Get Involved/School Council

Tuesday September 30th, 2025 @ 6:00pm
Meeting 1: 2025- 2026 School Year

1. Welcome – Attendance & Regrets

(Attended virtually – Shukri M, Stephanie L, Shannon K, Amy-Jo T, in person – Allyssa H, Jenn C, Charlene C, Sabrina Pattinson )

2. Approval of Agenda – approved

3. Elections for 2025/2026: (Chair, Co-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary)

a. Chair – Jenn Curtis returns
b. Co-Chair – Allyssa H
c. Treasurer – Shannon Koetstra returns
d. Secretary – Stephanie Leith returns Allyssa motions, Jenn C seconds

4. Approval of Minutes – approved

5. Treasurers Report – Balance per Shannon $674.40 in the account – more than expected, need to confirm that all expenditures have been made that were decided. This will be forthcoming from the office.

6. Student Report – (Student Council) – deferred to principal

7. Teacher Report – deferred to Principal

8. Principal Report: Charlene Chapman.

a. All work to the school that was planned was done and ready on time
i. 4 classes with hooks, play structure, fence

b. Everyone is still settling in, especially Grade 8s who are not sure what
the year will look like for them.
i. Freedom Friday will entirely depend on student behaviour and
will only be 40m so not enough time to get to McDonalds.

c. No French teacher teaches an English topic to the students.
i. More French speaking is already apparent

d. Lunch monitor hired

e. Crossing guard struggled to hire – new person started

f. Meet the teacher Sept 9th went well welcoming new families

g. Barbecue at lunch went well, chocolate milk is doing well also with hot lunches starting this week.

h. Building is full of leaders, 9 gr 8 on student council and are helping hands and educators have seen the biggest changes now that students with upstanding skills are now running the mood of the building
i. Terry Fox – $3,500 approx. raised

j. Franco-Ontarian Day – coach bus was fun for littles. Grade 8s chose not to attend so will try a monthly community activity re French culture. Next up – Halloween costume contest and dance.

k. Sports: Cross country team in place, to Ken Reid on 7th, 3 soccer teams also. No volunteers needed yet.

l. Split Classes – due to numbers had no choice to stay on the ministry average. There are only 3 splits, despite how it may have appeared showing both the French and English teacher names. School has just under 200 children, fewer than prior year.

9. Follow Up from Last meeting/New Items:

a. Planning dates for the year for events: (Other Suggestions)

1. Arts Night – was a success, but will leave up to the Arts teachers (4 of them), just not to be held in April.

2. Family Electives – small turn out, but very engaged, look at repeating this, but move to earlier before sports start
o April 7 th
o Utilize the PEG to pay for vendors (Chair will try to get the PRO grant to move to the school as well)
o Can also look at CPF grant for the school now that we are a French school. Steffler is the rep and is putting together a group. JC will discuss with Mme. Steffler.
o Cost in PY didn’t exceed $1,000 and there are fewer students this year.

3. Grade 8 Graduation – June 24th @ LCVI, no limit on attendance!

4. Grade 8 Graduation Trip – hope to go to Montreal again. Board must provide approved travel companies. Mme Steffler is planning
this trip. More info to come. Prior year was over $700.

5. Inflatable Day – for the whole school, just Central on June 4th, Slushie truck

6. Food truck date possibility

7. Side note: Carnival at LF – they want Gr. 7/8 help running this

8. New item – having a CSS version of Carnivale here is a possibility – 1⁄2 day with Bonne Homme – February

9. PC Hot Lunch Ideas: Grilled Cheese, Pancakes, Hot Dogs –fundraise for at least one of these to be free? $2 day, then free Ice Cream Day at end of year.
o Sub-committee to do a doodle poll – Allyssa will send out to figure out dates for these
o (aside: Thursday Jan 29th – Weldon Students done exams and can come to CSS)
o School will be doing Pizza & BarBurrito each week W/Th

10. Fundraising ideas and feedback for 2025/2026:
o Vandermeers – Christmas or Spring. Allyssa will check in with them
o MacMillan’s – result? Very good, was easy to do and raised the most. Good to stock the freezer before Christmas. Can we get the forms for Thanksgiving?
▪ Most kids raised $100, some as much as $300
▪ The more you sell the more you get back
o Frozen Chicken fundraiser – many products, but not pre-sorted – did not go well at Jack Callaghan
o Gift card – Fundscrip gift card fundraiser
o Kona slushie truck, or Kawartha Dairy ice cream truck

10. District Council meeting: Dates to be sent once available.
Next CSS Meeting: November 25th, 2025

Tuesday November 25th, 2025 @ 6:00pm
Meeting 2: 2025- 2026 School Year

1. Welcome – Attendance & Regrets

Attended Virtually– Shukri M, Stephanie L, Crystal Ireland, Amy-Jo Teatro,
In person – Shannon K, Allyssa H, Jenn C, Charlene C

2. Approval of Agenda – Stephanie L

3. Approval of Minutes – Shukri M

4. Treasurers Report:

Shannon – same number as before $674.40. Discussion regarding what to use the funds for, if they are available. Charlene will discuss with the “directions team” who looks at what resources are needed to achieve the direction of the school. For example, indoor recess supplies or supply teacher kits. Sports supplies have been purchased already.

