Get Involved/School Council

Minutes

Present online:
Erin Hills, Sarah Roberts, Becca Birnie, Melanie Maxwell, Sabrina Scott, Lynda Peterson,
Nicole C., Nicole Bradley, Joanna Marelli, Patti Blundell, Crystal Kerr

Welcome, Land Acknowledgmenet, and introductions.

Erin Hills – Principal’s Report:

– Discussion of this years staff and positions.
-We are able to keep our current number of classrooms and teachers.( Great news this
equals smaller class sizes!)
-We currently have 3 EA’s working in the building. 1 Permanent and 2 temporary.
– Terry Fox run will be run on September 27th. The road will be closed and we will have
volunteer firemen at both ends of the road. We have currently raised over $2000 this year
and there are many student rewards coming up!
-Parents will line the road between 11:30 and 12:30 and cheer and help to keep students
safe.
– Meet the Staff Night BBQ will be on Sept 30th, classrooms will be open from 5-5:30 and
BBQ will follow. There will be an indigenous activity also so please wear orange.
– School pictures taken by Heather Douglas on October 2nd.
– New Cell phone policy by the ministry of education, includes watches, phones and any
other devices.
-Students are responsible for them being kept off and away.
-Cell phone policy also applies to staff and visitors to the building.
Questions re:cellphone policy
Should visitors explain why you have a phone out in front of the students if you need to use one?
– Yes, try not to have a barrier between adults and students.
– Turn off the volume on your phone when in front of students, if you can.
– Be explicit with your phone use as adults in front of students.
– No update on water testing, but pipes were replaced at the beginning of summer.
– Ceiling tiles were replaced and led lights and baseboard heaters installed and some rooms
were painted.
– Office will be closed daily from 12- 12:30 pm
– Teachers are working towards communication with parents and everyone should hear
from the teacher by the end of the month.
– One Kids Place will be in the school to help, might come into a specific classroom to
support.
– October 9th Magic Anti Bullying: 2 Presentations K-3 and 4-8 $1,909 total cost.
– Color Blind presentation: November 4th, Junior and Intermediate presentations at school
and a virtual presentation for the parents on Nov 14th. Will be app. $1,780 plus HST (might
have Spruce Glen join to lower costs)
-Monies left from the SKC program from last year will be used by sending 8 students to Austin
Creek Equine therapy this fall for 6 sessions, and another 8 students will go in the spring.

Council Positions explained and nominations recieved.

New Council members for 2024/25:

Chair: Sarah Roberts
Co-Chairs: Sabrina Scott and Patti Blundell
Secretary: Patti Blundell
Fundraising lead: Joanna Marelli and Nicole C.
Hot lunch: Dana Sinclair and Joanna Marelli
Breakfast club: Lynda Peterson
Treasurer: Nicole Bradley

Treasurer report:Nicole B

$6,300 end of 2023-2024 year
Grad costs set aside for next year would leave app. $4700 in the school council account.
12 grade 7s this year
10 grade 8s this year

Motion by Sarah
Put $3,000 towards anti bullying and anti racism speakers
Approved by everyone.

Hot lunches: Joanna M.

• Next hot lunch: October 24th, turkey soup with leftovers from Thanksgiving feast.

New business:

• Google drive to use for parents to sign up for volunteering. Link here:
  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kYCFhDKaqdo_Lh95lxIYJmDAaJH_oFb_GLj3SFpSKg
  4/edit?pli=1
• Irwin parent council Facebook page up and running. Thank you Dana! Please join in
  discussions there!
• Thanksgiving lunch Thursday October 10th at the Community Center. Sign up on the
  google doc to be included on planning correspondence.
• Dwight Winter Carnival:
  The Chamber of Commerce was looking for a group to take the lead on this community event. It was not run last year. Joanna Marelli will take the lead this year but will need alot of help and support from the Irwin community, so please sign up on the google doc to help plan this great event and potentially lucrative project for Irwin! Thank you Joanna!!!!
• Halloween Party Saturday October 26th: Nicole C
• This is not run by the parent council, it is run by parents in the community.
• Dwight Lions Club sponsors it, and the community center donated its space to use.
• Lots of treats and surprises and games.
• Costume contest.
• Parent volunteers needed. Please sign up on the google doc.
• Tracy West and Nicole C. would like to have people donate old costumes at Irwin, and they will be hung in the Kinderland area for the parent BBQ on Sept 30th. Families can find new costumes for their littles there for free.
  More info coming soon.

