Harrow Public School Involvement Council

Harrow Public School Involvement Council Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

In Attendance: Lindsey Kopka, Ashley Vigneux, Lori Hugli, Sierra Shaw, Shelbey Pillon, Jenny Petrie, Casey Harnadek, Cathy Franklin, Adrienne Reaume, Krystle Martin and Allison Whitehead (11)

Call to Order: 6:02 p.m.

Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes: Ashley motions, Shelbey seconds. Approved

Outstanding Business:  Fundraising o A vote was held over the Facebook Harrow Public School Parent Council page as to which Frozen Pizza distributor to choose for our Spring Fundraiser. Majority voted for Vesta Pizza out of Windsor. Ashley has the forms for Vesta, as well as Vesey’s Seeds & Bulbs. She will be assembling the take home packages and hopes to have them going home with students by the end of the week. o Fundraising forms will be expected back by the end of March o Prizes . Ashley suggested forgoing ‘Top Class’ prize and instead making ‘Top 3 Sellers’ prizes instead. . There were some great suggestions on prizes; bike, Garmin version of a Fitbit, Rubik’s cube package, Harrow Public School Spirit Wear, Outdoor package? . It was decided that a letter would be made up and distributed to local groups to see if they would either, sponsor or contribute funds, to prize packages. . Shelbey brought up an excellent point about how to deal with families who fundraise together. Hard to share one bike between siblings.  Was decided that HPIC would put together 3 prize packages. Top prize would be an Outdoor Package, Spirit Wear Package would be 2nd place and a Rubik’s Cube package would be 3rd place. . In an effort to save expenses, HPIC decided that the 3 packages would not be less than $300 in value, and that HPIC would pay that amount should no sponsors or donations come through. However, should members of the Community come forward to cover the expenses of these 3 prize packages, HPIC will save their resources for something else. That being said, should community support NOT total the assigned $300, HPIC will cover the remainder so as to honour the $300 prize commitment.  Ashley motions that the three (3) Prize Packages combined have no less than a $300 total. That HPIC will cover the $300 total should no Sponsors/Donations come forward. Should Sponsors/Donations come forward, but not equal the $300 amount, HPIC will cover the balance owing. Shelbey seconds. Unanimously approved by HPIC. . Allison brought a rough copy of the flyer she did up explaining where Parent Council puts the money raised by fundraisers etc. It is near identical to the one she did up for the Kindergarten Open house. HPIC agreed to distribute the flyer with the Fundraiser Packages Ashley is putting together.  Mention of the Facebook Parent Council page was added to the flyer to give prospective members a resource to reach out to us.  Executive council names were also added so as to further give opportunity for parents to contact us.

Chairperson’s Report: Lindsey Kopka  PRO Grant/Math Night o Family Math night was well attended and PIC had excellent feedback from the event. o Krystle brought up having another family night that brings families into the school to explore and play games. Lindsey said that she would look up applying for another PRO Grant. . We do currently have another $500 Parent Involvement Grant in our account that does need to be used up before the end of the year. Lindsey said she will look up to see what kinds of things we could use that grant on.

Treasurer’s Report:  Karen was away for the meeting. While reports were presented to HPIC, there is still some clarification needed. The merging of accounts with HPS has caused some confusion. By the next meeting, these questions should be resolved.  Lindsey was asked by Karen to ask HPIC whether or not the Holiday Shopping Spree will be continued next year. Seeing as how Karen has been running the program, HPIC felt it unfair to discuss its future without Karen present. Lindsey did ask Council to think on it, and it will be discussed at the April meeting.

