Home and School Minutes. September 15, 2014

Transcription

1 Home and School Minutes September 15, 2014 Attendance Melissa Hoffman, Kelly Arfin- Gurevitch, Isabelle Leduc, Hilary Wugalter- Nayer, Maria Rota, Adina Weizel, Jo- Anna Posner, Sheri Kruger, Natasha Currie- Blitt, Chantal Latour, Elizabeth Allen, Melanie Ceber, Barbara Rolnick, Christina Della Rocca, Ilana Popliger, Caterina Tucci, Neil Himal, Lonna Velasco, Sharron Sawdaye, Preetha Krishnamoorthy, Liz Allen, Nathia Messina, Diana Martire Welcome Preetha welcomes all new and returning members to home and school. A brief introduction of executives and members were done. It was stated that there is a $19 fee in order to be an active member and be able to vote. This year we are going to try and improve and increase membership. Home and school is always looking for new members and new ideas. Home and school is a way for parents to give back to the school and can be as involved in their child s educational experience. Everyone can put in as much or as little time as desired. Acceptance of agenda There were some changes made to the agenda Liz and Sharron have taken over as chairs of the pizza lunches Auction and Spidey magic have been placed together in new business With these changes a motion was passed by Isabelle Leduc to accept the new agenda with the corrections for this meeting. Kelly Arfin- Gurevitch seconds the motion, all in favor. Approval of May Minutes A motion was passed by Ilana Popliger to approve the May Home and School meeting; Melissa Hoffman seconds the motion, all in favor Treasurer`s Report Tanya not present at the meeting. Kelly reads Tanya s report, stating that HS has about $ carried over from last year. This is not including the money raised from the year end bash. Final totals from Year End Bash to be updated soon. Administration Report

2 Mme. Messina wants to thank all teachers, parents and students for a great start of the New Year. She states that they extended the parking lot in order to have parking spots available for parents dropping off their children at school during daycare hours. The gym and the office have been painted. The administration is still working on kids coming to school late. It has gotten better this past week but there are still many students coming into school after the bell rings. The administration is getting stricter with the lateness policy. A new bullying awareness program is going to start, Dare to Care. They will teach the students and administration how to recognize and deal with any problems. It will teach everyone how they do not have to be a by stander. Bullying is everywhere and very present in all of our lives. This program will teach us the strategies of how to deal with it appropriately. The grad committee will be formed in the next few days. As soon as there is a list of chairs, parents and admin representatives, it will be sent to home and school to work collaboratively throughout the year with fundraisers and the like. Teacher`s Report Mme. Chantal thanks everyone on behalf of the staff for the welcome back breakfast. It was very much appreciated by all staff members. They especially liked that it was set up for 7:30 so staff could have breakfast before starting class. There are no specific teacher requests at this moment. The staff was asking if we are providing them with their annual classroom allocations. Last year we allocated each homeroom $300. This year we have 26 homerooms including 2 new teachers and 2 resource rooms in the school. New teachers are usually given an extra $100. The specialists will make specific requests to Mme. Chantal for requests as they come up. Last year we had a January 01 deadline to submit receipts. This year the teachers are asking to postpone the date to have a March 01 deadline to submit receipts. It was brought up that some of the locks in the bathrooms were getting stuck and some students had to crawl under the door to get out of the bathroom stall. Mme. Messina said she would ask maintenance to look into the problem. Membership We currently have 26 members. This is up from last year. We are encouraging more people to join. Welcome back breakfast Thank you to Ilana Popliger who did the shopping for the welcome back breakfast. Kelly and Preetha did a great job setting up the breakfast. It was a great success. Corn Roast

3 The kids had a blast at this year s corn roast. The DJ from Total Entertainment made it a great experience. This year home and school prepared for the afternoon exclusively, but it is usually done in collaboration with the school. For next year we need to improve on the following: Establish a date and rain date in June, suggestion to make it the 2 nd Friday of the start of school Mary will take care of purchasing the corn Maintenance needs to be prepared and help for the event (pots filled, burners, tanks, lighters, tables) Establish a chair for the event in June A list of supplies established in June for the event (corn, butter, napkins, BBQ tanks, etc ) Establish the most effective way for the students to come get corn grade by grade Fundraisers Pizza Liz and Sharron are co- chairing. We have about 470 students who have paid for pizza lunch. Liz will visit the last few classrooms to get in the last minute forms. The fundraiser brings in about $ $ a year. 4 volunteers are needed, 2 people for Tuesday distribution and 2 people for Thursday distribution. Volunteers have to be there at 11:00 and it takes about 20 minutes of time to separate the pizza pieces and for the lunch mothers to pick them up for the students. Sherri Kruger is available to volunteer for Tuesdays and Maria Rota is available on Thursday. Kelly is available as necessary. Jo Anne Posner also volunteered her husband when he is available. Jadon Pam was present at the meet the teacher nights to sell uniforms. Kelly will send out a price list to anyone who is interested. Home and school gets 5% of the sales. Grad committee usually runs the Westpark sweatpants fundraiser. If they are not planning to do it this year, Home & School can look into doing it. Loveable Labels Betina was not present at the meeting. Orders can be made online, info available on the flyer. Home and school receives 20% of sales made. It is a very easy fundraiser requiring almost no work from us. Tell your friends about it. Book Fair French Date of the French book fair is still to be determined. It is to be clarified with the office when the gym would be available for use. Usually, the French book fair is held in October, and the English book fair takes place in April. 6 volunteers are needed to set up for the book fair as well as to work the tables the evening of and during the day.