→Charlene will follow-up with Wendy for the treasurer’s report to ensure we know what is available to spend from Parent Council funds and will find out from Directions team what support is requested.

5. Student Report(Student Council).

Student council presidents, Isla McLeod and London Fagan. They are planning a spirit week in December and school-wide activity day on 19th, last block. Also organizing indoor recess/outdoor activities.

6. Teacher Report – will be covered in Principal’s report.

7. Principal Report: Charlene Chapman.

a. $3,100 school total was a record for Terry Fox donations.

b. ARM – accessing reading multiple measures – all staff now trained to track student reading achievement.
   i. Gr 8 class – 100% of students meet the benchmark for English reading

c. Bookfair – well received, raised just over $600 for books for the school

d. Sports – cross country, good showing overall. Soccer went well, despite scheduling issues and kinks that should be worked out. Volleyball is running also.

e. Halloween dance – went well and the kids danced, proving they can have a dance for their grad. There was a food donation by Loblaws.

f. Freedom Fridays started – with a higher bar set. They are settling in. Trying to preserve some things for the older kids from last year.

g. Grad Trip – $987 with a new tour company, so commute issues should be eliminated. ****There are several financial supports available for families. Contact the school.****

→ Will need to remind families to sign up to get enough participation to run.
https://portal.brightsparktravel.ca/ 
Tour Web Code: EQ45TZ3

h. Camp Muskoka Gr. 6s – went excellent
     i. Staff PA Day – staff and admin built a school improvement plan; largest need is spontaneous oral language (using French).
    i. French reading data is poor – only 25% passing rate. Could still be COVID.
    ii. Fresh Fuell has agreed that students can read 25 FRENCH books to get a free smoothie.

j. Café mental evening will be on December 9th (7 & 8s) hosted in the gym, 7 – 9pm, no PC support needed.

k. Winter music night/celebration/Arts night maybe in Feb. May have the gift basket raffle at this time. This will be headed by staff.

l. Food drive: donations have been delivered to Food Source

m. Toy Drive: There is a kinsmen toy bin at the school and there will be a school cash online option to donate, and student council will purchase toys for the bin

n. Jersey’s: CSS does not have these for the smaller children.

→ Allyssa will coordinate with LF who has just priced new jersey’s

8. Follow Up from Last meeting/New Items:

none not already covered.

9. Parent Council Agenda Items:

Planning dates and updates for the year for events: (Other Suggestions)

a. Arts Night: Updates – see above principal report on Winter music night

b. Inflatable Day: Updates – date is June 4th

c. Family Electives: JC: Applied for the grant 500.00. Date set: April 7th. Plan is to do something very similar to last year, it was easy to organize in comparison to other options. May swap pottery for painting. Cookies & scones were well received.
→ Allyssa will look at how many families joined last year and how much it cost for next meeting

d. PC Hot Lunch Ideas: JC: Grilled Cheese, Pancakes, Hot Dogs and volunteers. Doodle poll Date results volunteers are available – December 1st, 8th, Feb 2nd, 9th, March 2nd, March 30th, April 13th, 27th, June 12th, June 29th

i. At this point we need to start in February to get on School cash in time, after determining pricing

ii. Offer a donation to support another person’s meal on SCO

iii. Funds raised will be directed to PC initiatives – inflatable day and new jersey’s

e. Breakfast program: Updates CC; being run by 2 grade 7 students and going very well, reducing waste.

f. 25 cent sale: CC: this is a tradition of LF, there won’t be enough donations to go around. It is more for the younger kids. In this building currently, it is not feasible to run our own. Suggest a different route like a craft to take home.

→CC will review with teachers and let us know if PC can support.

g. School Sports: JC: Boys & girls mixed flag football. There is a tournament planned for 2026. Can Central commit to being a part of this after backing out last year? CSS has a flag football kit. Ms. Prozenko has volunteered for this in the past as the teacher.

→ CC will see if there is a teacher to volunteer for this assuming it is approved by the board. (Being led by Christian Harrington)

10. Fundraising ideas and feedback for 2025/2026:

a. Grad Trip – Prior year funds raised went back to all students on the trip in cash, this year it will likely be a cheque to reimburse parents

b. Vandermeer’s is scheduled for Spring before Easter – end of Feb

c. Food truck

d. Kawartha Dairy truck

e. Other options discussed:
    i. Boston Pizza Celebrity Server – only 6 kids at a time
    ii. Domino’s – may no longer be an option, Allyssa to check
   iii. CC: Consider doing a BBQ instead of a hot lunch day in June
   iv. Track & Field canteen – where do the funds raised go? to the school council of the host. Will not be on site this year.

v. Walking tacos are also popular, CSS has approved kitchen.

f. Snack sales (JC) – popcorn machine at CSS. Friday’s will volunteer to start popcorn sales back up.

11. District Council meeting – December 9th: JC will see that we can get extra funding to add towards our family night like we did last year from District Council ($500). Someone who helps students make benches offered at last meeting. → JC will follow-up on this.

Note: You can make donations to the school and obtain a tax receipt if you donate through the TLDS board’s Canada Helps website and designate the school and purpose of your donation (most recently Feed All Four) https://www.tldsb.ca/canada-helps/

Next CSS Meeting: January 27th, 2025

Future dates to slot in:

February 24th
March 24th
April 21st
May 26th
June 23rd