Boyne River Public School
Minutes to School Council Meeting
Date: October 2, 2023
Time: 6:06 pm
In Attendance
Stephanie Jacklin, Sarah Reilly, Sairah Chaudhary, Tracey Rhynold, Stephanie De Zotti, Stacey Graham, Jackie Caceres, Christina McNamee, Crystal Hobbs, Danielle Vandegram, Sarah Gould
Introductions
Attendees introduced themselves and detailed their relationship to the school (i.e., number of kids in school and grade levels).
Review of the School Council and By-Laws
- Highlighted the availability of the by-laws on the school’s website
- Discussed the role of school council and formalities around voting
Elect Chair and Members
- Chair – Sarah Gould
o responsible for sharing the agenda and signing any required forms (i.e., fundraising plan)
o contact person for the school
- Secretary – Danielle Vandegram
o Takes minutes of school council meetings
- The above members volunteered with no additional nominations so no vote required
Setting the path for 2023-24
- In the next meeting, the school action and equity plan will be reviewed. Previous years goals will be analyzed. Various data and assessment tools will be studied (i.e., standardized testing results) to find areas of weakness. A navigation team of teachers discuss reasons for why certain areas are performing weaker and how to address it. Goals for the 2023-24 school year will reflect the areas of improvement. School climate and well being surveys will be compiled to review any issues students may have (i.e., bullying in school).
Staffing
- Turnaround process – projected numbers are provided in the spring based on a mathematical formula determined by the school board. This year, more students lost than projected to St Cecilia Catholic School resulting in the loss of 3 teachers. Total students remaining – approximately 680 vs the projection of 712. LTO teachers were bumped from their roles due to an overage of contract teachers in the school board. Boyne was able to keep our teachers in some roles resulting in the overall loss of only 1 teacher.
- 90% of classes in the school have to be at the set levels provided by the board. 10% of classes can fluctuate from the provided targets.
- Average class sizes: 20 students in primary levels, 24 students in junior/intermediate levels
Social Media
- Facebook is not an official school communication. No posts are vetted by the office and they are not responsible for any information posted.
- Advised to bring any complaints and issues directly to the office. If the office is not informed of issues, they can’t address them. Children’s safety and comfort is the top priority of the school so they need to be made aware of issues in order to address them.
Dates to Remember
- Sept 28 – Terry Fox Run
o DJ donated their time to the event
- Sept 30 – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (recognized at the school on September 29)
o Crosswalk completed in time for this date
o Discussions with the indigenous education department to come up with a respectful design
o Voluntary smudging ceremony was held when revealed
- Oct 9 – Thanksgiving
- Oct 11- 16 – Book fair
- Oct 12 – Meet the Families Night (5:30 to 7:00)
o Book fair open to parents
o Possibility for parent volunteers to assist with the book fair that night
o Moved to later this year as prior years was too close to turnaround date and teachers didn’t know the new students well
o Tickets for food to become available soon on the website
- Oct 13 – IEP’s home
- Oct 17 – School photos
o Class photos should be taken this year
- Oct 20 – PA Day
- Nov 9 – Progress reports
- Nov 13 - 17 – Parent teacher conferences
- Nov 17 – PA Day
- Nov 21 – Photo retakes
- Dec 22 – Last day before winter break
- Feb 1 – Report card (1st)
- June 21 – Report card (2nd)
- Sports and Clubs (flag football, cross country, Eco team)
o starting to get rolling
o will try to add details to the school website or newsletter
Fundraising Plan and Finances
- $28,000 carried forward from prior year. Typically try to use funds in the year raised so that the students fundraising benefit from their efforts.
- $1,800 of this amount has been used to complete and refresh the crosswalks
- FR code – accounts where money comes in – transfer to BN
- BN codes – areas to spend funds (example codes – technology (i.e., Chromebooks) and athletics (i.e., cover supply teachers to travel with sports teams))
- The fundraising plan determines how much funds are allocated to each BN code. In order to transfer funds from one BN code to another, the school council needs to vote to approve.
Admin Team Profile
To be completed by Sarah as school council chair.
Other Business
Winter vendor fair – proposed by members of school council. Proposed to have an evening vendor fair for local vendors. Vendors would pay a fee to the school for a table. Proposed date of November 24th. To be added to the fundraising plan and discussed further in next meeting. Some vendors may need to be approved by the board.
McDonald’s – would like to set up two events. Proposed October 25, 2023 and January 17, 2024. To ask staff for classroom artwork to decorate McDonald’s.
Heritage month – potential for parent volunteers to set up a heritage month display
BBQ – began the discussion on generating ideas such as a silent auction of baskets made by each classroom. Cannot have bouncy castle or animals on school property. Proposed date June 6th (the Thursday before the PA Day). Need to ensure we are representing all families at the school (i.e., variety of food options, henna tattoos, etc.).
- Idea: wandering magician
Other events requested for the year: Mr. Rapin’s caroling night, family math night, valentine’s day dance. Stacey to coordinate the dance with Professor Jamz.
Dates of Upcoming Meetings
November 6
December 5
February 5
April 8
May 6
June 3
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm.