Approved Minutes of OLS –CSAC Meeting Sept 11, 2008
Chair: Helen Patterson
Secretary: Noreen Reid
Attendees: Mr. Cassidy, Mrs. Jones, Helen Patterson,Michael Perry, Aiofe Humphreys, Noreen Reid, Angela Del Vecchio, Mark Del Vecchio, Andrea Flug, Sandra Vendittelli, Michele Garry-Jones, Christine McGregor, Angela Switt, Hayley Leclair, Tim Troke, Barb McConvey, Joe Kelly, Josie Zammit, Kelly O’Brien, Ruthann Symons, Denise Quinn, Stephanie Mazzei, Karen Gierlach, Diane Rugosi, Jane Y. Villanoy, Mary Fantilli, Gillian Dempsey, Kathy Flagler, Colin Kearney, Rosanne Carcasole, Marc Petruccelli, Lydia Rinomato, Eva-Marie Moffat, Monica Marchand, David Eisfeld, Anne Walsh-Rieger, Joe Orazem, Lori Kerrigan, Loretta Perus, Laurie Taller, Claudia Lehecka, Marie DiGeso, Frank Ursi, Eileen McPhee., Anna Strever
1. & 2. Welcome/Introductions/Prayer: The meeting opened with a prayer at 7:08pm. The Chair welcomed all the attendees and introduced the 2008/09 CSAC Executive. Helen noted that this is our first meeting of the year and wanted to have an informal discussion, gather info and see how we can make it a successful year. Helen also introduced Mr. Cassidy and Mrs. Jones. She asked for a moment of silence to commemorate Sept 11th and keep the victims and their families in our prayers. Helen’s goal was to keep the meeting timely and move things along.
3. Approval of minutes: from June 2008
Motion #1-To accept the minutes as presented: Andrea Flug. Second: Sandra Vendittelli. Passed
4.Treasurers Report:
Michael Perry explained the budget and how to read it. Expenses were just over $50K with Revenues at just over $36K last year. Our bank balance right now is $28,732. The budget will be presented and voted on in the Oct 9th meeting. There were no questions for Michael.
Motion #2: To approve the budget as presentedat the period ending Aug 31, 2008: Helen Patterson. Second: Angela Del Vecchio. Passed
.
5.Chair’s report
a)Committee Chairs: Welcome to new Committee members, thank you for the time you have committed. Helen introduced all of the chairs.Property Management and Community Rep are the two roles that are open. Anyone interested should contact Helen.
b)Principals Profile: This needs to be looked at by the end of December. Aoife will handle.
c)Curriculum Night: CSAC will have a table where we recruit volunteers. Helen will be at the table, feel free to join here. We will need people for Fun Fair and the Toy Drive.
d)Format of Meetings: Any budget requests need to be sent to Michael via email by Sept 24th. All chairs should submit their requested budget and any other ideas. Agenda items for discussion can come into CSAC via email or be dropped off in the CSAC mail box in the office. They need to be by the Tue before the monthly Thurs meeting.
6. Principal’s Report:
a)Welcome: Mr. Cassidy opened the principal’s reportby saying how wonderful it was to see so many people out to
The meeting. He really believes that our school is what it is because of the parent involvement. Any time that you have an issue, pleas come in and raise it quite candidly. When items are brought forward please remember that the interests of the entire student community have to always be taken into account. Mr. Cassidy’s philosophy of education is that happy kids learn and sad kids do not. Our goal is to ensure our kids are happy. Welcome to all the new families here at OLS. Parents, staff, students and the Parish are our family. Mr. Cassidy welcomed the 5 new staff members which were outlined in the parent newsletter.
b)Curriculum Night: Sept 18th. Please come out.
c)In Their Own Right: For any new parents who would like to see last years publication which we are very proud of,
there are extra copies in the office.
d)School Population: There is declining enrollment across the city but at OLS we are at the same level as last year
which is approximately 675 students.
e)Changes from last year:
- Gifted Program: We have one at OLS for gr 5-8 which used to be OLS students only. We will now have St. Pius students join us due to budget constraints.
- The Board Situation: It has not changed since June. It is still in the hands of 2 supervisors who have been appointed by the Ministry of Education until the budget is sorted out. The trustees are active elected representatives. Our Trustee is Ann Anderchuck.
- Issue at Bishop Allen: There is a health and safety concern with mold in the portables. We have 5 portables, 3 are new and the 2 older ones received new floors this year.
- Mrs. Jones is still here and we are very thankful the board has not moved her!
6. Principal’s Report:
a) Social: Andrea mentioned that we received thank you cards from the retiring teachers of last year.
b) JK Tea: Motion #3 to allocated $400 for the JK tea and Curriculum night. Noreen Reid. Second Rosanne Carcasole. Passed.
There were no other reports at this time.
7, Open Forum:
a)Do we know when the Grade 8 trip will be? Parents will receive information at Curriculum Night.
b)Parent classroom reps will be addressed at Curriculum night,
c)Pizza Day is once a month. It is not a lunch program. It is a big fund raiser. Lori Kerrigan would like to know if pop could be removed from the options and also wanted to know if the small packs of Chips Ahoy were peanut free. Sandra will check on the cookies. Andrea Flug disagreed and thought we should allow choice. The issue was deferred to a later date.
d)An orientation is needed to help new families get acquainted. How about new students to the school? Is there a program? Mr. Cassidy said that they expect the teachers to build in a buddy system for them.
e)Uniforms – the survey was done by the Board last year and we will get the results at the end of this month. If the board survey was a “no uniform’ result, Lori Kerrigan wondered if we could look at getting OLS clothing. Lori is going to look into it.
f)Student Awards: Can we recognize students for specific things? Mr. Cassidy said that we need to look at both the pro’s and con’s of this. It will be addressed at the Nov meeting.
g)Can we look into security and have an update at the next meeting. Request by Rosanne Carcasole.
h)There was a question about Safe Arrival and what it was, Helen answered.
i)When do the miniatures get posted? 4-5 days after the meeting.
8. Adjournment
Motion #4 - to end the meeting: Helen Patterson Second: Angela Del Vecchio. Passed. The meeting adjourned at 9:43 p.m.
11. Date of Next Meeting – October 9, 2008.