Briarcrest School Council
Minutes to Meeting
October 19, 2009
Attendees: Silvana
Lowe Sarah
Smart
Dawn
Irwin Judy
Palmer-Hartley
Karen
Key Anna
Viegandt
Jane
Durbano Lara
Robins
Cari
Reed Vanessa
Mooney
Nicole
Sang-Male Maggie
Knox
Julie
Trimble
1)
All were welcomed by Judy
Palmer-Hartley.
2)
The minutes to the previous meeting
were read and approved.
3)
Principal’s Report
a.
Ottawa Trip
i.
This is for the grade 5 students
ii.
Booked for Jun 21 to Jun 23, 2010
(Monday to Wednesday)
a)
The grade 5 graduation is on Jun 25
(Friday)
iii.
There will be a parent night in
Nov/09
iv.
Payment will be online to the tour
company
v.
There are presently slightly more
than 40 students eligible for the trip
a)
Anticipating that 35 of these
students will go on the trip
b)
There is a minimum of 30 students
that need to go
c)
If the numbers decline Mrs. Viegandt
will invite Wellesworth to join which will keep the costs down
b.
EQAO Scores
i.
The scores went up from the previous
year
a)
Reading is up 11%
b)
Writing is up 3%
c)
Math is up 10%
ii.
The results were higher than the
results for the TDSB schools and the NW6 Family of Schools
iii.
From previous years it has been
noted that the gender gap is decreasing
iv.
This is the first year that the
school has been able to track the students to the next EQAO tests that they
write in grade 6; Mrs. Viegandt will be
studying the results to see how the students did compared to three years ago
v.
There were a couple of things that
the test showed that Mrs. Viegandt wishes to analyze further into
a)
The children are surveyed to find
out if they identify themselves as reader or writer; close to 50% of students
identify themselves as readers and writers – this is low
b)
51% of the students surveyed stated
the do not have access to a computer at home; the reasons behind this need to
be researched (it could be as simple as an older sibling is on the computer or
the parents limit the child’s access)
c.
Lunch Lady program has started
i.
Starts Oct 30/09
ii.
Will be once a week (Fridays)
iii.
All items are peanut free
iv.
Any other allergies will be worked
with by the Lunch Lady
d.
Parent Workshops
i.
An excellent result for the return
of the forms (75%)
ii.
Mrs. Viegandt will go through the
forms and analyze the results to determine which workshops to hold and which
evening and what time
iii.
The only outstanding question is which
months to hold them
a)
Jan/Feb for one
b)
Apr/May for the second
e.
Primary and Junior Choirs
i.
The primary choir was started under
Ms. Landell
a)
This choir is made up of students
from rooms 2, 3 and 5
b)
The practices take place during
school time so all children participate
ii.
The junior choir is volunteer and is
led by Ms. DeVal
a)
Practices take place during lunch
hours
iii.
The choirs will be taking part in to
carol fests and singing at Richview United Church in December for a group of
seniors
iv.
Mrs. Viegandt asked if the council
would be willing to support the bussing to the carol fests
a)
Potentially there would be one large
bus for the primaries and a second bus for the juniors
b)
Support was approved, but actual
costs have yet to be approved
4)
Treasurer’s Report
a.
The parent barbecue on Oct. 8
grossed $883.00
i.
The expense needs to be deducted
from this amount to determine the net revenue
a)
Juice, pop, water, ice and cost of
The BBQ Bros. needs to be factored in
b.
The Treasurer’s Report is now posted
on the parent council bulletin board
5)
Teacher’s Report
a.
Sport’s Teams
i.
Over 100 students participated in
the first cross country meet
a)
7 students have moved on to the city
finals
ii.
The baseball and football teams have
qualified for their semi-final games
a)
There may be small receipts for
referees that will be put forth at a future council meeting as a payment
request
iii.
Hockey
a)
Will be taking place in late April
this year to avoid being at the same time as league playoffs
b)
May be able to get cheap ice time
for practices through a student’s coach
iv.
Skiing
a)
Just the grade 5’s to participate
b)
The students will go skiing once in
Jan, Feb and Mar
c)
18 students can sign up for snow
boarding versus skiing
d)
All students are required to have 1
lesson regardless of their current proficiency
e)
For $20.00 the students get a
½ or full day lesson, ski/board rental and a day of skiing
6)
New Business
a.
Funding Requests
i.
Milk Fridge
a)
The current fridge is broken (the
milk is freezing)
b)
To purchase the fridge through the
board will cost $430.00 plus PST (which is a fair price)
c)
The fridge has to be an energy star
fridge
a.
Mrs. Viegandt will look into seeing
if the school can receive any government rebates to reduce the cost
b.
Council approved paying for this
expenditure
ii.
1st Nations Story Teller
and Author
a)
Ms. DeVal requested $165.00 to have
a story teller come in for the grade 3 students
b)
The presentation would fit well with
the grades pioneer portion of the curriculum
c)
Council approved the request
b.
Spirit Days
i.
A parent requested that these days
be reinstated as the students (and some of the teachers) enjoy them
ii.
A number of suggestions were put
forth (pajama day, crazy hair day, Olympic day (for Feb/10), backwards/inside
out day)
iii.
To start Nov/09
c.
Garbage can
i.
There was a garbage can on school
property that was destroyed by vandalism
ii.
A parent asked if this was to be
replaced as it was noted that the garbage is either being just dropped on the
school playground or put down the sewer grate
iii.
Mrs. Viegandt will look into having
this replaced
d.
Pizza Lunches
i.
In order for the council to provide
pizza lunches there needs to be a minimum of 6 volunteers for 20 minutes a
month
a)
Presently we do not have a
commitment from volunteers for this
ii.
The pizza lunches have been
postponed until January 2010
a)
Should the council receive
commitment from sufficient volunteers, then the days will be reinstated
Next
Meeting: Monday, November 16, 2009
at 6:45 pm