Principal/Vice-Principal Report: Lori Hugli  Testing o Both the Grade 2 Insight and the Grade 7 CATT tests have been completed. . The Insight testing is done every year and shows the parents where their child is compared to other children that age. . The CATT test is a great tool in helping kids plan their High School path. It is another way to give students and parents more Data. This is a board mandated test that all schools have to give at some point throughout the year. o EQAO testing will be in May  Carnaval will be taking place this Thursday, March 9th. The Grade 8 students will be running the different stations with the Grade 7 students leading the student groups. This is a school wide activity.  This Friday, March 10th, Mr. Kander has arranged for an archery demonstration to take place at the school for students in Grades 5-7. Parents are welcome to come and help out with the event or simply watch. o There is interest in starting an Archery program at HPS, however, there are a lot of logistics in starting a program like this, and the Board has asked that we hold off on purchasing equipment for the time being until further research has been done.  SBL day is scheduled for March 22nd. This is a day for teachers to have a chance to continue working on and planning around SIPSA.  Bus Patrols are getting a special trip to Leamington on March 29th to watch either Power Rangers or Beauty and the Beast.  There were 27 potential Hornets that came to the Kindergarten Open House! Quite a few were younger siblings of current students. The majority stayed and played and Lori and Adrienne are very pleased with how it turned out.  Hats On for Healthcare took place last Friday and the school raised $248.95 for Hospice!  Zones of Regulation were brought up at the Staff Meeting tonight. Some teachers are already utilizing some of the techniques brought up previously… like calming stations for students etc. This program/philosophy of recognizing current emotional states of children is just another tool for the teachers “toolbox” Teacher’s Report: Cathy Franklin  Cathy did approach Patty Collier to see if she needed any financial assistance with her production of “The Wizard of Oz” Patty will keep the idea in mind, as she is currently using proceeds from Popcorn days at school to fund the production  Teachers have said that they welcome parent volunteers to come in for Carnaval…i.e. Serving crepes etc.  On April 27th, the primary students will be going to Vista to see the play “Jack and the Giant”  Personally, she loved seeing different families who were strangers, come together to play games at the Math night. Wonderful interactions between families and students. Her own students really loved the night.  After school today, some of the staff learned how to play Pickleball from Mr. Kander  Mr. Cornies is currently coaching Badminton  Cathy left a sheet for teachers to comment with any concerns, requests etc. for Parent Council and there was so much gratitude for all the parents who are able to come and help out in any way they can.  Cathy did ask if there was money available to purchase 2 Thermometers for her classroom. She would love to have one installed outside, but she isn’t sure if the Board will approve an outdoor installation. o Lori did say that she has an ECO account and she will look into it

Food Committee Report: Sierra Shaw  Soup and Grilled Cheese was a huge success in January.  Lunch day will be back in March, on the 24th. Sierra has had students asking for another Pizza Day

New Business:  Cooking Program o Lori had spoken to the School Public Health Nurse about bringing in an after school Cooking Program (like the one Jack Miner runs) to HPS. 2 people would need to be officially trained for this program. Could be Staff or Parents. This program would run for 6 weeks…potentially 2 nights a week. 16 kids would be the maximum amount allowed, with 10 students being the ideal number. These menus are all vegetarian, such as Moroccan Couscous. Training for this program would be held at HPS, due to its kitchen setup and central location. Must be stressed that in order to take part in this program, training must be completed.  When going through previous minutes for the Fundraising/Open House flyer, Allison had some questions for PIC o Bus Driver Appreciation-normally this event occurs in the fall and HPIC pays for Gift Cards . HPS took care of Bus Driver Appreciation this year, as Council has been concerned about funds. Thank-you to Lori and Adrienne for doing this. o Swim for Life…are we supporting this event this year? . Lori isn’t sure, as it hasn’t been discussed yet. Will be re-visited o Curiosity Club…is it running this year? . Curiosity Club will not be running at HPS this year. While it is a wonderful program, it essentially runs in schools that really need it, and on a positive note, HPS did not have the student need for it this year. o PIC page on the HPS website . Allison asked that the most recent minutes be posted on the website and also asked if previous minutes from years ago need to be on the website?  Council said “no” and Adrienne will be updating the website once the newest minutes are sent in. o Learning Through the Arts . Allison asked if this program would be available for students this year as well.  There are no plans at this time  Allison brought up having another joint Book Swap/Sale with St. Anthony’s this spring. She has already spoken to St. Anthony’s and they are on board with working together and splitting the funds between the two schools. Allison asked if Council wanted to be on board with this and Council voted “yay.” Allison will most likely have more information at the next meeting.  There are plans to have Spring/Summer Spirit Wear for sale this spring for students and families.  Quarter Auction o The Quarter Auction that was held last Friday managed to raise $336.95 for the HPS Breakfast Program! Special thanks to Jenny’s husband who generously played along at the auction and himself raised $69 of those funds! o Krystle brought up the confusion over the role of HPIC at the event. The organizers of the event were expecting HPIC involvement, and yet, this was not properly communicated to council. Next Meeting Set for Monday, April 3 rd 2017 @ 6 p.m.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:08 p.m.