M&Ms for that night. The food is taken care of. They were here last year.
 Need volunteers closer to that time.
 Movie night would be in the gym and cover the windows.
 At old school there were hooks put into the wall for the screen.
 We still have the huge screen.
 Start time for movie was around 8:30.
 Can use the east side so it will be darker.
 The time will be 8:00.
 We need to start thinking about a movie. A family rated movie. Ideas: Night at the Museum? Big Hero
Six?
 We Bought a Zoo was the movie last year.
 Kids like Despicable Me.
 Last year with the bbq we staggered between different last names and served that way with a 6:00
start time.
 Maria may not be able to be there and Sandra may not be able to be there. Maria’s husband brought
their own speakers. Use the school equipment this year? Don’t know. Have old stuff and what was
installed in this school.
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Maria said that the speakers were okay from the Halloween dance. Maria’s husband will come and
check the sound quality. (Maria)
How are we going to occupy time before the movie?
3 parents have volunteered to help organize the June 19 event – Georgia, Lian and Sheila. Sheila is
an event planner. Plus Maria and Sandra. Will meet once and other volunteers are welcome. It would
be great to have a few more people helping out.
Maria can get us a popcorn and a cotton candy machine from another school. Just have to buy the
bags and the sugar. (Maria)
We do the bbq to just cover the cost of the event. The event is not a fundraiser. The price last year
was $6 for a hamburger or hotdog plus chips and a drink.
Any other activities? Ice cream truck, fire truck?
Don’t know if we will have the grass at that time. Would be great if that was the first grass night. Ms.
Polak does not know or have any control over when we can be on the grass field. Need to wait for the
grass to get rooted. Plant and Maintenance have blocked it off the field.
Maria at Suzuki school end of year. They sold tables for $10 to vendors. Their whole parking lot was
full of different face painting, friendship bracelets. Mrs. Polak likes to keep it with just the community.
Fire Truck would be great and they could pull into the bus loop.
Police department?
Paramedics?
Officer Jenn is around. Ms. Polak will check. (Ms. Polak)
8. Volunteer/Fundraising Report (Sandra Corte for Mary-Alison and Dina C.)
 Covered above.
9. Faith Report – Sharon Fernandez (Sandra for Sharon)
 Parent night coming up for First Communion. The First Communion date will be announced.
10. Grade 8 Report - Maria Andre-Filtsos (Sandra for Maria)
 Next Thursday is the last sub lunch. Looking to find out how much money they made.
 Asking for $50 for each family and see what they could raise for grade 8 graduation expenses.
 Have about $1,899 right now from asking for the $50 and about $1,800 from the Subway sandwiches.
That is the graduation and yearbook money plus paying for the supply teachers for the grade 8
Ottawa trip.
 Wanted to have a pizza day but will wait to see how much money they still need.
 Don’t know how much the yearbook will cost.
 If they do a pizza day they will get a Thursday before a PA Day. There is one in March – Thursday
March 13.
 One of the Thursday sub days got cancelled. One was missing in January so that was slipped in.
 Graduation is at the Mandarin Golf Club on a Monday. Got a good price. Mandarin is being sold and it
is going to be a neighbourhood sold to a developer. Won’t be an option for graduation in the future.
 The one in Legacy – Rouge River might be nice for the future. Rouge River Community Centre.
11. Motion to adjourn
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Motion accepted – Guiliana M. and Jenn A.
NEXT MEETING – Thursday February 26, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. in the library.
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