GWSC Meeting Minutes January 16, 2019 - Griffith Woods School ...

GWSC Meeting Minutes
                                  January 16, 2019

In Attendance: ​Shana Bradley-Hunt, Helen Domstad, Jennifer Selby, Marlain Poohachow,
Michael Hoffman, Danelle Lux, Jessica Player, Ryan Galloway, Karina Damgaard, Hana
Mancuso, Elinor Wilson, Loriann Pedersen, Jen Laluk, Paul Hoang
Principal, Rhonda Choate and Assistant Principal, Elan LaMontagne
Grade 6 Team - Mr. Innes, Ms. Viitala, Ms. Barrie

1. Call to Order​ - Meeting called to Order at 6:32pm

2. Welcome
    a) Expectations
    b) Celebrations ​ - A big thank you to the volunteers who continue to step up to keep Fun
       Lunch and our library running. Winter Solstice was a big success, followed by the Staff
       Appreciation Lunch on the last day before Winter break.
    c) Introduction of Special Guests ​ - Grade 6 Team
    d) Group Introductions

3. Approval of Agenda​ - Motion to approve agenda made by Jessica Player, seconded by
Ryan Galloway. Approved.

4. Approval of Minutes of November 21, 2018 Meeting ​ - Motion made by Danelle Lux ,
seconded by Jennifer Selby. Approved.

5. School Report and Special Guests
a)Teacher Report - Grade 6 Team (Mr. Innes, Ms. Viitala, Ms. Barrie, Ms. Ruuska)
Configuration - Mr. Innes/Ms. Viitala team teach. Mr. Innes teaches Social Studies, and Ms.
Viitala teaches Science. Most of the other teaching is done separately, with the exception of big
group projects which have been done collaboratively. Ms. Viitala also teaches French to all 4
Grade 6 classes, and the other 3 teachers teach Phys. Ed. This allows all 4 teachers to interact
with all the Grade 6 students and build relationships with them.

With Ms. Barrie/Ms. Miller(Ruuska), Ms. Barrie focuses on Social Studies and Math, and Ms.
Miller/Ruuska has taken on Language Arts and Science.

The Grade 6s went to Camp Chief Hector at the end of November for 4 days. The students
grew in the areas of active outdoor living, leadership and skill building. The connections
between the students and with staff since outdoor school are stronger, and the teachers have
noticed significant growth in the Grade 6s. The science curriculum was evident everywhere, with
a focus on trees, plants and sky science.

A lot of the curriculum in Grade 6 focuses on Individual and Collective Identity, learning about
core values and what makes us each unique.

b) Principal Rhonda Choate and Assistant Principal Elan LaMontagne
A huge thank you to the parents for spoiling our staff with a wonderful meal before Christmas.
The staff rarely gets to sit down all together, so the food and community was very appreciated.

Thank you also for the great turnout for the Winter Solstice.

Basketball season is underway, with tryouts and getting the teams established. There are Jr and
Sr boys and girls teams, and the dates of all the games are on the Griffith Woods website. We
would love fans to come out and support the teams, especially at home games.

The drama production rehearsals are in full swing. Thirty-nine students are acting, with many
more behind the scenes doing makeup, props, lighting, etc. Mrs. Vandertoorn is leading the
charge with 6 or 7 other teachers supporting her. The show will be put on at the end of May.

Report Cards come out January 31. Report Card data is being inputted into PowerSchool, so
teachers are learning how to input all of the data. We will be sending home a paper copy of the
report cards for now. Term 2 starts February 4 for the older children. They will find out their new
options with the report cards.

Registration for Kindergarten opened this week. Seventy-five applications have been completed
thus far. Administration would love to have any outstanding lilac forms returned, so they can
know everyone’s intentions for the fall.

We are still confident and comfortable with the current space we have in our school for students.
Our teachers are flexible and comfortable with sharing spaces, and we have been creative at
scheduling classes so that spaces can be used by many students throughout the day.

We are already benefiting from the proceeds of the Learning Enrichment Fundraiser.
Snowshoes have been purchased and the Outdoor Ed program got out to the mountains using
the snowshoes already. An iPad for each classroom has been ordered, to allow the teachers to
interact with the Smart Board. Elan is bringing in some artists to present what they can offer to
us, as far as doing a legacy piece of art with funding from the Learning Enrichment Fundraiser.

Thanks to Shana Bradley Hunt for her donation through Suncor, which will help pay for ongoing
landscaping maintenance costs.

6. Friends of Griffith Woods School Society - Loriann Pedersen
The FGWSS now has charitable status, meaning we will be able to issue tax receipts for any
donations received from now on. There was a mix up with the tax receipts from the Learning

Enrichment Fundraiser, and the CBE will be re-issuing tax receipts to those who received one
with an error.

