December 3/09 Belfast School Council Meeting Minutes(unapproved)

Belfast Elementary School Council
December 3, 2009 7:15pm
Attendance: Principal, Asst.Principal, 16 parents, 1 teacher

Meeting called to order @ 7:15 pm
Motion to approve the November minutes made and 2nded
Additions to meeting agenda: Volunteer update, old business
Cookie dough update, new business
Health committee, new business
Campbell soup labels, new business
Motion to approve amended agenda made 2nd
Old Business:
Traffic: A meeting is to be set up with Principal and the City regarding signage.
The Government of Alberta Transportation Department has proposed changes to the school and playground zones. Input and Information is being collected in Calgary December 3 & 4. The proposed changes would have school zones in effect from 7:30am – 9:00pm and playground zones in effect from 7:30 – 9:00pm.
The drop and go in front of the school is working well but the pylons need to be out and visible.
Parents Blog is now set up and meeting minutes will be posted ASAP. This is to be a positive discussion board for parent. Any changes or input can be forwarded to Chairperson.
New Business:
Cookie Dough Fundraiser: Once again this fundraiser was a huge success raising more than $3100.00 in profit. Thank you to the participants who sold 624 buckets of cookie dough.
Belfast School Council is set up as a charity and therefore we are able to issue receipts for donations made to the council.
Fun Lunch: The first fun lunch (pizza lunch) went in November and made a profit of over $150.00
The next fun lunch is going to be hot dogs, dates to be announced. The suggestion to have fun lunch run with a spirit type activity i.e. High school band coming to play for the students, pj day, backwards day, crazy hat day. The ladies doing the lunch supervision would like a list of non-lunch program students who are staying on fun lunch days.
Un-approved Expenses: Hotel stays for Music Specialist on the nights of the 2 evening performances. A parent can get a discount at the Holiday Inn, and the DeVry bottle money could be used to pay for this expense. A motion was made to pay for a hotel room for the 2 nights of the evening play,and 2nded - Motion was passed.

Teacher reboot was well received. Administration is asking for $40.00 per month to continue with the teacher appreciation. This subject has been tabled until January 2010 and the Treasurers report.

Casino Report: The upcoming casino dates are May 31 and June 1. Casino Coordiantor would like a list of Volunteers so that she can set up the key positions. Security clearance should be done by everyone so any substitutions can be made. Approximately 50 Volunteers are needed to properly run this casino.

Volunteer Co-coordinator: requires volunteers for play nights she can be e-mailed at drsusan@telusplanet.net

A few parents will be selling water and candy bags in the hallway by the caretakers room for the evening performances.
A motion was made to sell 50/50 tickets at the evening performances. and 2nd – motion passed. Volunteers are available to sell 50/50 tickets on both evenings. This is to be an Adult only purchase.

Pepsi Bottling Company has donated 240 bottles of water to be used for the play and fun lunches as needed. Water will be sold at the play concession for $1.00, candy will be $0.50 bag, and popcorn may also be available for $0.75 bag. Coffee for Friday morning’s performance would be great. Contact Tim Hortons manager, also a parent regarding this donation.

The School will once again be supplying flower bouquets for music specialist and teacher and the 3 musicians. Will Carnations be handed out to every child at the end of the production; this will have to be paid for by parents. Council will have to supply the cash float for the concession and 50/50 ticket sales.

Lunchroom update: Things in the lunchroom are running smoothly right now. Calculations will be ready for the year end at which time additions in staffing will be reviewed.

Life Touch photography: Life touch has been in touch with the School and has offered to come back for an additional spring photo session, $2.00 from each set of photos sold will go the School. If the School decides to sign up with Life Touch for the next 3 years Life Touch will give the School $300.00.

Meeting Dates: The upcoming Belfast School Council meetings have been set for the following dates;
January 14 – (Susan Church will be attending this meeting) February 18, March 18, April 15, May 13, and June 10. Everyone is invited to attend these discussions so please mark your calendars.
Community Choices for Art Centered Learning: The CBE has decided that no changes will be made at this time to declare Belfast as an Arts Centered Learning School offering alternative programming. However discussions over whether we should revert back to our original name of: Belfast School of fine Arts and Technology were brought up at this meeting as something to consider. Sir John Franklin is opening their doors to grades 5 & 6 for the upcoming school year. They are accepting applications from residents of the NE, because Sir John Franklin is a designated Arts Centered Learning program bussing will be provided to families. Sir John Franklin will be hosting an open house. Although Belfast does not expect to lose many children to this program all parents of children in grades 4 & 5 will be invited to the January Parent Council meeting at which Susan Church will be the guest speaker.
Hand Sanitizer: What’s in our hand sanitizer? It is an alcohol free disinfectant called Soapopular. This is a CBE approved product.

Health Committee: In the past the health committee had a budget of $800.00 is this budget available this year? A grant was applied for and received; this $50,000.00 grant is being split between 4 schools. The spending of the healthy living grant is being coordinated by 3 teachers. The purpose of the grant is to provide specialized phys. Ed equipment that the 4 schools can share and to promote healthy living amongst the students. Therefore the issue of a budget is not an issue as our parent health committee representatives will be able to get the monies needed from this grant.
Campbell Soup Labels: Current volunteer does not want to continue counting the soup labels and has passed the torch to another parent.

Key Communicator Report: To see more about the past meeting and to get view about it visit the new parent council blog. The next area meeting is to be held on January 21 lead by Susan Church this meeting is open to Chairpersons and Key Communicators. The next system meeting is to be held January 27.

No Treasurers report

Teachers Report: Veggie Wednesday started the first week of December with plans to make January milky Mondays. In the New Year the students are going to host and be hosted by another class in the form of a friendship party. The Unicef fundraiser raised $1100.00 and we were able to purchase 3 schools in a box. Food donation boxes are now set up in the front foyer with donations going to the mustard seed. In Grade 1/2 class, the children are taking part in the Roots of Empathy program. This program sees an infant and their parent come in to the class and interact with the children. The students have just finished an options class in which Stories and the telling of Stories was the focus. After the Winter break Chester Lee will be the Artist in Residence. Production is in full swing and we are looking forward to this year’s show. Currently we have 9 volunteers reading with the grade 2 in the Calgary Reads Program. Division 2 has started their flexi groups.

Meeting adjourned @ 8:56

Information on the Arts Centered Learning Curriculum review

Here is the link to the Alberta Education document that has been prepared for the Curriculum review. There is also a questionnaire on the page that you are able to submit some feedback.

Karin

http://www.education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/finearts/program-updates.aspx