Baden Parent Council – September 20, 2016
Attendance
Kerri Gettliffe
Brenda Loubert
Penny Collins
Brooke Bohart
Shannon Harrington
Robert Kitchen
Rhonda Erb
Toni Peter
Kriss Stone
Janelle Coobms
Angela Woodley
Erik King
Chris Stermann
Joanne McCallum
Nancy Woodhall
Yvette Ford
Jackie Gabriel
Michelle Griffith
Kimberley Pearson
Charlotte Hopkins
Tom Ernst
Jessica Baptie
Heather Dubrick
Review of agenda, acceptance of minutes:
Kerri outlined the agenda for tonight – Jessica passed a motion to approve the agenda and
Angela second the agenda motion.
June minutes will be passed at next meeting – Jessica passed the motion, Jacky second the
motion
Principal update – Nancy Woodhall
We welcome our teacher rep- Mr. Tom Ernst, Regrets- Brian Wiechers
September packages gone home and information is being returned.
Safety:Teachers/students have received an updated handbook.
Teachers have reviewed the emergency procedures. We had our first fire drill on
Sept. 19 and our 2nd one Sept. 21. We will have a “Lockdown” drill Sept. 28 and our
last fire drill on Sept. 26. We will have 3 other fire drills in the spring. (one being
linked to a bomb threat**** new). We will have a tornado drill in the spring also.
Our safety refuge spot is Waterloo Oxford P.S.
We have established and met with our Emergency Response Team with teachers
and staff that hold current certification in CPR and first aid training.
Anaphylaxis/Allergy updates are being processed. Information will be posted.
There will be mandatory training for EAs and Teachers for anaphylaxis, violence in
the workplace, Accessibility awareness training and WHIMIS training. Teachers
will have some time to complete their training on the PD day. The morning of the
PD day is allocated for discussion about our Board plan, our School Improvement
plan.
Staffing- We currently have 28 classes this year, including 4 sections of Kgn. 614
kids 680 last year at this time.
Schedule is 30 minute periods (4/4/2)- same as last year.
New Staff- Brian Wiechers- VP (shared with Westmount- here Mon, Wed. and
alternate Fridays), Stephanie Epp (4-5 FI), Jesse Ottogalli (gr. 6), Allison Moore
(7A), Tyler Siroky (7/music), Jenny Hurlburt (office- M-W), Elizabeth Snead (EA),
Nicole VanKlaveren (French core)
Board improvement Plan- Math, Assessment, Well being focus
We have allocated days for teacher release time to work on our School
Improvement Plan goals and Learning Cycles in teacher teams. We have 20 days
for teachers and 4 for DECE. We will focus on the Board Goals/Expectations,
looking at Optimizing learning and achievement for ALL students (focus on Math),
reviewing our School Improvement plan, and taking some time to plan our learning
cycles with work around sharing ideas about feedback, higher order
thinking/questioning, growth mindset and authentic tasks for students.
Superintendent visits will continue. Elaine Ranney is our Superintendent.
Assemblies- had our Welcome kick-off assembly on Friday. Thanks Amber (and
team) for organizing the fundraising the first couple of weeks of school.
“School Day” continues- All schools in the board will be using this program. It’s an
online portal that lets us share school news and events. SD provides anytime,
anywhere connection to your school community through any internet browser.
Announcements, group profile pages and calendars, field trips, schedules, etc are
examples. Register and log in to School day using your unique username and
password- there are step by step instructions onscreen.
More info_ www.school-day.com
User guide: www.school-day.com/support
Synrevoice will start again, once schools have registered.
Upcoming Dates:
Sept. 23- PD day- focus on SIP and Safety training
Sept. 26- Fire drill #3
Sept. 28- Lockdown drill
Sept. 29- Immunizations for gr. 7’s and Gr. 8 girls
Sept. 30- Terry Fox run at end of day
Oct. 5 - World Teacher Day
Oct. 7- Gr. 7/8 Pep rally
Oct. 10- Thanksgiving
Student Report: Tom Ernst Good evening members of School Council
Good evening members of School Council
My name is Juliana, and I’m in Mr. Ernst’s grade 4 class. It is my pleasure
to deliver the student report to you tonight.
The first month of the school year is always action packed and exciting!
We had a welcome back to school assembly on Friday September 9th
Individual classes met with Ms. Woodhall in the library for behaviour
assemblies where we went over safety and student expectations.
Meet the Teacher night was Thursday September 15th where many
parents and family members took the opportunity to tour the school and get
to know Baden Staff
Grade 3,4, and 5 classes took the opportunity to visit education day at the
New Hamburg Fall Fair on Friday September 16.
We had our first fire drill yesterday
There will be a PD day this coming Friday
September 28th we will have a lockdown drill
September 29th will be our Terry Fox run around the community.
That’s all for now, thank you once again for welcoming me to deliver this
report, have a great evening.
Council focus discussion:
Last year there was talk about having a successful council meeting. Kerri spoke about how we
can conduct ourselves to be respectful of each other and that we all have the same goal in
mind.
Summary of roles:
Fundraising – Joanne McCallum – Thank you to all of those parents who came to help with the
first fund raising package. Fall fundraiser vessay bulbs. Winter fundraiser they are thinking to
do Baden coffee because Regal went under.
Jessica brought up grade 8 graduation fundraiser. Still not sure what we’re doing for that?
Hoping to have the grade 8’s and their parents possibly head up the fundraiser. TomErnst
Kerri brought up the idea to speak to the grade 8’s first. Mr Ernst said that he will speak to
them.
Janelle suggested to piggy back off the Baden BBQ. Again, Mr. Ernst will speak to the grade 8’s.
