Principal: Jordan Appleberg, Vice-Principal: Christine Chin
Co-Chairs: Danielle Plax, Sheva Oielgisser
Welcome. Last meeting of the year.
- Danielle approved the last meeting minutes and Sheva seconded i
- Thanks to Naomi Fogel, Sheva and Sheri Constitution update, not much to update. The sub-committee will look it over before the new school year to see if there is any new things to add.
- YRDSB Symposium coming up from the board for all parent council. Two members are allowed to attend. Email co-chairs and let them know if you can attend.
- Gheta-Stem Career/Science Fair she attended and was hoping to bring it into Ventura.
- Possibly connect it with the robotics competition. They don’t need funding. No cost. Jordan said this sounds great. Gheta will connect the person to Jordan.
Financial Update:
We have 8500 in our funds. We would like to hang on to that as we don't know what to expect for next year. Money that has come in is mostly from the lunches. Thanks to all that helped organize this. No rush to spend money. Everything has been paid at this point. We buy tech, speakers, field trips, board games, sport equipment, .etc Board Policy for fundraising is available for everyone to look at. Looking at a sub-committee for fundraising. Plans to align for a school/board improvement plan.
Anyone interested in being a lead for fundraising committee we will decide in the new school year.
There needs to be a focus for what we will be fundraising for and remember to be mindful of the financial situation that families are dealing with. If we have a wish list of items that are needed by teachers and parents then that would guide this group.
Ventura Fest:
We are under budget. Walt Dentistry is sponsoring and Bayview Rehabilitation is sponsoring the event. We’ve got DJ’s, Crafts, Karate, and many great activities and booths for all. Vendors are
within our school community. Fire truck, ambulance, ice cream, food trucks. BBQ will be on cash onlinesoon. Wristband will be 5$ for all activities. Party with me-multiple staff to organize an obstacle course
and staff to run it. If we spend 1000$ on this we will still be under budget. Thoughts from the council? Majority had voted that we will have it.
Teacher and Admin Update
Annually we do a playdate and we would like to do it again. It will cost 750$ It’s a very nice day and the grade 7’s will lead the younger students. They do this at the end of June. Everyone present at council has voted to fund the playdate.
EQAO
Grade 3 and 6 will be writing these. Week of May 26-30th. Test is all online. Grateful for the chromebooks that we got from the parent council. Each grade will write at the same time. They can use headphones. Students will practise with tech. Results are sent individually to parents year after at their home. Not related to students' marks in school. You can see how Ventura ranks after the test.
Book Fair
Thanks to the teachers that organize this event. Students will preview the event. Please volunteer if you have the time.
Culture Week Sign Up
Kids are excited to present their booths and perform at the talent show. Trying to get families to partner up with the school and present your culture. It is important that we celebrate the
diversity at our school. We would love to see as many cultures as we can at this event. Students are working on putting together a board on their cultures and staff and helping them complete them. Would love to have council share as well. If you are bringing a food item, please bring utensils and plates if needed. School will be giving out a food item as well. Grades 4-8 are performing at Talent Show. Will send this out to our school community to invite them to contribute to the culture week.
Students Lunch Feedback
Bar Burrito and Pizza is most popular. Mr Sub and lunch lady are least popular. Not scientific data. If we choose a different vendor we need to ensure that they make it easily labelled in case volunteers aren’t available. Thank you to all the volunteers and staff that support this lunch
program. Thanks to the office staff for all their patience and support.
First Council Meeting is September 29 - Monday
Communication Protocol
Day where things are communicated. I.e Some schools do a one weekly folder that is given to parent as opposed to blogs daily. Let’s look at changing this. We are going to make Friday the day that we send out a weekly newsletter to parents with all information for the school.
There will be exceptions to this for some important notices.
Q and A
Teacher interested in programming. Get teachers input on what they want so we can create fundraising
goals to help support their ideas. We are status quo-23 homerooms this year and we will have the same next year. Things change so they can't give specific numbers of split classes, etc.
Curriculum night is later next year just in case classes change.
Outside Space-can we beautify our outdoor space. Good for our mental health and the environment. Getting students involved in this process. The Suzuki project was given as an example. Create a garden space. Board approved vendor that can be used to support this plan. This could be used as a fundraiser idea. There are lots of schools that have an outdoor space. Something to think about for next year.
Each class has a mesh bag of supplies for play.
Can we fundraise for more benches. Possibility for next year based on plant services response.
There are alot of classes that take their students outside for play and learning already.
Lets make sure that we continue to communicate what will be happening in advance through the weekly newsletter so we can get more parents involved in council.
Question about outdoor vendor activities coming into the school. There are so many different clubs and sports try outs and practices and games so it’s hard to plan for this. Busing is an issue.