In Attendance: Kelly Allen, Colleen Mullen-Doyle, Peter Rukavina, Jit Bahaur Darjee, Maya Darjee, Jennifer Lee, Madam Kumar Giri, Claudia Rosas, Eamon Leen, Joanne Brown, Tika Basnet, Madge Mossberg, Laura Bird, Omika Khanal, Shelley Muzika, Samuel Kang, Zha Li, Hai Yan Jiong.
Minutes from April 12 meeting were approved.
Peter noted that our bank balance as of April 16 was $8,738.97. There are still some wish list items outstanding, along with expenses to come for Grade 6 celebration, and two retirements (Jaime Germaine and Bill Arsenault). The celebration will be on June 27 at 1pm, with parents and Grade 5 students attending. There will be an assembly for the whole school in the morning.
Peter also indicated that he had prepared an expense claim form to be used for all events such as Spring Fling, Teacher appreciation week, Grade 6 celebration. He will leave copies in the POPS mailbox in the staff room and anyone with expenses can leave their claim in the same mailbox and he will reimburse promptly.
Colleen then reported on the following items happening now to the end of the year:
Colleen reported that the school will go from 15 to 16 classes next year (up 25 students) but the school is only receiving .25 of a teaching position. Terry will be talking to the district next week to see about increasing that allotment.
Confirmation received from TimberTech that they will replace the wood for the playground as it is still under warranty. However, the labour is not covered and must be performed by a certified installer. It is anticipated that this might cost $25,000 to $30,000. Initial thought is that the school will take out a loan from the Eastern School District (ESD). Laura Bird mentioned that the Irving Oil website has information re their community fund and that they may a source of funding we can access. Shelley will be meeting with Terry next week to discuss and plan further. POPS would certainly dedicate its fundraising to assist with this cost.
The school was “tagged” with graffiti last night; the police were notified. Cameras were scheduled to go up next year but Colleen not sure it that is still on target given the mold and capital issues facing the ESD.
There was some discussion about teenagers smoking by the side entrance of the school. Parents wondered if posting “No Smoking“signs would help. The thought was that if signs were there, then at least parents could point them out to these older students and it would add a little more strength to such a request. There was also some discussion that this group of students seemed to respond to parents better than staff in this regard.
Peter brought up for discussion how to best use the $2000 received from the Department of Education for translation, with particular direction from the two interpreters in attendance, Madan and Samuel. It was thought that perhaps not the entire handbook would need to be translated but certainly essential parts of it would be, such as the daily routine, bell schedule, dress code, lunches, scent or nut free policies, etc. Also, the newsletter and the calendar. For some translations it would help to have both English and the translated version back to back, to assist with the parental learning of the language. Changes to the handbook are made the last week of August; could use the summer to translate to key components and then fine tune the last week.
Terry and Colleen will be attending the Canadian Association of Principals (CAP) conference this week and will be presenting on Partnerships between Schools and Community. They would be able to also give this presentation to POPS in the new school year.
For the Grade 6 celebration there will be cupcakes for the students, juice, and fruit and veggie trays all proved by POPS. (Executive to coordinate.) The gift for the two retirements will also be at this time. Some discussion about who pays for the monetary awards given out on the last day. To be confirmed with Barb past practice but if the “award in honor of” individual has been providing the prize, then it was agreed that POPS would now take that on.
There were no nominations submitted for the vacant positions on the POPS executive. Put it to the floor; some questions about what would be required, how often to meet, and what tasks are involved. With Shelley and Peter switching positions next year, we still require a secretary to take the minutes, and one to two people to help out with decision-making. People given the opportunity to think about it and to let us know before the school year ends.