Sunday, November 25, 2012

General PAC meeting minutes - November 2012


Victoria West Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee
November 14th 2012
General Meeting Minutes

Agenda:
1. Introductions: (if any new members present)
2. Acceptance of the agenda
3. Kate Longpre‐ Manager, Victoria West Community Association
4. Vicki White, Executive Director‐ Victoria Confederation of VCPAC
5. Principal’s Report
6. Nomination of Communication Director
7. Executive Reports
  a. Treasurer’s Report (Carolyn, Jen and Tracey)
  b. President report (Mercedes)
      i. Facilities walk through update
      ii. BCTF ‐ free presentations
      iii. School Planning Council Budget doc
      iv. New VWPAC logo
      v. Executive meeting schedule
      vi. Lock box and new PAC bin in office
  c. VCPAC report (Amy)
8. Business/Action items arising from previous minutes:
  a. Entertainment Book Fundraiser (Jaime)
  b. Recycling Update (Coral and Aaren)
      i. Delivering flyers to the community notifying neighbors of an upcoming        Bottle Drive.
      ii. Rachel‐ needing parent help?
  c. Movie night review (Mercedes)
  d. Scholastic Book Fair review
  e. Magazine Subscriptions review (Debbie)
  f. Earthquake Kits (Mercedes/Joe)
  g. Thrifty Foods update
  h. PAC contribution to Halloween Howl and VWCC Halloween Event‐ review‐ thanks to Shelley and Mrs Kosh
9. New business
  a. How to recognise parent volunteers/staff for their contributions‐ (Mercedes)
  b. Policy re: teacher request for extra funds for special events/situations
  c. Holiday Sale‐ donations, where surplus after sale should be donated
  d. Schedule next Visioning Meeting‐ to continue work on PAC Vision Statement (Debbie)

Item 1: Introductions (if any new members present)
• 10 members present including Vicki White – VC PAC President

Item 2: Acceptance of the agenda
• Parent asks for an issue to be added
• Agenda accepted

Item3: Kate Longpre‐ Manager, Victoria West Community Association
• Breakfast with Santa from 9:00 – 11:00 am on Dec. 16th
• FREE Music Explorers class for 8‐10 year olds on January 23rd (only space for 10, so register early!)
• Community Association Annual General Meeting on November 27th

Item 4: Vicki White, Executive Director‐ Victoria Confederation of VCPAC
• Welcomes parent to attend the VCPAC Meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month
• Upcoming issues: Wi‐Fi moratorium in Elementary Schools may be lifted. Would like parent input once the research was been presented. www.vcpac.ca will have all the information.
• PAC Congress this Tuesday at 6pm at SJ Willis. Great for networking as well as discussing the following topics: Self‐Regulation (teaching student to modify their behaviour), PAC Operations, School Culture, Bullying, and Ask the Superintendant. Info: info@bcpac.ca
• Saturday, Feb. 23rd is the Vancouver Island Parent Conference from 8:30‐4:30 pm. $70 includes breakfast and lunch as well as 2 keynote speakers and many others. Each PAC receives two free tickets. Register by Feb. 1st. See www.vipc.ca

Item 5: Principal’s Report
• Thanks to parents who attended the Remembrance Day Ceremony
• The Christmas Celebration will likely be on the Thursday of the last week of classes with Tuesday for dress rehearsals.
• Reports cards will be sent home on Dec. 6th. Parents should feel free to meet with Teachers to discuss.
• The Earthquake Preparedness Plan is near completion and will be available on the school’s website.
• On November 30th Joe and Jana would like help from parents to take inventory of the earthquake kits from 9:15‐11:30. Those that are available should gather in the office at 9:15 am.

Action items:
Joe will ensure that the Emergency Preparedness Plan is shared with Parents.
PAC will discuss replacing the food and water in the kits once an inventory has been established.

Item 6: Nomination of Communication Director
• Mercedes Calvert nominated Amy Bronee as the PAC Communications Director in charge of our website, attending VC PAC Meetings and generally encouraging better communication between the PAC and Parents.
Seconded by Coral Forbes and all voted in favor

Item 7: Executive Reports
a. Treasurer’s Report (Carolyn, Jen and Tracey)
• Entertainment Books doing well
• General account has $6929.27 (invoice for Entertainment books still needs to be paid)
• Gaming account balance: $181.04
• TD Bank was contacted and Carolyn will email the Manager regarding monetary
donations towards PAC initiatives
• Can Lit books for the library will cost $1000 – approved at the beginning of the year
• We have also committed $1000 for two Arts & Culture Events

Action item:
Carolyn will organize an Executive Budget Meeting by the end of the year to go over 2013/2014 Budget Priorities.

b. President report (Mercedes)
i. Facilities walk through update – see Carolyn’s notes in Appendix 1
ii. BCTF ‐ free presentations

Action items:
Mercedes will look into booking a Thursday evening in the gym for a free presentation for parents (and the wider community?)

iii. School Planning Council Budget doc ‐ Done
iv. New VWPAC logo‐ Approved (LOVED!) by PAC. Huge thank you to Shelley for the great bookmarks.
v. Executive meeting schedule‐ Monthly before the General PAC Meeting.

