PAC Minutes December 2014

By Information

MINUTES OF JOHN NORQUAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

PAC MEETING HELD AT 6:00 pm ON DECEMBER 9TH, 2014

IN THE JOHN NORQUAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIBRARY

MEMBERS PRESENT:

  • Co-Chairs: Mary Wilson, Keelan Simurda
  • Treasurer: Shirley Chang
  • Secretary: Stacy Shields
  • Communications: Leslie Bishko
  • Volunteer Coordinator: Charis Broadbent
  • Members at Large: Lisa Chong
  • Alvin Chong, Barbara Lee, Helen Chen, Christie Chua, Nancy McLean, Letti Kwong, Lena Ling, Valeria Kao, Jermaine Kwok, Anna Russell, Tracey Flattes, Yaron Stern
  • Principal: Margaret Jorgensen
  • Teacher Representatives: Ivy Chang, Maryan Miletic

INTRODUCTIONS

  1. The meeting began with introductions. The attendance checklist was passed around for all members to complete.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

  1. It was agreed that the approval of the October and November meeting minutes would be deferred until the next meeting scheduled in January due to corrections required.

FINANCIAL STANDINGS (Shirley Chang)

  1. The PAC has two accounts—the general account holds funds which are raised through PAC fundraising initiatives and the gaming account holds funds which are from the government gaming grant paid each year for each student in the school.
    1. the revenue in the general account was $17,359
    2. the revenue in the gaming account was $11,836
  2. Shirley confirmed that $3,700 was spent on gardening initiatives. Additionally, the PAC was awarded a $500 grant related to the gardening project.
  1. It was confirmed that the funds raised for the playground are included in the general account. While it was confirmed that the playground funds would remain in the general account, it was agreed that the playground funds would be reported out separately in future reports.

ADMINISTRATION’S MESSAGE (Margaret Jorgensen – Principal)

  1. VSB District Funding. Norquay will receive a total of $43,968 in funding for year allocation. This amount is based on $61.32/student for general allocation and $8.13/student for replacement furniture. There is a 10% hold back built into the funding. This funding does not include EMB or the school generated funds. The breakdown of funding is as follows:
    1. General Allocation $34,757
    2. Library $4,673
    3. Furniture & Equipment $2,500
    4. Youth & Family Worker $100
    5. Special Education $1,000
    6. Spec Ed SELC $469
    7. Spec Ed Sr. Comm $469

Total:                              $43,968

 

General allocation funds will be allocated towards areas such as learning resources, school operation, fieldtrips, library resources, special education and youth and family worker supplies.

  1. EMB funding. The EMB program is district funded and will receive $17,000. Margaret acknowledged that EMB program will require additional development and planning moving forward. EMB team is currently creating targets for the budget allocation for this school year and into the remaining years of the building of the program. (K- 7)
  1. General PAC Funding requests. While a formal request has not yet been issued to the PAC, the following issues were discussed as priorities: Gardening initiatives, the acceptance project, classroom account requests at $100/class ($2,500). It was suggested that formalized procedures be developed for making requests.   Margaret committed to forwarding a formal priority list to the PAC by January.
  1. School Planning. Staff cohort committees meet regularly to discuss allocation of funds. Teachers have been asked what types of resources are needed. Staff are currently taking inventory of what the school has versus what is required. The larger planning process may take 2-3 years as we set priorities.

TEACHER REPRESENTATIVES

  1. Vancouver Giants Game (Ivy Chang). On February 18th, 2015, Grade 6 and 7 students will be attending a Giants hockey game at the Pacific Coliseum (10am to 2pm). A total of 140 Norquay students will be attending along with other students from different schools. The students will be participating in a flash mob. Two buses have been secured but it will need to be decided whether public transit is a better option. Parent volunteers are needed.

 

  1. Team Sports Update (Ivy Chang). The Norquay students have performed very well at recent sports games (ie-Volleyball). Norquay is looking for parent volunteers to coach basketball. There is a lot of flexibility in the choice of commitment days.
  2. Teacher Resources (Maryan Miletic). An update was given regarding the dire need for resources for the intermediate level classrooms. Teachers are having to tape books together for students. Any funding given for classroom resources is greatly appreciated.

GARDENING UPDATE (Valeria Kao)

  1. There are 17 classes sharing 6 gardening boxes (2-3 classes per box). Two grants have been applied for, including A Whole Foods Grant of $2,000 for edible gardens and a grant of up to $2,000 from UBC (Think&Eat Green@School).   Whole Foods Foundation will not notify us until March 2015. Think&Eat Green@School will notify us by December 12th, 2014.
  1. Future plans for expanding the Gardening Program include:
    1. Potential to have additional boxes built ($360 each) in 2015-16
    2. The addition of a 3-bin compost in 2015-16 (this was included in the Think&Eat Green@School application)
    3. Create a lunch time garden club in spring 2015 led by Ms. Ivy Chang
  1. Ivy Chang and Lisa Penney have signed up for the Think&Eat Green@School Institute 2 day workshop. It was requested that the PAC cover the cost of $75 per person. The PAC agreed to consider this request when analyzing the budget for 2014-15.

OTHER NEW BUSINESS

  1. DPAC (Barbara Lee).  Barb reported that she attended the 27 DPAC (District Parent Advisory Council) meeting.  Each PAC can elect one DPAC representative to attend district PAC meetings on their behalf, but any parent is welcome to become more involved at the district level who is interested in broader educational issues such as programs and educational policies.  DPAC’s purpose is to support PACs at the school level and to encourage them to share their parents’ views at the district and provincial levels and represent the views of city parents to the Vancouver Board of Education through participation on school board standing and advisory committees.  These committees for various programs (ie- gifted learning, music programs, multiculturalism and library, etc) currently have a DPAC parent for each committee, but they are interested in having alternates in the event a parent representative can’t make a meeting.  Barb was appointed as the DPAC rep to the Modern Languages/Immersion Advisory Committee again this year.
  1. EMB Program (Margaret Jorgensen). There will be an EMB information meeting for those families applying to the program. A few parents already involved with the EMB program will be asked attend and answer questions. This meeting will be held on January 14th. There will be also be an update meeting on January 27th for existing EMB parents to attend.
  1. Strategic Planning. It was suggested that a separate visioning meeting be booked to discuss PAC priorities. The parent survey results will be reviewed and taken into account in this planning process. Keelan Simurda committed to presenting the survey findings at the January meeting.
  1. Fundraising Update. It was reported that PAC earned $300 from Purdy’s sales. A concern was raised that the fundraiser started too late and potential sales opportunities were missed. $9,000 was also collected so far in gift card sales.
  1. The following attendees were nominated and unanimously voted into vacant positions:
  1. Stacy Shields – Secretary
  2. Charis Broadbent – Volunteer Coordinator
  1. Pancake Breakfast (Charis Broadbent). More volunteers are needed for this event. A Santa Claus costume was graciously donated for the event along with many raffle prizes, including a bike. It was decided that the bike would be held for the May Carnival.

 

  1. May Carnival (Keelan Simurda). Planning will need to start very soon for the proposed May Carnival. The cost to the PAC will be estimated at $2,000-$3,000. However, other schools have been able to make the event profitable which Norquay may be able to replicate in future.   Direction will be needed on funding.

 

  1. It was requested that the committee start discussing the plans for phase 2 of the playground expansion. There were comments that the playground floor had issues that needed looking at. It was confirmed that there is a 5 year warranty covering the new Playground.

 

  1. The date of the next PAC meeting is Tuesday, January 13th, 2015 at 6pm