Regular Meeting of The Louis Riel School Council (Advisory) Wednesday, November 25 th, 2015 6:30 pm School council provides a means for parents and community to work together with administration, staff and school students to promote the well being and overall effectiveness of the school community. Its main role is advisory. Meeting called to order at 6:37 pm. Administration in Attendance : Jason Hartl (Principal), Brenda Lewis (Assistant Principal) Attendance : Claudia M. (Vice Chair), Dan C. (Treasurer), Amanda M. (Secretary), Lisa D., Teresa C., Tammy B., Jeanine J.,Traci A., Brook H., Lisa B., Lindsay B., Monika J., Erin H., Laura L., Shayna F., and Jacob H. 1. Approval of minutes of last meeting (October 14, 2015): moved by Shayna, second by Traci. 2. Presentation by a teaching staff member. Ms. Lindsay Booth, who teaches Grade 5/6 in the Science program, informed the council about Science Fair. a. Science Fair is a student engagement initiative that operates from October through February. The end goal is presentations/projects presented at the Student Showcase. In Science, these are referred to as Science Projects and in GATE, as Passion Projects. b. The program has age appropriate goals. Students are supported through the process by their teachers, with some work being done at home where parents can provide additional support. c. Students in Grades 5 9 can also enter their projects into the Calgary Youth Science Fair. Louis Riel judging day (to decide which projects to enter in the Calgary fair) is February 5th. d. The number of projects that can be entered is enrollment based. In 2016, Louis Riel will be able to enter 8 projects for Grade 5/6 and 10 for Grade 7 9. A maximum of 2 students can work on each project. e. Louis Riel has been very successful at the Calgary Youth Science Fair in the past. In 2015, Louis students won 9 major awards, including the BP Elementary School Aggregate Award. f. Parents wanting more information can visit www.cysf.org or email Ms. Booth at ldbooth@cbe.ab.ca. 3. Administration presentation by Jason. His complete Powerpoint will be made available on the Council web page. Highlights included: a. Louis Riel s School Development Plan. The school s current focus is on Literacy and Task Design related to such. The school has two goals related to this focus. The Achievement
Goal is that students will demonstrate improved achievement in reading comprehension and fluency. The Instructional Goal is that staff develops formative assessment strategies to inform instructional decisions in literacy, both comprehension and fluency. b. Staffing update. Due to some additional funding made available to the school since the beginning of the school year, 2 full time teachers have moved to literacy support roles. They have both been replaced in the classroom roles, plus 1 new PE specialist has also been hired. There are also 3 new educational assistants, bringing the school s number of EA s to 7. c. Fees report how student fees are put to use. d. Use of budget recently provided by the Parent Society. Highlights included the purchase of a 3D printer, and 25 Acer notebooks. Planned purchases include 6 Mac desktops, another 3D printer if the first is successful, cameras, television monitors to be used in lieu of more Smartboards. The CBE computer evergreening program has recently provided for the replacement of 25 Mac laptops and 10 Mac desktops. e. Feedback to administration on parent room rep program (from teachers) has all been very positive. 3. Regular Business : f. Administration is continuing to investigate the possibility of providing Food Services from a kitchen by the North Gym. Current goal is to start the next school year making cold/room temperature items available, possibly proceeding to hot food eventually. Items would need to meet the requirements of the CBE Healthy Eating Program. Parents will find CBE nutrition information and guidelines here. g. There is a CBE survey coming out soon regarding parent engagement. Louis Riel encourages Louis parents to complete the survey to provide feedback to the CBE on district wide engagement initiatives. Claudia asked for input re: engagement and awareness of the Parent Council. In other words, what information do we, as council need in order to feel we can be informed advisors to Louis Riel? She also asked for feedback on the current methods of communication between the school and parents, which include: Teacher blogs the School website Principal s blog School Council webpage Discussion included:
Why are there 2 systems for teacher blogs (Edmodo and D2L)? Elementary teachers have switched to Edmodo as per administration request, but Jr. High teachers requested that they be allowed to use D2L (familiar to them) for 1 more year. According those present at the meeting, the calendar on the school s home page is a very popular tool. Emails that have been coming out from the office are also very welcomed. Strong request for more being able to receive email updates to more than one email address per family so both parents or grandparents and other caregivers can be in the loop. Some parents feel that they are experiencing information overload, with multiple sources of info about the school and their child s class. Admin pointed out that parents used to complain about not getting enough information from the school. There was some discussion about creating a master list of communication channels that are available to parents so they have a clear picture about how/where they can get information. Would be nice if we could subscribe to communications like the Principal s Blog. Administration is hopeful that the new CBE website format (expected in early 2016) will give parents more choice about how they want to receive information. Discussion was held about potential speakers for Council meetings. Parents requested presentations on internet safety, health and nutrition and one suggestion in post meeting on drug awareness. Note next council meeting (January 13, 2016) will have speakers providing an overview of both the Science and GATE programs. 4. Other Business. Discussions by the council throughout the meeting included: How do we align healthy eating ideals with (a) fun lunches and (b) prepackaged foods for the canteen currently being considered? One parent asked if we would consider installing a water bottle refilling station that provides chilled, filtered water. Are there any plans to fix up the area (tables) near the front door of the school? Answer from administration: students have only recently been allowed to hang out there, due to larger school population. Admin has an idea to increase seating space in that area and will share their idea when it has undergone a bit more investigation. What s up with the idea of a Parent Expert Database? Still in the works, under investigation by Administration. Is there an administration/school policy on the use of personal electronic devices on school property. Answer: yes. Parents expressed an interest in school initiatives focusing on nutrition and wellness.
