Ecole St. Mary School Council Monthly Meeting

October 25th, 2017 at 6:00 pm

School Library

Mission Statement: To support and enhance student learning in our school community.

Present: Rena Walker, Nya and Michael Dak, Sandra Fuentes, Carmen Benkoczi, Laurie Catonio, Sheila Cook, Dan Monaghan, Lise Schmidt

  1. Opening Prayer
  • Led by Dan
  1. Welcome, introduction and attendance
  2. Approval of agenda
  • Motion by Nya. Seconded by Michael
  1. Approval of minutes from September meeting
  • Motion by Nya. Seconded by Michael
  1. Business Arising:

a.)Field trip budget reassessed

  • Council will again offer the $1500 for the Grade 5’s and the Grade 6’s for their big trips.
  • Council will no longer offer the $125 per class for field trips since it is already in the school fees. However, if a class would like some extra monies they can approach parent council for a request of funds.

b.)Hot Lunch

  • Hot Dog/Carrots/Juice Box on November 1st. Online payments have increased in the school due to parents signing up for hot lunches. Only 4 hot lunch days this year – Nov (hot dog), Jan (Subway), Mar (Pizza), May (Hot Dog). Jeff Husch has agreed to help pick up items prior to the sale. A couple of requests have been made for Veggie dogs. Help is required for cooking, packaging and distribution of hot dogs on November 1st!!
  1. New Business:

HOT TOPIC: How to get more parents involved in School Council!

  • A long discussion was held on this topic. Ideas included: i) find a reason for parents to attend, ii) do we ask for 1 class rep for each homeroom, iii) do we offer free babysitting services, iv) can we alternate the days of the week the meetings are held, v) do we send home information on paper rather than online only, vi) do we ask teachers to put a reminder in the student agenda, vii) do we have “stamps” made for the lower grades indicating “Parent Council Meeting Tonight”, viii) do we put a smaller sheet of paper in the student’s agendas indicating the date of the meeting along with the hot topic to be discussed, ix) how can we let everyone know that these meetings are open to all, x) do we open it up to Leadership groups to make presentations to council, which may help increase parental involvement, xi) encourage parents to help out the school community and to be part of the school community, xii) offer some type of “draw” for those in attendance
  • For next month a ¼ page “ad” will be put in the student agenda with the date of the meeting and the “hot topic” that will be discussed
  1. Treasurer’s Report
  • See attached
  1. Principal’s Report
  • See below

School Report – School Council Meeting

October 25, 2017

  1. Staffing:
  • HSRCSRD #4 has hired as a full time caretaker Mr. George Paquette. His initial assignment will be at Ecole Saint Mary…
  1. Leader in Me:
  • All students have now been placed into one of ten groups for the first half of the year.
  1. Entertainment Fundraiser:
  • We are of the belief that we sold $6513.00 worth of books and on-line.
  • Including donations, we will have amassed $3030.20
  • Discussion items arising from this topic include: i) having a look into how we can get tax receipts for those wishing to make donations, ii) some felt there was a lot of pressure on the students with the prizes available and having to sell a certain amount in order to get those prizes, iii) the booklet must have more coupons for Lethbridge (Dan will be speaking with the rep about this matter), iv) the rep from the booklet company wants to know by the end of this month if we want to do this fundraiser again and some mentioned that perhaps the rep should show us the Lethbridge businesses willing to participate prior to making a commitment for next year, v) next year – if we go with this same fundraiser – there will be a choice of 4 “sales” – App, Book and App, Book, Coupon
  1. The Fall component of the Running Club has concluded
  • Special thanks to the coaches: Mme Walshe, Mme Clamp, Miss Dupas, and Mme Bouchard
  1. Grade 6 volleyball has started:
  • 14 grade six girls, 8 grade six boys
  • Have developed our own schedule to play games versus other Catholic elementary schools in the city of Lethbridge on Fridays.
  1. Mentorship Program continues:
  • Partnership with Big Brothers and Big Sisters
  • Students from CCHS (bigs) are paired with students from ESM (littles)
  • Carol Orr is helping to coordinate this program
  1. DREC / Faith Plan: Mme Schmidt to present

October 26th – School Heritage Day/Pow Wow Celebration. Students who returned permission

Forms for the Ceremonial Face Painting will have their faces painted by an Elder.

November 8th – Celebration of Peace service at 1:20 p.m. in the gym.

November 8th – Grade 3 Student Retreat at Assumption Church from 9:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m.

During the month of November, the month of the Holy Souls, we remember all the Saints and our family members who have passed away. Mr. Monaghan and I will be reflecting on Prayers of intercession during our weekly Gospel time with the students.

  1. Goal Setting Evening:
  • Parents feedback…
  • First report cards will be issued on November 30, 2017.
  • Discussion included: i) parents felt it went well, ii) it was nice to have a good start to the year with feedback from the teachers, iii) the teachers did a good job in using timers in order to keep the evening flowing so that some people did not stay too long (last year some parents missed their interview spots due to others staying too long with teachers), iv) a reminder that there will be NO parent/teacher interviews at the end of November once the report cards some home
  1. Accountability Pillar
  • Presentation
  1. Heritage Day
  • Scheduled for Thursday, October 26 – The theme is “In the Spirit of Reconciliation”…
  • We will once again be participating in the Ceremonial Face Painting Blessing – last year we had six elders commit to our program, this year we will have five.
  1. Other:
  1. Bucket Fillers
  • Carol Orr for running the Home Alone Program during class time
  • Caretaking staff for making the school look so great
  1. Closing Prayer
  • Led by Laurie.
  • Meeting adjourned at 7:17 p.m.

*Next school council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 30th, 2017 at 6:00 pm. Come and have your voice heard!!

The next HOT TOPIC will be whether or not to continue with the new Fundraiser we did this year.