Fundraising Ideas:

• We need to say what we’re fundraising for anytime we fundraise.
• Poinsettias, we should do early if we are doing it to get ahead of the rest of the groups who also sell them.
• Mabel Labels?
• Fresh from the farm? Not alot of money raised. Will concentrate on other projects.
• Smile Cookie fundraising? (Spring 2025) Lynda will help to hopefully set this up!

Wish List:

• Fanshawe college, Poppy Project, in London, On. (Melanie Maxwell)
  The Poppy Project is an innovative educational initiative that offers an interactive activity
  that students will use to engage in the act of Rememberane by creating a paper poppy infused with poppy seeds. The poppies are designed to be placed in gardens over the winter, where they will decompose and in the spring, germinate and blossom as symbols of hope.
  Kits make 40 poppies each and are $10 plus shipping per kit.

Playground discussions:

• Council has brought the idea of fundraising for a new accessible playground to the table.
• Research has begun.
• If total cost including HST exceeds $121,2000 the project goes to tender and public bid which takes extra time.
• TLDSB will provide up to $25000 to match fundraising efforts in the year it is raised.
• Melanie Maxwell talked to other staff, and offered some thoughts about the idea.
• If playground is fundraised by parent council, all repairs will have to be covered by council in the future. Something to consider.
• Erin Hills mentioned that planning for playground or swings will have to go to the school board for site planning etc.
• Extra swings, Dump load of Sand, New picnic tables, New nine square are other wish list items mentioned.
• Discussion and research to be continued on the playground project.
  www.blueimp.com is a good start, as is speaking with other parent councils that have taken on this project recently.

Date for next meeting:

Thursday, October 17th at 7pm

Minutes

Present: Sarah Roberts, Elissa Boughen, Joanna Marrelli, Dana Sinclair, Erin Hills, Melissa Snell, Nicole Bradley, Vicky Green, Lesley Sargia, Lynda Peterson, Patti Blundell

Welcomes and Introductions

A land acknowledgment written by the Grade 7/8s was read by Sarah. She will reach out to other classrooms to share their versions at upcoming meetings.

Principal Report – Erin Hills:

• Huge support for Terry Fox with over $3200 raised. Students received many bonuses such as additional recess, duct taping Mr Y to the wall, and pieing the Principal in the face! The teachers all surpised the students by wearing blow up costumes for the walk. Huntsville and Lake of Bays firefighter volunteers closed the road and parent volunteers cheered from along the road.
• Meet the teacher BBQ was well attended, parents met educators and popped into the classrooms. Parent council helped to plan and serve the BBQ. Thank you to everyone who helped.
• Thanksgiving feast was another special event. Some guests of honor including TLDSB director, Superintendant, and Irwin Trustee attended, as well as Community Safety officer and TLDSB Mental Health counsellor. Feedback from everyone was very positive.
• Anti bullying show has been postponed to January 9th.
• Intermediate trip is booked, 3 days, 2 nights in Montreal in early June. Fundraising has begun.
• Heather Douglas came to do school photos and retakes.
• EQAO results are in, Grade 3 76% of our students are at the provincial standard or above in reading, 71% in writing and 76% in math. In grade 6, 55% are at provincial standard or above in reading, 73% in writing and %27 in math. Only 11 grade 6 students wrote the test last year so percentages can be skewed easily. EQAO results link: https://www.tldsb.ca/media-release-tldsb-shares-the-2023-2024-eqao-assessme nt-scores/
• We have a New EA, Kaitlyn Vince, in a transitional position.
• November 21st for parent/teacher interviews

Chair update/month in review:

• $670 raised from the dip n dots fundraiser at meet the teacher BBQ. Thank you to Tiffany and Crystal for this generous donation!
• Halloween costume switch out went great and something to consider doing again.
• Poppy project is a go, and poppies have been ordered. $63.50 spent for the whole school to participate.
• Thanksgiving feast, 17 parent volunteers, smiles all around. Notes were taken to take into consideration for next year.
• Feast total costs amounted to $435 thanks to the generous donations of turkey from Websters Beacon, buns from Henriettas bakery, apples from Arrowhead camp and a monetary donation from Sarah Lock which went towards buying most of the stuffing. There is turkey can carrots left over for the next hot lunch, gravy powder for next year and pumpkin pies left for the next bake sale. Big thank you to LOB for lending us the community center, and Arrowhead camp for the use of the commercial kitchen. HUGE thank you to all parent vounteers and the Irwin
  students and staff for growing some of the potatoes and carrots for the feast and creating the cutest centerpieces.

Treasure Report – Nicole:

• $3600 in the fund, $3000 has been already approved to go towards the anti bullying and anti racism speakers.
• Dip n dots money ($670) will go towards the speakers. Total for both speakers will be approximately $4683
• $960 set aside for next years graduation fund (as prices went up per student)
• $382 still to come out for Thanksgiving feast.

Hot Lunch – Dana and Joanna:

• With the wish list growing, we can start communicating as to what proceeds will be going to each month.
• October 24th, next hot lunch Turkey soup, Bullocks Independent donating dinner rolls, yoghurt parfait for dessert. Sponsors this month are Robinsons/Baysville General Store
• Community center kitchen going to be used for when it’s available for hot lunches. Thanks to LOB for waiving the cost!
• Business sponsorship list, will be going through that and trying not to hit the same businesses too often.
• New thank you card? Erin will speak to staff about classrooms creating thank you cards for us to hand out when needed.
• Sweet days…TLDSB guidelines bind schools to 10 days, dip n dots was one already this year.
• Hot lunches with super obvious desserts, and bake sales took up last years treat days
• Camp Olympia will be donating things before shutting down the camp.

Breakfast Program – Lynda:

• Lynda is doing the shoppping and menu planning and is trying to keep costs to $.50 a chld per day.
• All is going well, there are parent volunteers for prep and serve every morning for about 45 minutes each day.
• Serving lots of Fresh fruits, veggies, with dairy and the occasional eggs, providing dietary restrictions to all who need them each day.
• Serving grains, once or twice a week.
• If costs can be cut down, we can provide more food.
• Linda has a meeting with the Lions club who will hopefully be providing more funding and perhaps additional help with food prep

Fundraising:

• Irwin swag we could add an extra $1 or $2 to put towards yellow t shirts?
• Poinsettia fundraiser?
• Talk to Lake of Bays Garden Centre, and see what product they can offer to help us fundraise.
• Lynda working on securing the Smile Cookie fundraiser. It is a big one and money raised could go towards finishing the outdoor structure. It needs floor, vinyl sides for wind and rain and more seating.

Wish List

• Mrs Maxwell, Melissa and Doug doll house.
• Mr Y. , 12-20 new yellow t shirts to replace stained shirts. Grade 2-8 students use them for track and field, cross country running and badminton. Sarah reached out to Novelty Mann and the Markham’s who offered to donate some new ones!
• Mrs. Conner, science, math and literacy tools: $430 (Grade 1-2 class)
• GB Plumbing offering pipe for a new 9 square for Kent Maxwell’s class to work on.

Next meeting:

December 5th @ 7pm

Minutes

Sarah Roberts, Lynda Peterson, Erin Hills, Vicki Green, Joanna Marrelli, Patti Blundell,
Nicole C., Becca Birnie, Dana Sinclair

Welcomes and Introductions Sarah

Principal Report – Erin Hills:

• Aubrey Noronha from http://hellohope.ca/ gave an anti-racism presentation to our junior and intermediate students. Excellent messaging and was well received. Parent Council and the Dip N Dots fundraiser paid for these presentations.
  
  – The parent virtual presentation didn’t have great attendance but was equally engaging as the student presentation.
  
  – Remembrance Day assembly was held with all students wearing a paper poppy filled with seeds that they made the days prior. Students then planted their poppies in our perennial garden.
  