Parents asked what kids currently do during cold days when they have to be inside during breaks. These take place when it s 20ºC or colder including windchill. Administration response: there isn t enough space to have the kids doing something physical and it is tricky to find an activity that is appropriate and welcomed across a broad range of ages. Keeping the kids inside is usually a very last minute decision due to fluctuating weather conditions and only happened a handful of times during the 2014 15 school year. Next meeting Jason can give overview of protocol. Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm. Regular Meeting of The Louis Riel School Society (Fundraising) Wednesday, November 25 th, 2015 immediately following Council meeting The fundraising society provides a means for parents and community members to provide additional financial resources and support to the school. Its main role is fundraising. Meeting called to order at 8:01 pm. Administration in Attendance : Jason Hartl (Principal), Brenda Lewis (Assistant Principal) Attendance : Claudia M. (Vice Chair), Dan C. (Treasurer), Amanda M. (Secretary), Lisa D., Teresa C., Tammy B., Jeanine J.,Traci A., Brook H., Lisa B., Lindsay B., Monika J., Erin H., Laura L., Shayna F., and Jacob H. 1. Reviewed agenda. Approval minutes of last meeting (October 14, 2015): moved by Traci, second by Erin. 2. Regular Business: Cheque Writing Fundraiser. Claudia congratulated the council and all members involved in the fundraiser for a very successful outcome: over $24K raised, with over $22K staying with the council (after the 5% Education Matters administration fee is deducted). Fantastic! Eighty five percent of donations made online so the investment in a tool to do so proved valuable. The fund remains open for donations, for the time being. Administration will continue to share news on the technology investments underway. The Music Parent Association has requested that the society apply on their behalf for two 50/50 draw lottery licenses so they can conduct fundraising 50/50 draws during the December 8 and December 10 holiday concerts. Following a brief discussion, the following motion was made:
Motion : that the Society apply for AGLC Raffle License required by the music Parent Association, for two 50/50 draws one each for Dec 8 & Dec 10 winter concert performances. Moved by Shayna, second by Marilyn. Motion Carried. Fundraising. Shayna presented an update on the results of the October Scholastic Book Fair. It was very successful, the school s best ever. Gross sales were close to $8K. Teachers and the library were able to make lots of purchases, and $755 was banked for use by the school at a later date. Erin indicated that poinsettia sales were low so far, but it was felt that probably a lot of people were going to get their orders in last minute. One parent offered the idea of combining poinsettia sales with Purdy s chocolate sales, next year. Following an earlier discussion by the Society that a fundraiser calendar for the entire year would be useful so parents know what to expect, Erin/Claudia drafted one and parents gave positive feedback. Brenda will evaluate where to add to school website. There was a discussion of the Fun Lunch program, after a parent brought up that teachers she has spoken with have expressed concerns about how the fun lunch distribution is being handled. Points discussed included: Some staff members may be finding the fun lunch distribution process to be disorganized and therefore overwhelming for them in the sense of adding to their work load right as lunch break should be starting. They may find this particularly difficult if they are on supervision and therefore have less time for their own lunch before heading out to supervise. There are also concerns about increased garbage being left on the school property, due to packaging that comes with the lunches. Is there a fun lunch coordinator? Yes, Traci is coordinator. She is not onsite during fun lunches due to family commitments, but ensures there are sufficient volunteers for each lunch. Traci pointed out that the experience differs by vendor and whether lunches arrive on time. Vendors who do not do a good job with timely deliveries and good organization of the food are not asked to provide lunches again. There is a learning curve for the volunteers distributing the lunches, since they are not the same people every time. Parent council needs to make the process work smoothly and therefore may need to develop a consistent process to be followed on Fun Lunch days. Traci has asked the front office staff for feedback over the past couple of months and not received any concerns from them. Traci will meet with administration to talk about ways to improve the process.
Volunteering. Traci presented the results of her comparison of Volunteerspot and SignUp Genius for recruiting volunteers for events. She evaluated the two tools across many points and made a recommendation that we go with Volunteer Spot, in part because they offer a $99 flat rate school campus membership. Council members present agreed with her recommendation, want to try using it for Council/Society initiatives first and then hopefully roll it out for use by the broader school community, such as room parents. The membership fee ($99+GST) will be taken from the society s contingency fun. Janice is the new volunteer coordinator. She wasn t present at the meeting, but was introduced in absentia by Claudia. She s experienced with Volunteerspot and volunteer recruitment. Welcome, Janice! Monika asked administration to select a date for the Christmas teacher appreciation event. December 17th was chosen. Monika has requested volunteers to bring treats and goodies for the teachers to enjoy. Meeting adjourned at 8:42 pm. Next meeting: Wednesday January 13, 2016 6:30 to 8:30 pm @ Louis Riel Comp Lab 6:30 pm Louis Riel School Council Meeting Presentation on GATE and Science Program Overview ~7:15 LR School Society (Fundraising) Meeting To request something be added to the agenda, please email the Council Chairs at lrsschoolcouncil@gmail.com at least 2 weeks prior to the next meeting Future Council & Society meeting dates : 6:30 8:30 pm in the Comp Lab Feb. 17 Mar. 9 Apr. 13 (AGM) May 25 (AGM)
Motions Approved Summary Louis Riel Parent Council (Society) Motion Description Motion Originator Motion Seconder To approve application for AGLC Raffle License required by the music Parent Association, for two 50/50 draws one each for Dec 8 & Dec 10 winter concert performances. Shayna Marilyn