Summary of Roles – Kerri talking about the roles and what they do.
Good Will - Rhonda is explaining what these roles do. Working with Nancy welcoming new staff
and doing cards for any occasions that come up. confidentiality is important
Staff appreciation – Jessica is explaining what we’ve done in the past. Morning event to
celebrate staff. Committee does breakfast, gifts and student questions decorating staff room.
Public Relations – Kerri is explaining this role.
PRO Grant/Mental Health – Robert is explaining what a ProGrant is. Ontario Gov offers grants
to school. Robert also applies to grants for Baden P.S. This year we spent money on mental
health awareness and support. Kriss is speaking about the mental health part. Last year we had
a speaker. We are trying to get the parents engaged and how to raise healthy children. We
also bought some resources to distribute. One of them being 50 tips that will go out to parents
shortly.
Baden backyard BBQ – Kriss is explaining what we did for the bbq last year. She discussed that
last year there were a lot of free. We usually raise 10K, last year we raised 8K. Really good for
having free items this time. Our focus changed so it wasn’t such a money grab but rather a
community out reach. We really need a lot of volunteers to make this possible.
Graduation – Last Wednesday of the month. A few parents head this up to make a great night
for the grade 8’s. Last year council funded 1K.
Skating/Pool party – 2 years running, Council arranged skating and swimming for the
community. Melanie Will head this event up last year.
WRAPSC/PIC – Each school is allowed to send 1 rep. They also have a Steering meeting (which
plans the WRAPSC meetings). We will need to pick our rep for this year.
Nomination and election of 2016/2017 council positions:
A few positions have to be elected. We will do one at a time.
The first position to vote on – Chairs
Nominations for co-chairs are Yvette and Jessica. Kriss will also run for chair.
Kriss is speaking to why she would like to run for chair. She would like to have a different seat
and learn a new role.
Jessica and Yvett spoke to why they wanted to step into the co-chairs. They’ve been on council
for 5-6 years and want to step in a chair role.
Nominees leave so the council can vote.
All in favour of Chair for Kriss Stone –
All in favour of Co-Chairs, Yvette Ford and Jessica Baptie – Are elected to be the Co-Chairs for
the 2016-2017. Feedback is to do ballots for next year.
Secretary – Kerri is putting a motion for co-secretaries. Tom second the motion. Angela
Woodley and Jacky Gabriel are the council secretaries.
Treasurer – Jacky nominated Kriss Stone, Charlotte second the motion. Kriss is the Treasurer
for 2016/2017.
WRAPSC nomination – Jessica put forth a motion for Kerri to be reps. Kim Pearson second the
motion. All in favor.
Treasurer update – Report on page 8 and 9 of the minutes.
cash balance of 38,883. A few things still need to come out (about $17K). We still have $21K
available money. Board regulated says you need to spend it in the same school year you raised
it. Some of our money is over 2 years old. We need to spend our money.
There was an additional amount that didn’t follow through on the report. So this year we have
a surplus to spend this year. Can we allocate the money now? Kriss believes she you, but will
verify.
Kriss explained the allocation and balance discrepancies.
Was there any teacher requests that we weren’t able to do last year? Nancy said there was
teacher interest on star tables and Chromebooks.
Question was asked about Star tables and Baden moves – Tom Ernst explained what star tables
are. They are standing tables so child can sit or stand while learning. Council decided to
support Baden moves for the effects it has on children and learning.
Charlotte wanted to confirm that Baden moves project on the treasures report. Will just state
Baden Moves.
Jessica motions to pay the difference on 31.11 on yoga mats. Tony second the motions. All in
favour.
Jessica also mentioned to council that we should spend this balance at this meeting because
the money was raised in the past. Parents are discussing how to proceed. Kriss suggested
buying one table per class. Brooke suggested to maybe just focus on the teachers who are
committed to these tables. Kerri likes the idea to allocate a portion of the funds directly to
Nancy to spend as needed.
Robert suggested Nancy to speak to her boss and let them know that we are willing to match
the board with the star tables.
Chris Stermann asked about string instruments. There are no string instruments as of now. But
we could look at music allocations. We will speak with music teachers.
Joanne McCallum wants to see a report and feedback before funding more tables. Tom Ernst is
happy to revisit at a later meeting. Janelle Coombs would like to have the next meeting to see
the tables. Tom Ernst is still teaching the kids how to use the desks. Joanne McCallum asked
the question as to how the kids will adapt to not having the desks the following year. Tom is
looking at all the logistics as part of Baden moves.
Kerri asked Nancy is other staff showed interest on the tables. We currently have 2 teachers
who are interested.
Kerri asked is there a demand for technology? Nancy said yes.
Jessica put a motion to give Nancy. 3K for Baden moves equipment if board will match up too
$3K. Yvette Ford second. 13 for. 1 against. 3 abstaining.
Jacky Gabriel put a motion to allocate $8K to Nancy to use as needed. Kriss Stone second the
motion. All in favour.
What’s on your mind?
The next parent council will be held in Portable 3 – Mr. Ernst classroom to see the tables.
Tom Ernst brought up accessibility for council. Streaming the meeting for parents who can’t
attend. Council will think about it and revisit
Penny – Talking about Baden P.S participating in the Baden parade. First Saturday in December.
Free to participate. Good for community Tom will talk to the teachers.
Appreciations – Kerri would like to thank everyone for letting her have this amazing
experience.
Nancy – Thank you to Jen and Kerri for being co-chairs!!
Jessica wants to thank Mrs. Green for watering the flowers and trees all summer and
afterschool
Kerri motioned to adjourn *, Jen second the motion.
Next council meeting October 18, 2016