PAC Meeting Minutes from October 10. 2012

Garibaldi PAC

October 10. 2012

Attendees:

6-PAC Exec members

8-Parent members

Ms. Baker

1. It was moved and seconded (Jocelyn)) to adopt the agenda as is.
2. It was moved and seconded (Brenda) to adopt the minutes from September 2011.      

                 

3. PAC – Executive meeting report

-Bylaws and constitution are to be reviewed and rewritten – Joel spearheading this initiative. Bylaws have not been revisited or seen in recent history.

-Aiming for Exec to meet monthly prior to PAC

-Working on setting PAC objectives and should have those available by next PAC meeting.

-nne Marie - appointed chair of garden committee during Executive Meeting and given authority to access funds raised by the committee via the treasurer.

4. VP Update – Ms. Baker

-library update – bean stalk removed – getting old

-new system for book check out

-Library now open daily – flexible for teachers and more accessible for students.

Upcoming events:

-Garden harvest

-UNICEF bake sale – Oct. 16^th – HL initiative

-Photo day – Oct. 15^th

-Mobile dairy – Oct 22

-Halloween assembly – Oct. 31^st

-Remembrance Day assembly – between recess and lunch on the 8^th Nov.

                              Note: 9^th is a district closure

- Beginning of November – literacy focus = baseline with follow-up in spring

                              3 day write

5. Financial Update:

-$1400 from gaming grant

-Working on an annual budget for this year

-Teacher wish lists have been requested; Ms. Baker to follow up at Staff Meeting and will bring back to PAC Exec.

-Would like to also look at $$ set aside for “slush fund” for events or other activities that come up. Would also like for teachers to be able to plan in advance since some of these initiatives require fore planning

6. Spending request

-moving toward having a budget in place

-It was moved and carried (Jocelyn) that $500 from the current PAC funds be allocated for PAC administration – such as child care, DPAC etc.

-Funds from Green Room Yoga - $60 - new member sign up.

-This brought up a discussion about Yoga for the kids at lunch – Yvette and Terri both yoga instructors that would be willing to work with Garibaldi to provide a yoga program to the school – teacher sponsor required or a company to come in and to the class another possibility as they would take on liability. Alternatively liability via school (VSB) with teacher sponsor.

-Badminton/ Tennis lessons – again in spring (and fall)

7. Committees:

General:

-Anne Marie noted as coordinator of Garden Committee

-Other committees should also have a coordinator who would be responsible for reporting to PAC and for making funding requests.

-Funds spent need to be authorized by PAC except in cases like garden committee who have raised their own fund that are just being kept in the PAC account.

-Angela is working on forms to “streamline” use of funds reporting  by committees

-It was noted that Yvette is available to all committees who need a hand getting up and running or if there are any issues or difficulties that need to be addressed now or during the school year.

Fundraising Committee:

-A dialog took place about changing the name of the fundraising committee.

-It was determined that this is up to the committee but that there was some dialog that felt it is better to have more general committees that many fund raising initiatives could be under taken under one name.

-Fund raising for general PAC account that can be used at PAC discretion

-Taslim – coordinator of the Fundraising committee

-Will focus on Dec. 1^st – silent auction/cocktail party since there is really only 7 weeks left until then.

-A dialog was held regarding direct contributions to the school – “direct appeal funds” that are able to be receipted for a tax credit.

-This evolved into a discussion about equal opportunity for all schools – i.e. equal distribution of funds among schools. This may be revisited by the PAC as a dialog piece at some point in the future or as part of the blog.

Garden Committee Update (Anne Marie)

-Bulb sale raised $350 and provided funds for new soil and plants.

-Harvest table at school entrance to display what was produced in the garden this year.

-Garden Harvest Party this Saturday Oct. 13^th.  – 12-3 pm rain or shine.

-Apple juice, potatoes and garlic butter; crackers and jam; pickles; pinecone feeders; tree and blueberry planting;

Movie Night Committee (Shannon on behalf of Cary)

-just getting up to speed with where equipment for this activities

-held on second Wednesday of the month when school has engineer in place

-Next one will be OCT 24. – 6:15 p.m.

-Meeting of PAC Exec. will be help at the same time as movies in the staff room

Communications/Media/Advocacy Committee

-merged into one committee this year

-update given by Kate – coordinator of the Communications Committee

-blog updated

-vision for this committee is to move forward with “less-paper PAC” vs. paperless

-Need to get everyone on board – new PAC; New parents etc.

-blog and other ways to get messages out  - e.g. Newsletter

-coordinate with Rita and Ms. Baker to make this happen

-Blog site able to provide way to provide parents with easy way to get forms and other correspondence as well as a way to communicate with each other.

-Continuing with having parent volunteer to post things in the school at entrance

-Aiming for a stronger presence in the neighbourhood

-Want to see school valued in the neighbourhood and bolster awareness – word of mouth as a positive way to make that happen.

-A lot of conception that Garibaldi is closing.

Hot Lunch Committee (Jana)

-May not move forward. Only 2 parents signed up and limited availability during school hours.

Food and Health Committee (Jana)

-Aim to develop a healthy food guidelines by involving parents, teaches and administrative staff.

-E.g. – birthday snacks; pot luck events as a way to share food; candy as rewards in class; litter less lunch;

-Dialog was held regarding how to proceed  - does committee require a motion to engage in this dialog with parent and staff – not at this time

-Possible for this to be a hot topic depending on how it is approached.

-Committee to meet with Ms. Baker to discuss and then move forward

-A drop box and feed back on blog with ability for anonymity was discussed as a way for parents to provide feedback.

Next meeting Nov. 7^th  

8:15 pm a motion to adjourn the meeting was made and seconded (Yvette)