The FGWSS is in need of a Treasurer. This person would be responsible for issuing tax
receipts, writing cheques for expenses, balancing the books, and doing some tax filings for the
society. Some bookkeeping experience would be preferred. Please contact the school if you are
able to help out with this very important position.

Dana and Loriann will be looking at grants that may be available to our school, especially now in
light of our charitable status.

7. GWSC Committee Reports
    a) Landscaping and Playground Committee - Shana Bradley Hunt, Jennifer Archibald
       The only outstanding issue with regards to the Naturalization area is the ongoing
       maintenance and watering.

       Jennifer Archibald proposed a motion to amend the Bylaws as below, seconded by
       Shana Bradley Hunt. The motion was approved. Bylaws will be amended to include the
       following:

       9.6 Naturalization Chair
       9.6.1 Serve as a member of the naturalization sub-committee.
       9.6.2 Responsibilities include:
       a) to liaise between the school council and naturalization subcommittee
       b) to ensure that ongoing upkeep, maintenance and additional expansion (if deemed
       necessary by school council) of the naturalization area is facilitated.
       c) to recruit parent volunteers to do the ongoing upkeep, maintenance and expansion.

       Note: All maintenance of the new naturalization area as completed by ULS Landscaping
       is the responsibility of the Griffith Woods School Council including trees, shrubs, mulch
       and hardscaping in the defined area. Maintenance contracts are split between the city,
       CBE and School Council. Contact CBE, if required, for a detailed delineation.
       The naturalization area is going to need ongoing maintenance, which is the responsibility
       of the school council. We would like to recruit a group of about 20 people to help with
       this task. We will need a clean up crew in March/April, and then watering for the next
       several months. We are exploring the option of hiring out the watering for July and
       August, and administration is also supportive of having students get involved with the
       upkeep and maintenance of the space.

   b) Social Committee - Gillian Fraser/Danelle Lux ​- nothing to report
   c) Fun Lunch - Tara Pattison/Stacey Switzer ​ - nothing to report

d) Student & Parent Engagement - Gillian Fraser ​- Safe 4 Life Self Defense is booked
      for Grades 1-6 on March 22nd from 8:30-11:30am on a PD Day. Home Alone and
      Babysitting courses will be organized in the spring.
   e) Volunteer Coordinator - Arshiya Japanwala ​ - nothing to report
   f) Library Coordinator - Emma Rae ​ - A new library volunteer signup was sent out last
      week and is already full.
   g) Key Communicator - Hana Mancuso ​The last meeting of Council of School Councils
      was at the end of November. Consensus is that the most effective way for reaching
      parents, recruiting volunteers, etc. was via room parent. The challenge remains getting
      parental consent to receive emails from the room parent. Some schools are setting up
      their room parents at Meet the Teacher or Parent/Teacher conferences so that they can
      get parental consent and reach the whole target audience.
   h) Band Parents Association ​ - Thank you to all the parents who supported our recent
      fundraisers. Purdy’s Fundraiser made $3125, and the Bottle Drive raised just over
      $1100. There is an additional $1000 donation coming in from Husky Oil, via one of our
      parents.

8. Executive Reports
    a) Chair - Elinor Wilson
       Succession - Our bylaws give provisions for our school council executive to stay on for a
       2 year term. We will need a new Vice Chair and Secretary for the next school year, and
       the other positions are also open if anyone is interested. The elections will be held at our
       AGM in May, so please contact any of the school council executive if you would like to
       learn more, or shadow one of these roles.

       Non-Executive positions also available: Library Coordinator, and Lost and Found
       Organizer

   b) Treasurer - Paul Hoang ​ Our current balance is $5600. Some of this money can be set
      aside for maintenance of the Naturalization area.

   c) Communications - Jessica Player and Karina Damgaard ​ Jessica and Karina are
      going to set up a communication plan. Going forward, anyone who wants something
      communicated to the whole school body can send an email to the Communication Team
      who can then blast the Facebook group, get an email sent, contact Arshiya for
      volunteers, etc. Our goal is to streamline the communication process and cut down on
      the number of emails sent out.

       We now have 215 people on our Facebook page.

9. Questions ​- none

10. New Business for next agenda ​ - Sheryl Burrows was asking for support for a celebration
for the Student Council at the end of the year. Also asking for support for DJ lights for a dance
for Grade 7-9, and support for the Grade 9 Graduation celebration.

11. Date of next meeting - February 20, 2019

12. Motion to Adjourn - ​Motion to adjourn made by Karina Damgaard, seconded by Marlain
Poohachow . Meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.