Monday, April 29, 2013 @ 7:00 p.m.
Attendees: Tammie Rix, Laura Halbert, Lisa El Behairy, Krista Karasiuk, Karen Miske, A.J. Comstock, Jennifer El Refaie,
Agenda:
1. Call to order and welcome (Lisa El Behairy)
2. Review of March 2013 meeting minutes (Krista Karasiuk)
3. Treasurer’s report (Lisa El Behairy)
4. Principal’s Report (Jennifer El Refaie)
5. New business
Discussion:
· Call to Order and Welcome (Lisa El Behairy)
· Review of March 2013 meeting minutes (Krista Karasiuk)
o Motion to accept (Lisa El Behairy). Second (Laura Halbert)
o All in favour
· Treasurer’s Report (Lisa El Behairy)
o $36,598 cash in the bank
o $19,426 to cover all approved ‘A' Category Needs was transferred in December 2012
o $19,324 of these expenses have been processed to date (almost 100% complete)
o 2 additional 'B' Category Needs were approved in March
§ Fit2Dance at ~$900.00
§ Lisa Irwin Art Program at ~$3,200.00
o Cash available on hand is currently $31,900 less amounts earmarked from the Dad’s BBQ fundraising ($17,245) and net cash from pizza days ($4,990) leaving a balance of $9,665
§ 'B' category needs will be paid for out of this balance
§ Cash balance after payment for these items of $5,565
o Parent Council is maintaining a reserve of $5,000
o Net cash balance available of $565
o Parent Council has committed $2,500 out of their reserve to replace dead or dying trees on the school property
o Parent Council will be funding any teacher departure gifts and some of the costs relating to the Grade 6 graduation ceremony (as in prior years) out of the residual reserve amount
o A portion of the net pizza profits may also be considered for allocation to the tree initiative - this annual profit amount is usually ~ $2,000
· Principal’s Report (Jennifer El Refaie)
o Education Weeks Summary
§ School was alive with activity to celebrate education weeks
§ Talent Showcase
· Excellent turnout for both participants and audience members
· Over 80 children participated by performing
· Overwhelming positive feedback means this will be slated as an annual event
§ Artist in the School
· A special thank you to all of the teachers for being very flexible to allow for all students to participate in the portraiture workshops
· Artist provided lessons regarding different artists as well as reflection of artistic work
· Those students who did not get to complete their final lessons with the artist will be able to do so over the next couple of weeks
o PALs / Bins
§ Grades 4, 5 and 6 principal council members are operating the program and pairs of representatives are helping to run the sign in/out process
§ Finding the PALs participation is not as important at the school as most children at Kenollie are used to playing and do so spontaneously without PALs support
o Forest of Reading
§ Ms. Hamilton did an excellent job of organizing and running the ‘Forest of Reading’ program which is now complete
§ A celebration was held as a thank you and reward to all those students who read all of the books and provided their insightful feedback
o TSO Trip (information supplemented by A.J. Comstock as he attended the performance)
§ Program was tailored to youth and attended by a variety of school children
§ Both live band and TSO played
§ Program encompassed
· Classical/traditional pieces
· Quartet
· Discussions about the pieces and instruments
· Opportunity for students to play their recorders along with the professional musicians in attendance
o Staffing
§ All staffing changes will be communicated once complete
§ As our numbers stand now, the following will be the breakdown of classes for next year (subject to change as student numbers fluctuate – information based on February numbers)
· 3 kindergarten classes (2 morning and 1 afternoon)
· 1 grade 1 class
· 1 grade 1 / 2 class
· 1 grade 2 class
· 2 grade 3 classes
· 1 grade 4 class
· 1 grade 4 / 5 class
· 1 grade 5 / 6 class
· 1 grade 6 class
§ An additional allocation for special education has been approved to 1.0 from .9
· A new teacher has therefore been hired to cover .2 planning time as well as drama and dance
§ Junior teachers will continue to cover Primary teacher planning times
§ Ms. Bertran will be leaving the school to join the staff at a new school to be opened September 2013
o Wireless Information Evening
§ The meeting was covered by Mississauga News
§ Any further questions may be directed to Ms. El Refaie
§ Access points the Peel board is installing in schools and offices are intelligent and operate at a fraction of the power of home routers—they are not considered industrial-strength. They self-regulate to ensure that they operate at optimal (lower) power so not to interfere with each other, and are designed to work together in a meshed, networked environment. Home routers are normally built and tuned at full power to provide the most coverage possible.
o Draft Calendar
§ The proposed 2014 / 2015 school year calendar is posted and available for viewing on the Peel Board website
§ Please remember this is draft form only and is subject to change
§ Some items to note within the calendar:
· The number of instructional days remains the same
· No reorganization day
· Ministry designated days have replaced 3 of the previously listed Professional Development (PD) days (students will not attend school and teachers will not be receiving professional development for those days)
· New Business
o Attendees were asked if any additional extra curricular (private) programming would be desired at Kenollie
o Respondents indicated they would be interested in the following:
§ Further Bricks 4 Kids sessions
§ Drama
§ Fit to Dance
o Mr. Comstock introduced an extra curricular math contest available to all grades 5 and 6 students
§ Program is voluntary
§ Program is comprised of 25 exams focusing on problem solving skills
§ Competition is world wide
§ Operates much like an intramural sporting event
§ Goal is to get the students engaged with math
o Mr. Comstock has also confirmed that Kenollie will have a 10K relay team participating at this years Mississauga Marathon
§ Detailed route maps and times can be found at the Mississauga marathon website (link to be forwarded via Thursday envelope)
§ For further details, anyone may contact Mr. Comstock directly
o Parent Council has confirmed they have completed a council position overview document available for any interested parites
Motion to adjourn: Laura Halbert
Second: Lisa El Behairy
All in favour
Minutes submitted by: Krista Karasiuk
Next meeting date: May 27, 2013