Thursday, October 5th, 2006
7:00-8:30 PM
(Babysitting Service Provided)
Present: See list attached (“Attendance”). This list will be attached to the original Minutes as kept in the Secretary’s binder, and available to Quilchena parents on request
Shareen D, PAC Chair., called the meeting to order at approximately 7:05pm.
The agenda was distributed at the meeting. A copy of the agenda is attached to these Minutes in Appendix 1.
Motion: To adopt minutes of April 26th, 2006 PAC Meeting.
Motion moved by Barb G, seconded by Wilf L and motion carried.
Motion: To adopt Agenda for Oct 5th, 2006 PAC Meeting.
Motion moved by Linda D, seconded by Heather K and motion carried.
Shereen D, 2006 PAC Chairperson introduced the 2006/07 Quilchena PAC Executive members
Shereen D — Chairperson
Linda D — Vice Chairperson — new member
Lynn M — Treasurer — new member
Heather K — Fundraising
Lee-Anne M — Recording Secretary
Anne G — Communication Secretary
Barb G — Past Chairperson
Motion to accept new Quilchena PAC Executive team by Barb G, seconded by Wilf L and motion carried.
Being the first PAC meeting for 2006/07 school year, Shereen outlined a few goals that the PAC wished to address this year.
Ms Tsagoris is the ESL support teacher for Quilchena. She has been an ESL teacher for 15 years within the VSB. She outlined the Goals of the ESL Program.
The major goal of the ESL program is to provide ESL students with the language skills they need to be successful in their grade level classrooms and to accomplish this in as short a time as possible. In the past, communication skills (ability to sustain a conversation) use to be sufficient to promote an ESL student into the regular program. Now research shows that for students to be successful in school they need more than social language. Students also need academic language which is the ability to read books, texts, encyclopedias, etc and to be able to understand the context.
Research (Lee Gun — UBC) has found that 60% of all immigrants’ students enrolled with the VSB fail to complete their courses at a High School level. This is due to inadequate grasp of the English language. On average it takes 5-7 years of ESL to acquire academic language skills. Mr. Guns has studied over 24,000 students since 1989 in Vancouver. His research questioned if students arriving in Vancouver with some English do better than students who arrive with no English skills at all. He concluded that regardless of the student’s English level, their parents thought their children were better at English than they really were and removed the ESL student from the program to early. Most students at 14 to 17 years old were reading and comprehending at only a grade 2 level. Most new ESL students are reading and comprehending below Kindergarten level.
The end result of parents’ misinterpretation of their children’s English skill levels is that without personal communication and academic skills, poor students drop out and well off students often hire tutors to get them through their education.
Within Quilchena there are 2.47 teachers. Reception levels students receive 8 blocks of 40 minutes instruction per week.
Mme. Humphries starts her 2nd year at Quilchena as Principal and excited to be back.
Student Enrollment for 2006/07
No staffing changes due to decrease in Vancouver School Board enrollment, although we may experience delay in posting teachers leaving for maternity leave.
Quilchena has embarked on an Early and Late Literacy Program. This will include extensive literacy learning for both English and French students. The program is funded by the VSB. It is a Teacher Mentorship program whereby prime teachers will be spending time with teacher in other schools to learn the program and bring their learnings back in house to other Quilchena teachers.
We will also be developing the “One to One Literacy Association” which trains volunteers to work with students on a one to one basis. The program is designed to help the students who may slip through the cracks in the regular school system.
This year’s Social Responsibility theme at Quilchena will focus on Anti Racism. Throughout the year teachers and programs will focus on ways of preventing racism in our school and society.
Parent Volunteers are always welcome in the school. Two areas that need constant volunteers are the Kindergarten classroom (to play games with the children to increase their phonics understanding) and in the library.
Seismic Upgrades have been delayed until at least 2009 and therefore upgrades within the library have been put on hold. The rug in the library will need to be replaced but the VSB will not pay for it. Mme. Humphries will check into when that will be replaced.
VSB has approved that Quilchena can add a 20X20 ft. play concrete area in the primary playground. Cost from VSB will be $30/square meter.
The Terry Fox Run raised $4,115.78 this year so far. Therefore Mme. Humphries will get a pie in the face on Oct 12th.
The annual Walk to School day was a great success with a high majority of the student walking that day.
The NED Show provided a great message to the student body.
Yo-Yo sales from the show helped to raise funds for the school. 10% of all sales come back to the school which will go towards the Street of Dreams Project.
The Roots of Empathy program will be run again this year after great success last year. Mr. Webber’s class will participate and Mrs. Ann’s baby will be visiting monthly.
Ian J. will act as computer liaison between the computer teacher and the PAC.
Lynn M. will be taking over the roll of treasurer from Jean A. Lynn is CA with many years experience in her field. She is an active volunteer with numerous kids programs.
Jean A. has prepared the PAC financial statement up to Aug 30th. Some outstanding items still remain but are outlined in the statement. See attached Financial Statement for all details.
| Assets | Current Assets | Cash Unrestricted | $ 7,874 |
| Cash Restricted | $27,288 | ||
| Total Assets | $35,162 | ||
| Liabilities | Current | Accounts payable and Accrued Liabilities | $ 27,288 |
| Unallocated Cash | $ 7,874 | ||
| Total Liabilities and Unallocated Cash | $35,162 | ||
| Revenues | $49,121 |
| Expenditures | $35,383 |
| Revenue minus Expenditures | $13,738 |
| Net Amount Raised Total $42,230 |
| Total Restricted Cash $27,288 |
| Total $8,450 |
Annual Quilchena Appeal (AQA) will run for a 3 week period starting the 3rd week of October. The AQA is Quilchena’s one and only fundraiser for 2006/07. By running this type of an appeal it has eliminated the need for parents to be constantly distributing funds for individual programs throughout the year. Due to the delay of the library upgrade, PAC will be discussing optional projects for this year at regular PAC meetings.
The Book Fair will run again for 3 days at the end of November. Please check the teachers&rsquo wish lists for individual classroom reading materials.
Debbie J. will be sending out information in the near future on this year’s Q wear.
Sungsu A. discussed Student Food Allergies within the school environment. 6 to 8% of school age children have allergies ranging from mild to severe and life threatening. The most common allergens are Peanuts, milk, egg, wheat and sesame. Reactions can be seen as hives, itching, vomiting or the most severe anaphylactic reaction.
The school policy is to discourage sending any peanut products in student’s lunches or snacks. All teachers are to have training with EpiPens for emergency use in severe allergenic reactions. The school nurse will be attending the next teachers meeting to demonstrate the EpiPen usage. Teachers with children in their classroom with severe allergies will be discussing this issue with all children in their classroom.
Stacey S. has suggested a Walk to School contest be run at Quilchena to promote healthy lifestyles for our student body. Children who walk to school on a regular basis will collect points making them eligible for a monthly prizes and a grand prize at the end of the year