Action item:
Debbie will organize a Visioning Meeting in December possibly in conjunction with or in lieu of the Executive Meeting

vi. Lock box and new PAC bin in office ‐ Approved by PAC ($45)

c. VCPAC report (Amy)
• At Willows Elementary on October 23rd.
• Colquitz Middle School would like playground equipment purchased by the District and is considering sending a letter to the Premier. FYI: Installation costs are the same as the cost of the playground equipment.
• Also discussed the No Zero policy: issuing a zero to a student does not encourage the child to work harder. More important to secure the self esteem of the student and support them in improving their grades.

8. Business/Action items arising from previous minutes:
a. Entertainment Book Fundraiser (Jaime)‐ absent

b. Recycling Update (Coral and Aaren)
i. Delivering flyers to the community notifying neighbors of an upcoming Bottle
Drive. – Aaren absent
ii. Rachel‐ needing parent help? ‐ Not anymore. Seems to be going well.

c. Movie night review (Mercedes) – Made ~$100. Will do it again but we request that an Administrator is present to calm the children. Talked about holding the Movie Night in the Library to prevent the running around, but decided that the space was too small to accommodate all of the kids.

d. Scholastic Book Fair review – Jana absent

e. Magazine Subscriptions review (Debbie) ‐ Magazines can still be ordered online until January. Subscriptions are down but we still made $700 overall (~$275 to PAC)

Action item:
Debbie will confirm that the account is still open.

f. Earthquake Kits (Mercedes/Joe)‐ discussed during Principal’s Report and Executive Meeting

g. Thrifty Foods update (Conan) – Poster up and cards available at the Community Center. $90 made in October and $100 so far this school year. Money is dedicated to the two Arts & Culture events that we have committed to.

Action item:
Amy will advertise online and put a box of cards in the staff room with a note reminding staff that it is an easy way to support the PAC (which supports the Teachers!) and the cards make great Christmas gifts!

h. PAC contribution to Halloween Howl and VWCC Halloween Event‐ review‐ thanks to Shelley and Mrs Kosh

9. New business
a. How to recognize parent volunteers/staff for their contributions‐ (Mercedes)‐ skipped due to lack of time, will be on next agenda

b. Policy re: teacher request for extra funds for special events/situations‐ we would prefer that teachers come to the PAC meeting to request extra funds or at least send a written request to the PAC email.
c. Holiday Sale‐ December 14 all day. Parents are invited to help with set up on Thursday, Dec. 13 that dismissal. It is also helpful if you wait to bring in donations until that day. Plastic bags are also needed.

Action item:
Mercedes will let us know if George Jay would like the leftover items and then at that time we will discuss an alternative (Big Brothers Big Sisters? WIN?) if needed.

d. Schedule next Visioning Meeting‐ to continue work on PAC Vision Statement (Debbie)

Action item:
Debbie will find the best date for the Visioning Meeting

e. New concern: Parent raised concerns over bullying behavior in school. Parent referred to VCPAC for advocacy and support.

Next meeting… Wednesday, December 12th, 6:30 ‐ 8:15 pm


APPENDIX 1
Notes from School Walk through with Facilities and School representatives
October 17, 2012

Attendees:
Glen Miller, title, Facilities Manager SD61 Victoria School Board
Steve Crowell, Head Foreman SD61 Victoria School Board
Joe Cardle, Principal of Victoria West Elementary
Mercedes Calvert, Victoria West PAC President
Carolyn Morris, Victoria West PAC Treasurer

GOAL of the MEETING:
To identify deficiencies in the Victoria West Elementary School external infrastructure, and prioritize what would get attention. The group walked around the school, paying special attention to the lower field area.

COMMENTS:
• Rain Garden is not under the routine maintenance of the School Board. PAC needs to organize this.
• School had been painted not that long ago. (I think Steve said that outside painting rotation (hopscotch lines, basketball court lines, etc) is every 3 years. Ours was done 2 years ago.)
• Murals at front need to be replaced/repaired
• Baseball chain link is rusted and ripped‐ Steve stated that this happens periodically‐ it will get repaired on a regular maintenance "cycle"
• concrete around the ball wall needs to be replaced; this is a significant investment and will require longterm fundraising ‐ School District is not prepared to take this on
• both basketball court stands nearest to the ball wall were not being used due to poor cement ‐ it was felt that because VW is now a K‐5 school, two full basketball courts were not necessary‐ two backboards were replaced, two were removed
• wooden playground infrastructure in the lower field was deemed fine for continued use‐ the School District "grandfathered" these types of play structures (i.e. did not remove them) but because of the use of chemically treated wood, they will not replace any pieces that become damaged or broken

ACTIONS:
• Board to repair broken wooden border around the wooden playground infrastructure in the lower field
• Board agreed to "weed" the cracked concrete within the basketball court
• Board agreed that the supports for the chain link around the basketball area could be sprayed to look like new (on one side only)
• Board to repair the chain link around the basketball area; Board agreed that they would take a section at a time (on one side only)
• PAC would like to see a message board put on the front of the school. District approves in principle, and suggested the PAC call around for prices (Glen Miller suggested a company called "Houston’s"), and then get Board’s approval afterwards (Carolyn)
• PAC would like to see a sign on Craigflower Rd, indicating where the school is located. District suggested contacting the City of Victoria as they are responsible for the "no left turn" onto Russell Street.
(Mercedes)
• New basketball nets? (Joe)