  – YMCA is hosting “boys class” for some grades 5-7 boys over a 40 minute nutrition break. The students are enjoying it.
  
  – An assembly was held on World Kindness day and a week full of activities promoting kindness were led by our 7/8 students.
  
  – Parent/Teacher Interviews went well, Progress reports went out.
  
  – Jersey Day has been rescheduled due to weather and will be held on Friday Dec 5th. It is a fundraiser day for Feed All 4 and students are asked to bring a toonie if they are able to.
  
  – Reading challenges are being organized in some classes, lead by Mrs. Conner. Classes that meet their goals will be rewarded with a surprise presentation in the new year.
  
  – An Anti-bully speaker is coming Thursday, January 9th, and funding for
  this has been secured from a TLDSB fund.
  
  
• Grade 7⁄8 Fundraising for Montreal trip has been going very well, So far we have had BBQs at basketball games, coffee fundraiser, a dance, and pancake breakfasts which have covered the December payment of $220 per student.
  
  
• A new Board policy has been released regarding communication with your Childs teacher. TLDSB educators must reply within 2 business days to any emails from families, and a resolution must be reached within 5 days if needed. Please see the policies here:
  
  https://www.tldsb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Communication-and-Collaboration-with-Parents-and-Guardians-Policy-BD-2300.pdf
  
  https://www.tldsb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Communication-and-Collaboration-with-Parents-and-Guardians-Procedure-BD-2301.pdf
  
  
• FlipGive can’t be used for fundraising within TLDSB, as they sell information. Irwin does not use this platform any more.
  
  – Family Place Restaurant has begun to offer a $9 lunch offer to schools. After discussing it was decided that we would not implement this program at our school at this time. Reasoning: Irwin has great food programming in place already. Food being offered by Family Place does not necessarily fall under the TLDSB nutrition guidelines that we are really trying to follow, and also it could create economic challenges and unneccesary stresses on families.
  
  – Christmas Concert will be held indoor this year on December 16th @ 6pm

Treasurer Report – Nicole:

• Money set aside for anti-bullying speaker to go back into account as Erin has secured funding for this.
• Money from Dip N Dots fundraiser has been put into council account to help cover costs of the Color Blind presentation.

• Hot Lunch – Dana and Joanna:

• The last Spaghetti and Meatballs lunch raised $585 and was well received by the students. It took a little longer to clean up due to the amount of dishes. We could use more volunteers, please reach out to Dana Sinclair or Joanna Marrelli if interested. Discussion around creating two shorter shifts for parents to be able to commit to a 3 hour time frame instead of one long day.
• Next hot lunch: – Tacos: December 18th First lunch at 11am
• Will be prepped the day before at the community centre.
• Had a generous donation from HOLD for $750 for our hot lunch program.

Breakfast Program – Lynda:

• Rachel is going to help Lynda co lead the program.
• Kids are enjoying the fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Planning to bring more protein and grain to program with it being winter.

Fundraising:

• Poinsettias raised $574,96
• Next fundraiser is at the Christmas concert bake sale (treats, coffee and apple cider) all will be sold by donation. Will be reaching out to bakers soon for donations and time commitments the night of the event.
• Smile cookie campaign is still a maybe for the new year.
• Kawartha Dairy Fundraising? (Patti looking into it)

Wish List:

• MOTION for sturdy wooden dollhouse for Kinderland
  – *YES* $250 Motioned and approved
• Phys ed: Additional yellow t-shirts to replace old ones for Irwin events such as track, badminton, cross country running used by grades 2-8 would love 12-24 identical to what we have. We will look into this in the New Year.
• Ms Connor science, math and literacy tools total requested $380+tax=app.$43
  Motion to approve
  *YES* Motioned and approved
• Second set of Soccer goal posts for a second pitch for recess and physed use, and allowing us the ability to host soccer tournaments for all schools. Approximate cost for posts and nets with delivery is $2600 before installation
• Motion to approve looking into a final plan of this for installation in the spring. **YES**Motioned and approved

Next meeting:

Wednesday, January 15th @ 7pm