4 It was a thought that for the evening slot, that parents can come with their children and there can be stations set up. The kids would be able to sit with an older student and have a book read to them. As well as having a coloring station, there would be a draw at the end of the night and the winning student can win a prize, like a certificate for books. The aim of this is to increase attendance and sales, and make it more interactive for the children, as well as providing entertainment for the children while the parents shop. Donations of used books are always welcome. An can be sent out to parents asking if they have any used books that they are willing to donate. These books would then be set up on a table for a minimal price. There was a request if we can ask scholastic to make book packages. Liz will request it with the scholastic representative. There was a suggestion that we do the book fair during parent teacher interviews. It was stated that there is already too much going on during that time. Chocolate Bars Michelle Frankel is chairing the fundraiser. She is not present at the meeting, so Kelly reports on her behalf. The boxes will be delivered this Wednesday and they will be distributed to students on Thursday. Volunteers are needed to label and prepare the boxes Wednesday night at 19:00. Hilary and Barbara volunteer to join Kelly. There is going to be a 2 week deadline for unsold chocolate bars to be returned. This is to ensure we get the boxes back in good enough condition that we can return them to the company. Volunteers will also be needed after the deadline to call families that have not returned money nor the chocolates. This fundraiser usually makes $ $ Raffle and Bake Sale D`vorah, Kelly and Sharon will chair the bake sale. It will take place on parent teacher interview night again this year, which is Wednesday November 26 th. Last year the bake sale brought in a lot of money, more than the raffle. There was a suggestion to visit a store called L Emballage Tout located in VSL for discounted packaging for the bake sale. Raffle Prizes are needed. Mme. Messina gave us permission for principal for the day, which includes lunch with the principal and Officer Pots always donates a ride along and lunch with her. More donations are needed. Lonna Volunteered to chair the event. Last year it made about $700, the year before $1600. Zumba

5 Preetha is willing to host the event again. Last year the Zumba party raised around $500. The date is to be determined. The important part is to get people to attend the Zumba party; suggestions need to be made of how we can promote it to the students. Mme. Messina will find out the information of how we can promote it in the classrooms. It was suggested that we do the Zumba party in collaboration with other schools, but then the profits might have to be shared. It was stated that we would sell water and the event. Ticket prices will be $10 for an adult, $5 for a child and a max of $20 for a family Auction and Spidey Magic The auction has raised lots of money in the past. In the past there have been boutique tables, live and silent auctions, as well as games to win prizes. There was an entrance fee The auction has not been done in a few years as there was no one to chair the event. Is it possible for home and school to host such a big event? 2 years ago the auction raised about $ for Home and School. It has not been done since because it is a massive undertaking and there was no need to raise that much money. Last year grad committee did an auction event instead, on a smaller scale. They hired Spidey Magic as entertainment on the night of the auction. He charged $800. Tickets were sold for $15 in advance and $20 at the door. There was a mini silent auction and a mini live auction. There were about 11 options to purchase in each, total of 22 items to be auctioned off $ total was raised last year for this event. Home and School would like to take on the task of running a similar fundraiser to the Spidey Magic / Auction this year. We had been approved for an event in the fall, close to x- mas, but is there too much fundraising already taking place? And in the spring time a lot of the big ticket items, such as sleepaway camps have deadlines that would be passed for registration. The biggest money makers are the camps and hockey tickets. It will be possible to have the event if people are willing to commit to chairing the event, and if there are volunteers to help. It takes a lot of time and effort to put on such a big event and to get donations from people and businesses in the community. Lonna will contact Spidey Magic and see his availability for dates. Another parent said we might want to ask Jodi Mihaly if he would be willing to perform for the event. He is a magician as well, and a Westpark parent. It was suggested that we can make it a family event, but that would not bring in as much money. We would not be able to sell alcohol if it was a family event. We would be able to sell alcohol provided we have the proper permits. Mme. Messina suggested that we can have a comedy night in the spring. We can also have the Zumba party night in the spring, to have a family friendly event and boost school spirit

6 Neil Himal and Lonna Velasco offered to chair the event. Melanie, Sheri, Natasha, D`vorah, Kelly, and Sharron all volunteer to help. If we have an auction then there is no need to have the raffle on the parent teacher interview night. We may also do a 50/50 raffle during the auction. We need a letter to be written in order to give to business asking them for donations. Mme. Messina will write the letter. The auction fundraiser has already been approved by governing board. 10 auction items are optimal, as we do not have much time during the night for more. There is a possibility to group smaller donations into a larger package. Food donations are also welcomed, as they can be sold throughout the night. Alcohol can be sold as long as we have the appropriate permits. Voting Kelly raises the motion to allocate up to $8600 for teacher allocations. $300 per homeroom teacher (there are 26 homerooms plus 2 resource rooms)and $100 extra for each of the 2 new teachers. Ilana seconds the motion. All in favor, none opposed, no abstentions. Approved Preetha raises the motion to do a fundraiser which includes a magician and mini auction. Melissa seconds the movement. All in favor, none opposed, no abstentions. Approved Next Meeting Tuesday, October 21, 2014 Preetha thanks everyone for joining home and school this year. We look forward to a great year with lots of new ideas. Terry Fox is taking place on October 1, (rain date Oct 2) Home and School has already allocated money to purchase the apples, it was approved last June. Preetha makes a motion to adjourn the meeting. Kelly seconds the motion. All in favor, none opposed, no abstentions. Approved