Place: Caledon Room, HJA Brown Education Centre, 5650 Hurontario Street, Mississauga

Date: Monday March 30, 2015

Time: 5:00 PM to 6:45 PM

Place: Caledon Room, HJA Brown Education Centre, 5650 Hurontario Street, Mississauga

In attendance: Daniela Schulze, Mississauga, Co-Chair
Harpal Kalsi, Mississauga, Co -Chair
Shikha Sharma, Brampton, Returning parent
Barb Cyr, representing PDSB Special Education Advisory Committee
Salha Jeizan, representing Multicultural Inter-Agency Group of Peel
Baljit Johal, Brampton, First-year parent
Kuldeep Kanda, First-year parent
Kiruthiha Kulendiren, Mississauga, First-year parent

Tony Pontes, Director of Education
Stan Cameron, Trustee Caledon
Sue Lawton, Trustee Mississauga
Kathy McDonald, Trustee Brampton
Carla Pereira, Acting Manager of Communications
Kayla Tishcoff, School Communications Specialist
Varsha Naik, Community Liaison Co-ordinator

Regrets: Sheetal Sethi, Brampton, First-year parent
Laura Corbett, Mississauga, Returning parent

Approval of minutes

The Parent Numeracy Conference date was adjusted to April 18 in last meeting’s minutes (Jan. 26, 2015).

Trustee updates

Trustees provided an update of activities in their respective wards, including: speech competitions, family math nights, mental health presentations and arts presentations.

Director update

Tony Pontes provided brief updates on:

-  school official openings in April and May

-  2015-16 board budget

-  a potential OSSTF strike towards end of April or early May

-  the Health and Physical Education curriculum, specifically speaking to Ministry training of board staff and staff training this spring. Materials produced by the Peel board will be made available to parents in fall 2015. PIC was encouraged to share thoughts and ideas for documents.

Subcommittee updates—Spark

A Spark survey was distributed to school council members in early February to collect feedback on a possible parent involvement event. We received answers from 141 respondents.

Below is a brief breakdown of the results. View the PowerPoint presentation for more details.

-  Majority of parents would prefer an event that begins at 7 p.m.

-  School councils want an event sooner rather than later. The committee made a recommendation for a November 2015 event.

-  Top topics of interest: 1) building self-esteem 2)communicating with a teacher

-  plan to resurvey in September 2015

The subcommittee plans to reconvene to prepare and distribute a second survey in September 2015. This data will be used to customize workshops for parents.

Subcommittee updates—Membership

The subcommittee developed a new application form to go live on April 8, due April 29. The full committee approved the changes to the application with the following amendments:

-  4. Describe the top three challenges faced by parents in your community. How would you address these challenges?

-  6. What does accountability mean to you in respect to the Parent Involvement Committee?

Kayla will make the necessary adjustments and format the application to be consistent with Peel board branding. A draft will be sent to PIC co-chairs for final approval before it is distributed to parents via: school websites, peelschools.org and school newsletters.

It was noted that Poorna Jayasena and Baljit Johal have both resigned. Their vacant spots will be filled using this upcoming round of applications.

The subcommittee also inquired about the possibility of increasing membership to reflect Families of Schools—this would ensure a fair representation of parents. This amendment would increase membership to 12 parent members, and would require a change to the Terms of Reference and approval from the Board of Trustees. PIC will agree on changes at a future meeting.

Subcommittee updates—PIC website

Harpal provided an updated on plans for a new PIC website. A ‘Needs Analysis’ survey was distributed to attending members to generate a scope of work, due to Harpal by April 13. The website would be hosted on the Peel board servers, but wouldn’t live within peelschools.org.

PIC Budget update

Kayla provided an updated budget spreadsheet. The committee’s remaining balance, as of March 30, 2015, is $40, 160.92.

Upcoming events

Parent Numeracy Conference—the conference will run from 8 am to 1 pm on April 18, 2015. Daniela, Harpal, Salha and Kiru volunteered to staff the PIC conference table. Kayla will ensure all PIC materials are set up on April 17.

Ministry of Education PIC conference—held on April 24 and 25. Salha and Kuldeep expressed interested to attend event. Any interested members should contact Daniela or Harpal.

Next committee meeting date: May 11, 2015 – 5 pm, Caledon Rm

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