Briarcrest School Council
Minutes to Meeting
October 18, 2010

Attendees:      Karen Key                                        Judy Palmer-Hartley
                        Anna Viegandt                                 Catherine Baker
                        Jane Durbano                                    Dawn Irwin
                        Silvana Lowe                                   Sarah Smart                                       Hala Larizza-Ali                              Nicole Sang-Male
                        Christina Vas                                    Nalika Abeysinghe
                        Anna Stuart                                      Nathan Balasingham                            Michelle Williamson                         Kalaivani Komalanathan

• All were welcomed by the president Judy Palmer-Hartley.
• The minutes to the previous meeting (Sep 27/10) were read and approved.
• Principal’s Report

Principal Mrs. Viegandt presented the report which included the following:

i) Parental Workshop
Principal announced that the 1st parent workshop for the 2010/2011 school year will be held on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 jointly with Hollycrest.  The intent is to continue having workshops each term.

ii) Health Initiatives
Full school lice screening will be held on Monday, October 25, 2010. If any incidents are discovered during this process notices will be sent out to parent.
Chicken pox notices were sent out to children.

iii) Report cards
Progress reports will be sent out on November 15th.  Parent/teacher interviews are being held on November 18th and 19th. This will be a 2 page report and will look different from the traditional report cards sent out in the past. More emphasis will be placed on child’s learning skills, social skills and subjects.

iv) Events for the week of November 15th, 2010

• Book Fair will be held from Tuesday, November 16 to Thursday, November 18 , 2010
• Math Gallery will be held on the week of November 15, 2010.  This is an initiative that integrates math and art together. Exhibits prepared by students will be displayed in the Gym.

v) Shoe Box
Collection of shoe boxes will commence on November 12th. This initiative was very successful in the prior year and 360 shoe boxes were collected and distributed to children in El Salvador.

vi) Teacher Hub Group Meetings
Teachers at Briarcrest are meeting with other teachers from Broadacres, Wellsworth, and Princess Margaret to discuss best teaching practice. These meetings will be held 2 times a term throughout the year. This is a brainstorming session where every teacher shares their learning methods and ideas to enhance teaching techniques.

vii) Funding for 2010/2011 School Year
School Council funding requirement for the school year are to be provided to TDSB.  A copy of the completed report was given to the treasure, Catherine Baker. The report included funding requirements for the following events and requires total funding amounting to approximately $8,000 for the school year.

• Literacy
• Extra Curricular Sports/ Activities
• Special Events
• Art & Drama
• Computer Science

4) Teachers Report
Ms. Sarah Smart presented teachers report during the meeting which explained following:

i) Proposed Spirit Days to be held during the 2010/2011 school year

• Pajama Days
• Crazy Hat Day
• Twin Day

ii) Sport Jerseys
Ms. Smart confirmed that the jerseys were ordered for a total cost of $1,117.01 including HST. These are reversible jerseys which have the colours of navy & teal. The cost was higher than the original estimated cost of $615 as they were reversible and also due to HST. The additional cost incurred on the jerseys was approved by the committee

iii) Cross Country
Ms. Smart confirmed that 98 children participated in the October cross country meet of which 16 children participated in the Toronto West meet and 6 students participated in the City Meet.

iv) Slow Pitch Teams
Girl’s slow pitch team was to participate in the city championship and the boy’s slow pitch team will participate in the west championship.

A parent brought the concern on the availability of Fist Aid kits during sporting events. Mrs. Viegandt confirmed that there are 3 first aid kits that are available in the school.  She will remind teachers to take them to these events.

5) Treasurer’s Report
The treasure, Catherine Baker, presented the treasurers report and confirmed that $10,345.67 is left from the previous year.

She also stated that for a regular year the school council needs approximately $8,000 in funding and raised the concern of having fundraising activities during the year to maintain current fund balance.

6) Fund Raising Activities
Dawn Irwin of the fundraising committee stated that the fundraising committee has planned for following fundraisers to be held during the school year.

• Dance a thorn : to be held on Friday February 11th
• Pizza Days : twice a month
• Family Photo Day: November 3rd - will give families the opportunity to take their picture - a $10 sitting fee will be charged to each family
• LaMontage: date to be determined
• It was discussed by the committee that an option be given to parents to donate funds instead of selling chocolates as some parents prefer giving a donation.

New Business & Other

• Chair, Judy Palmer, raised the concern that some parents had suggested to collect money for pizza meals for a number of months.  It was discussed that this is a large cash outlay for parents with more than 2 kids attending school. After discussions it was concluded that money will be collected monthly.
• Concerns were raised on possibilities of increasing the funding for Silver Birch and Bruce Spruce program to purchase more books. Principal stated that this needs to be further evaluated by discussing the requirements and the popularity of the books with the librarian.