SCHOOL COUNCIL MINUTES (January 23, 2010)

IPNSS School Council Meeting
Meeting Minutes 2010-02-23
Present: Principal Karen urban and a dozen parents
Next Meeting: 2010-04-27

Notes Taken: Sally Han, Parent Rep Gr. ½

1. Parents were welcomed and agenda was amended and approved.

2. Principal Karen Urban reviewed school activities. January was busy. The students raised almost $2,000 for Helping Hands for Haiti. With the federal government matching every dollar raised, our school raised approximate $4,000. Special thanks to Brook’s class for spearheading the bake sale ($652), Philip’s class for the spare change drive (over $1,000), and Graham’s class for the Chew for Children initiative ($278.50). Overall, it was a tremendous effort by the school to share with children and families in Haiti. Report Cards come home next week and Parent

Teacher interviews are scheduled for March 4th and 5th on an at request basis only (at the request of either parent or teacher). Also all JK students will have an interview. In sports, the girls played a 1 day Volleyball tournament, and the IPNSS boys Basketball won their full day tournament. The boys advanced to the semi-finals which will be played on Thursday Feb 25th.

Intramurals continue to flourish - ask your child what House Colour they participate in. Karen also reported that the school’s learning blocks about inference was the focus of January.

February’s focus is fairness and will be tied into the Olympics. Also walk to school day was successful, if a bit cold. Students asked that it not be scheduled in winter next year. Parents want the walk to happen. Scientists in the Schools program were very successful and there is enthusiasm to book them next year for 2 sessions per class.

Philip and Graham have begun an Eco-schools program and they are trying to get the composting up and running again. Many children have signed up to work with them on this project outside of class time. Also, Karen Urban has been introducing a litter less lunch initiative. As part of this program, garbage bins will be removed from the lunch room. Many of our children have been rewarded if they have a litter less lunch already. After March Break, children who have litter at the end of lunch will be asked to bring it back home in their backpacks. More info available at: www.ecoschools.ca
Upcoming:Professional Development for teachers will focus on problem solving in Mathematics.

Saturday March 6th Parent focus group for TDSB.Interested parents can find more information at www.tdsb.on.ca or by emailing equity@tdsb.on.ca March 5, 2010
- Deadline for TDSB’s nominations for Teaching Award of Excellence. March 24th and 30th, school’s primary and junior choirs will participate in the Kiwanis Festival. March 26, 2010 - Earth Hour will be celebrated from 2:35 - 3:35 pm, everything that can be turned off will be turned off. In April, a drummer will be doing workshops with all classes in the school for 3-4 days. In June, an all school trip to the Metro Zoo, to be confirmed.
Note: some parents suggested trips to ROM or AGO: if we pool Family Memberships and have parents with memberships act as Volunteers, we can lower the overall cost of admission.

3.BBQ date is rescheduled for Thursday June 10th at the Ward's Island Community Centre. Carolyn Jeffs and Shannon Kang are again the lead organizers and will be seeking items for the silent auction (along with Lorraine Dong) as well as volunteers. The theme of the BBQ is the Wild Wild West. Organizers are also looking for Wild West cuisine - pulled pork anyone? More news are in upcoming months. IT WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY that $1300 will be spent on the entertainment firm who will provide the dunk tank, an obstacle course, a wooden cow for a milking contest, pin the tail on the donkey, and 2 staff to set it all up. There will also be approaches to the farm and Centreville to see if pony rides could be provided for the kids. More information are to come in April and May meetings.
4. Ski Trip for the school’s families organized by Shannon Kang on Friday March 5th has about 100 people attending. 5. Results of the survey undertaken to get input from parents about capital needs and programming wishes discussed. A subcommittee has to be struck in order to expedite expenditures for 2010.

The "Wish List" previously submitted by the school included:

Short Term: Visiting Artists -
Buses for Fall - Approved (approx. $500.00)
Scientists in the School - Approved (8 classes x $170.00 =$1360.00)
Instruments (Orff and Drums) -
School Uniforms - Approved (costs to be determined)
Library Books -
Buses for Spring -
Note: All costs were not known at the time of submission and approval

Long Term: Playground Equipment

ACTIONS: Find out from Bill Buckingham & Maureen Murphy what’s happening with the school pinneys. We should have these ready for all the intramural track and field meets in the spring/summer. Have Heather McNeil organize IPNSS logo'd clothing.
Karen Urban discussed the Computer Lab's Computers; we have 16 Dell computers for each class to use when in the lab. Thus far children are divided into activities so not everyone is using a computer at once. Parents want one computer per child and offer our Parent Council Fundraising to pay for additional ones.
ACTION: Karen Urban to find out what the policies are regarding the purchase of computers for the school and how we can get more for the school, and what the costs are.
ACTION: Teachers ask kids what they’d like to see at their school if they had to choose between playground equipment, musical instruments, etc. Carolyn will draft survey for kids. ACTION: Sally to work with Janet and Carolyn to determine capital priorities taking into account teachers’ wish list. We need to commit our funds to either programming or capital. 6. Tax receipts for 2009 donations will be issued and sent home this Friday in children's knapsacks. Discussion on the need for more parents to contribute to the Annual Fund – we
ask each parent to contribute. General agreement that more has to be done to promote donations to the Annual Fund. Reminders will be included in the newsletters. 7. Other - More communication regarding parent council meetings needed. Listing the dates on the website & announcing the meeting in the newsletter is not reaching all parents. Parents will be sent EMAIL reminders 2 weeks before, 1 week before, and 3 days before the meetings. There are 3 meetings left: April 27th, May 25th June 8th. - It does not appear that After 4 programs run by the City’s Parks & Rec will be established despite effort from Parent Council and Parks & Rec - Heather MacNeil suggested & all attending confirmed, IPS Parents will thank Harbour Square Condo Staff who assist with the parking lot many Cityside parents use for parking when drop offing their kids.






SCHOOL COUNCIL MESSAGE:


Don’t forget to use the IPS Fundraising website www.ipsfundraising.com to shop at Home Depot, Sears, Chapters etc. When you shop online they donate a % of sales to IPS. You must link to the stores from OUR website. Some online stores offer free shipping over $40. Here’s how it can work:



· Purchase a PS3 from Amazon.ca for $299 with free shipping and earn $18 for IPS

· Purchase 2 Wii Games from Amazon.ca at $49 each with free shipping and earn $6 for IPS

· Purchase 2 DVD's from Amazon.ca at $30 each with free shipping and earn $3.60 for IPS

· Purchase a $200 Home Depot Gift card from HomeDepot.ca and earn $6.00 for IPS

· Purchase $100 worth of books from Chapters.ca with free shipping and earn $5.00 for IPS



BTW - The sites pay out once we reach $100 in earnings from any one site. Our Amazon.ca earnings are currently $85 help us to hit it!








Updated: March 1, 2009