St. Anselm School Council Advisory Committee Meeting

MINUTES

DATE AND TIME OF MEETING JUNE 12, 2013, 6:30 p.m. ATTENDEES Richard Walo, Len Corkery, Frank Spizzirri, Catherine Ferguson, Maria Wilson, Kathy Harding, Bronwyn Gray, Courtney O’Leary, Tricia Berry, Gigi Clark, Armida Brondial, Michelle Koscec, Barrig Hayward, Nancy Henderson, Neisma Peredo, Alyssa Macedo, Lily Stewart, Daniel Garcia-Moreno, Karen Szule-Snyder, Nancy Gamble, Agnes Mader, Marilou Wight, Barbara Escoto WELCOME AND PRAYER Mr. Corkery welcomed parents and called the meeting to order. Mr. Walo led the opening prayer. MINUTES ON A MOTION from Mr. Corkery and SECONDED by Ms. Ferguson, the Minutes for the May 1st, meeting were approved. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT EQAO Update All Grade 3’s and 6’s completed the EQAO testing. The Teachers did an excellent job of reducing the anxiety which often accompanies testing by having the students enjoy a different theme on each testing day. It was very creative and well-received by the students. CAT-4 Grades 2, 5 and 7 completed the CAT-4 testing. Again I would like to extend a thank you to all staff for assisting the students through this testing period as well as parents in helping prepare your children. The results from the CAT-4 are sent to the school in September. The data obtained from both EQAO and CAT-4 will help us identify areas of strengths and needs for our students. This information will then be utilized to inform our daily teaching practice as well as assist in guiding the creation of overall school goals in connection with our School Learning Improvement Plan. CSAC Liturgy I would like to extend a thank you to the CSAC committee for representing St. Anselm at the TCDSB’s 1st CSAC Appreciation Night at the Catholic Education Center (CEC) on Wednesday, June 5th. All members of CSAC were in attendance. I was honoured to represent our school with all of you. School Agendas Ordered We have ordered the agendas for next year. The agenda initiative is funded through CSAC. As a school community we believe very strongly that the agendas are an important tool in the

communication between school and home. We should be in receipt of the agendas by the last week in August. City Track and Field I would like to extend hearty congratulations to our 2 students who represented St. Anselm’s at the city Track and Field finals. Welcome to Kindergarten Event Our “Welcome to Kindergarten” event was a great success. I would like to extend a special thank you to all staff for assisting with the centers which were set up around the gym to introduce the children to a little taste of Kindergarten. Also in attendance were representatives of the Leaside Public Library, Toronto Public Health, TCDSB Social Work Department, Community Center, Toronto Pre-School Language whom were available to provide parents with information. Thank you to CSAC for setting up an information table as well as providing the evening’s refreshments. Student Enrolment With respect to new enrolment, currently we have 32 JK’s registered. Our original forecast had been 25. Given this healthy enrolment of over 18 new students, this could possibly affect the tentative staffing model which was sent out previously to parents. We are working internally to provide an optimum staffing model and will be communicating with the Superintendent to inform him of our large increase in numbers. Should changes be necessary we will do our best to see that changes in schedules are met with the least amount of disruption for families. Garden Update I am very happy to report that through a series of very timely opportunities made available to us and the generosity of a number of St. Anselm’s parents and students, we were able to secure for our school a considerable start-up in terms of planting material and landscaping assistance for our front garden. You will now notice a remarkable transformation in the front yard of St. Anselm. On June 7th PA day, we had approximately 20 volunteers to help plant. Since these opportunities arose very quickly there was not enough time to communicate to all parents beforehand. However moving forward we shall endeavour to ensure all parents are made aware should they wish to assist in the garden project. Volunteer’s Tea Our Volunteer’s Tea was held June 12th. The event is held in order to express our appreciation to the many incredibly giving volunteers in our community. I would like to acknowledge the hard work on behalf of the primary students and Mrs. Napao’s class in preparing for the event. I would like to extend a special thank you to all students for contributing such beautiful artwork, drama and song to the event. A special thank you as well to Mrs. Bright for handling the refreshments and to the EA/CYW support staff for preparing the gym. We are very grateful as a school community for your involvement and assistance in the many events we run throughout the year and I look forward to continuing to work with all of you next year. Technology Update In terms of our technology needs, I believe procuring laptops and projectors so that each classroom is equipped will enable our school to be more in line with our emphasis on 21st Century Learning and make us competitive with other schools in the city. We have made an inventory of the needs of each classroom and we currently are in need of 7 laptops, projectors and speakers. It is my intention to provide professional development on the software to be used on the LCD and laptops. Canada Helps We are currently looking into the feasibility of processing all donations to the school through the Canada Helps program. More information on this will follow.

Budget Update To date we have about 98% of our school’s yearly budget spent. Moving forward I would like to stress that it has been a past practice of mine that the information contained in the school’s budget is made available to parents. My philosophy is transparency, accountability and justification for spending. There will be a binder housed in the office which will contain all invoices, broken down by spending category. Next year, detailed budget updates will be provided at CSAC monthly meetings. Having this kind of open communication will put us in a better position to align our spending with our overall school/community goals. CSAC Award I would like to put forward that an annual award be made to a Grade 8 student who has demonstrated excellence in governance and leadership throughout the year and has worked on behalf of and has been the voice of the student body. The proposal for this award was ratified by all present. Pro-Grant Mr. Walo confirmed that this year’s Pro Grant has been made by way of an application towards having a School Bonanza event. This event’s focus will be on communication and team building. Ms. Ferguson confirmed that since St. Anselm has not received the Pro Grant in previous years we would be in a priority list of schools to receive same. Approximately $1,000 is given to schools in connection with this Pro Grant. TECHNOLOGY PURCHASE Mr. Corkery presented a revised proposal with respect to re-directing the funds previously earmarked for the purchase of a new Smartboard/related equipment towards the purchase of seven new laptops/projectors instead. It was deemed at the meeting that this would be a more effective use of the funds previously generated from the school community and would ensure that our spending is more in line with our school’s long term goals. The revised proposal of purchasing 7 new laptops/projectors instead of the Smartboard was ratified by all present at the meeting. A discussion ensued with respect to the benefits of purchase versus leasing of new technology. Mr. Walo stated the benefits with respect to purchasing technology through the Board catalogue namely consistency, a reduced rate, no tax and a three year support guarantied. Mr. Walo committed to look into the feasibility of leasing. A discussion ensued with respect to the possibility of the school accepting donations of previously used computer equipment. Mr. Walo stated that donations would be welcomed and that every classroom has access to the wireless network. BUDGET REVIEW Mr. Spizzirri presented the budget to date. Mr. Spizzirri reviewed the actual and projected running budget stating that St. Anselm had done very well generating revenue and had met all its proposed commitments. Mr. Spizzirri made reference to a need for changing the current system so that expenditures made in September were not being processed in June and a closing bank balance could be provided before academic year end.

VISION FOR THE FUTURE The second half of the meeting was dedicated to a brainstorming session in which the participants of the meeting brought forward ideas in connection with the kind of school they would like St. Anselm’s to be known for. All ideas were recorded on chart paper and follow up to these ideas will be discussed next academic year. Mr. Walo reminded those present that with every partnership and in all endeavours moving forward we must maintain our Catholic focus as a priority. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm