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Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC)

Minutes of the September 24th, 2013 Meeting

*** APPROVED ***

In Attendance
EXECUTIVE / STAFF / PARENTS
John Grassby - FOBA Chair / Adrian Della Mora / Nicolina Mendes
Valerie Devine - CSAC Chair / Mary Keenan / George Pilla
Maureen Gomes – CSAC Vice Chair / Don Walker / Susan Brenders
Anne Walsh - Treasurer / Michael De Mita / Rosie Sarellas
Mary-Jo De Quintal - Secretary / Samina Raouda
Vicky Dziura MacKinnon
Enzo Lofaso
Irene Ongaro
Karen Gierlach
Stephanie Mazzei
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES / Janice Genova
Danja Papajani / Krystyna Dix
Amanda Sarellas / Mark Kelly
Chester Budziak
David Wingfelder
Ornella Jabbour
Audrey Butrimas
Jelena Sergejev
Mafalda Solomon
Nereen Bradley-White
Joanna Bak

Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Opening Prayer

The meeting opened with a prayer.

1. Adoption of Minutes from the May 28th, 2013 Meeting

A motion to approve the minutes was made by Maureen Gomesand seconded by Stephanie Mazzei

2. Student Report (Danja Papajani and Amanda Sarellas)

Muskoka Woods - We have decided to go with a theme of 90s pop songs theme as the Grade 9 students attending are all 1999 babies. They have been playing 90s pop songs through the PA system during announcements leading up to the trip. It’s a great opportunity for students to meet other students. Muskoka woods is a great leadership building event for the students

Halloween Dance - We are currently planning a Halloween dance. More details to follow

Lunch Hour activities - We will be launching various programs/games during the lunch periods

Spirit Wear - STUGO (Student council/government) is looking at bringing in new types of Spirit Wear in celebration of BA’s 25thAnniversary. More details to follow

Student elections - The next STUGO electionswill ltake place at the end of May 2014

3. Teacher Report (Mr. De Mita)

Please refer to APPENDIX A

4. CSAC Chair’s Report (Valerie Devine)

PRO Grant - Valerie shared that Bishop Allen has once again been approved for the PRO (Parent Reaching Out) Grant of $1,000. These monies are meant to be spent to increase parental involvement. In past years, these funds were spent on speakers who talked about improving mental health in our children. A parent, Gabriele Kresic, had earlier suggested that we get a new speaker for our next ‘Understanding The Teen Brain” event. She has heard him speak at another school and found him to be an excellent speaker on the top. His name is Ron Clavier, author of "Teen Brain, Teen Mind" and his website is:

Father Peter Giopatto, Holy Angels Church - Valerie also shared that Father Peter Giopatto is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of his religious life. Father Peter celebrates masses at BA and his masses are enjoyable as he speaks to the young minds. A congratulatory card will be made available in our office for the BA community (staff and parents) to sign

5. Principal’s Report (Mr. Della Mora)

Welcome - Mr, Della Mora welcomed parents to the new school year

Field and Track - Work on the field (60x100) has started and should be completed by November 2013 and will be ready for use during the spring of 2014. The field will be fully irrigated. There is an asphalt track around the field - with a long jump pit, throwing circle (shot putt), … The field will be utilized to its full potential. Until the field is ready, home games will have to be played elsewhere.

Computer lab and ISP room- another school room has split so that half will be used for a business studies lab and the other half for the ISP (for students with autism) program. It was completed in time for the start of the school year.

Workshop - A CSAC and Principal workshop will be held at the CEC

25th Anniversary - A 25th Anniversary committee has been formed to assist with organizing the 25th anniversary celebration. Plans are to have a morning Liturgy and a lunch on Saturday May 10th, followed by an afternoon alumni sport match and a Cocktail evening gala. It will be held in the cafeteria which can hold up to 500 people. The event has been publicized on Facebook and Twitter. We currently have approx550 people who have ‘liked’ the Facebook page. Banners will be hung outside and pamphlets will be shared at local churches. We will have SMART bartenders serving alcohol and taxis available for those requiring one. In addition to the DJ, we hope to have Alumni performing at the Gala

Golf tournament - A week after the 25th Anniversary event, on Tuesday, May 20th, we have tentatively scheduled the Golf tournament. This will be a CSAC-driven event. We will be selling tickets to the Golf tournament at the Gala. We would like to collect items for a Silent Auction at the Golf dinner and parents wishing to help at the Golf tournament should contact Mr. Della Mora. Students will not be allowed to golfas this event is for parents.

October 17, Sister Prejean - Sister Prejean will be speaking to Grade 12 students on October 17th. To accommodate this, the rest of the school will be dismissed early, at around 1:30 p.m.. Parents agreed that the early dismissal made sense in order for the Grade 12 students to take part in the presentation. Sister was portrayed in the movie, “Dead Man Walking” and is she is an advocate for social justice and a consistent life ethic

October 30 - will be a regular day (and not a late-start day), to accommodate the October 17th early dismissal

6. Open Forum

Uniform Sales

  • We had a very successful year for our ‘gently used uniform” sales. We raised $4,620
  • We are planning on having two sales again this year. The dates are to be determined - possibly, sometime around February and at the end of the school year
  • There was a great turn-out of Parent volunteers. We would like to thank “Topper Linens” who launder all the clothing and arrange all of them on hangers, ready to be sold. ‘”Topper Linens” does not charge us for this service. CSAC would like to thank Tim Topornicki from Topper Linens who provides this free service to us.
  • Funds are to be deposited to the school under a separate ledger account under ‘Uniform sales’. The only funds spent from that fund were to buy large bins to store the uniforms.
  • White grad shirts received by donation, can also be given to the school where they can be given to students who would like them and are not able to afford them
  • There will be a permanent drop-off bin in the office
  • A special thanks to Samira Raouda who stores the uniforms bins at her house

Spending Uniform Sales proceeds

  • A suggestion was made to purchase the smaller notebooks (for teachers) which cost approximately $150 each, with the proceeds of the uniform sales. The majority at tonight’s meeting voted in favour of this purchase

Cookie dough fund-raiser

  • We are still planning on selling frozen cookie dough as a fund-raiser during the Christmas season. We need to determine if this will be a FOBA or a CSAC fund-raiser.

7. Elections and presentation of CSAC Executive for the 2013-2014 school year:

Valerie Devine was re-elected as CSAC Chair/FOBA Vice Chair

Maureen Gomes was re-elected as the CSAC Vice Chair

Mary-Jo De Quintal was re-elected as Secretary

The voting members of CSAC are:

-Stephanie Mazzei

-Joanna Bak

-Karen Gierlach

-Cathy Henry

-Krystyna Dix

-Ornella Jabbour

-Mafalda Solomon

-Susan Brenders

-Samira Raouda

-Deirdre Mackintosh

8. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

The motion to adjourn was made by Maureen Gomes and seconded by Joanna Bak.

APPENDIX A - Teacher’s Report

The next meeting will be held on October 29th, at 7 p.m. in the Library.