Parent Council Meeting Minutes – From September 22

Hello Parents and Caregivers,

Please find below the minutes from the most recent (September 22) Parent Council Meeting. The next Parent Council Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 19th at 6:30pm in the library (2nd floor); child minding will be offered.

Welcome and Introductions

• We had a wonderful turn out at our first Parent Council meeting of the new school year. Parents represented students from JK to Grade 8

Principal’s Report – J. Harry Quon

• TDSB welcome their new Director, John Malloy
• Mike Gallagher is our new Superintendent
• We are pleased to welcome our new staff: Krista Burgess is Grade 6, Jenn Penman in Music/Resource, Elsa Carmargo in Primary MID
• Real Food for Real Kids (hot lunch program) has begun. You can register via their website if interested.
• International Language Classes are beginning soon
• Our students will participate in the Terry Fox Run on October 6th
• Our Cross Country and Baseball teams have been training hard (X-Country preliminaries on Sept 30)
• Curriculum Night is on Sept. 29, beginning in the gym at 5:45pm followed by classroom visits
• Students in Grades 2-8 have been writing the Model School’s Cat4 tests this past week. Results will be provided to teachers along with teaching/learning strategies to support students’ needs.
• All students in Grade 3 (with signed parental permission) will be taking part in the Gifted Screening test next week
• Grade 4’s are involved in Project Give Back – “a passion based program designed for elementary students to develop empathy, build character, and ignite community minded citizens”.
• Essex is currently in a re-organization process – rebalancing of numbers in specific classrooms (all parents and students involved have been notified)

Treasurer’s Report

• Last year’s fundraising efforts raised: $6,500 from pizza, $2,000 from Bingo Night, $7,300 from Spring Fling (shared with Hawthorne), $450 from book sales
• We are proud to report last year’s Dance-a-thon raised $3,000 to sponsor a Syrian family with Hawthorne
• Money raised went towards: Scientists in School (2 per class), Artists in School (1 per class), $200 for each classroom, skating equipment, Lice Checks, etc.
• Right now we are beginning the year with $8-10,000. Essex Parent Council is committed to spending all of the money raised each year, sending it back into enriching our children’s education and everyone’s overall health and well-being while at learning at Essex P.S.

Communications Report

• Currently in the process of organizing a class parent rep for each classroom.
• Discussions around role of the parent rep and how communications to all families will be concise and bi-weekly is in the process.

Fundraising Committee

• A new fundraising event will be introduced soon, “Fresh from the Farm”. Students sell fruits/veggies to their families. Pick up day will be in Nov. All Ontario produce, money raised goes back to the local farm and to our school.
• Pizza lunch volunteers needed! Do you have 45 minutes during the day you can volunteer once a month? Volunteers are asked to arrive at school for 11:30am on their assigned day. Duties include helping to sort the pizza by names/class and then distribute to students. All volunteers will receive a free pizza lunch!
• Our annual Monster Mixer is coming soon, Friday, October 28. Come out for a night of silly costumes, a wonderful community potluck supper, a DJ to entertain the kids, and a chance to meet your neighbours with a clown nose on!

Health and Wellbeing Committee

• Committee was created to address the health, well-being, and inclusivity of all students at Essex PS
• Past Successes – Recess Buddies (leadership opportunity for older students to help bring children together for play), Lunch Buddies (inspired by a program at UCC), Buddy Bench (children introduced to the bench last year in an assembly – if you do not have anyone to play with you sit on the bench and someone will come invite you to play), Book Club (half hour meeting before parent council related to parenting, emotional intelligence, and growth mindset)
• Looking for new members and fresh ideas this year

Nominations and Elections for Parent Council 2016-2017

1.  Co-Chairs – Nicole nominated Allison Venditti and Jean Hammond, Dave seconded, all supported
2. Treasurer – Jean nominated Nicole Belcourt and David Wood , Milissa seconded, all supported
3. Secretary – Jean nominated Lynette Bacon, Nicole seconded, all supported

Clusters

• A Clusters Program is being introduced in both of our Kindergarten classrooms this year. Parents may contact their Kindergarten teacher if they wish to volunteer to teach a specialty skill to a small group of students.

The next Parent Council meeting will be on Wednesday, October 19th at 6:30pm in the library (2nd floor). Child minding will be offered. Please come and meet new parents in our community and add your voice and ideas to the conversation.