Minutes from January 16th 2008 Council Meeting

Meeting start: 6:00 PM
Meeting close: 7:00 PM
Attendees: Steve Cole, Jo-Anne Henning, Lisa McDonald, Amanda Drewett, Julie Croteau, Richard Marcil, Roger Boettcher, Allison Wardrop, Ozzie Ahmed, Benedictus Soga, Elizabeth Ney
Next meeting: February 20th @ 7:00 PM (Clemens Mill Art Room)

Treasures Book Update
The Treasurers book campaign was a very successful first year attempt and council has given it thumbs up for next year. To support the program, Richard Marcil will include a quick piece in the next Dolphin Talk newsletter, reminding parents to use the Treasures Book and the coupons. The new campaign representative, Marie Sheppard, will be asked to visit a council meeting in April or May to review the 2008/2009 program. Treasures Book has also offered Clemens Mill an additional incentive to signup for next year. Council will receive 10 free books worth $320 (i.e. if 300 books are sold only 290 will be paid for). It was suggested that a promo be added to the council webpage on the school website. Next year it is hoped that a Treasurers book campaign will begin early in September and be promoted to families as a value added fundraiser with the emphasis being buy the book now and get 16 months of use.

Financial Update
The current balance is $47,332.71.
Year-to-date, the budget inflows sit slightly below expected due to several reasons:
• The PRO Grants have not yet been received from the Ministry of Education however we have not yet heard that our proposal has been rejected so hopefully funds will be received shortly.
• Special lunch (pizza) has been discontinued because of the difficulties encountered with the supplier, and a new supplier has not been guaranteed. Our thanks to Jennifer Huntley and Tracey LeBar for their dedicated organizational support to this program which continues to earn financial support for our school. The tuck shop has just broke even, so earnings are not expected to increase over last year.
• Payment for the playground has had some adjustments due to the fact that timber was not used on the volleyball court, and council has requested a detailed invoice to clarify the final payment. The GST rebate has not yet been received.
An updated budget will be provided to council by Richard Marcil and Ozzie Ahmed prior to the next meeting, and council will consider possible spending adjustments at the February meeting.

2008 Elementary School Boundary Review
The increasing population of the Hespeler Silverheights area has created need for the school board to propose new elementary school boundaries. With the Mattamy subdivision on this side of the 401 being part of the Silver Heights boundary there has been a significant influx of students. As a result, there is a possibility the student numbers at Clemens Mill could increase. Currently the board is putting together a planning group and is asking for 2 parent volunteers from the Clemens Mill community to attend monthly meetings. The purpose of the planning group is to be an advisory voice to the board. The parents attending the planning group would then communicate to the Clemens Mill school community. An email will once again be sent around the council email and anyone knowing of parents who would volunteer for this planning group should contact the school office.

2008 Seminar Planning
The plan for the first seminar is to promote Internet safety, and possibly showcase the launch of the school website Clemensmill.ca. There was an overwhelming interest for a seminar of this topic in the parent survey conducted by school council last spring. Alison Wardrop contacted the Waterloo Region Police Community Constable to ask for possible dates in February to present an Internet Safety Seminar. The Community Constable would hold a seminar at the school free of charge but requires a guarantee of at least 40 attendees to warrant the cost of police overtime. Currently the Constable is scheduled to do in school presentations to Primary, Junior, and Intermediate students on February 12th. It would be great to have an evening presentation for parents after the visit with the students to provide follow up information.
Also, a seminar is being held at Avenue Road School on 28th of January for interested council members. Prior to next meeting, Roger Boettcher will let council know of a suitable date, and will check on the possible liability/ board regulations of having our Grade 7 and 8’s volunteer for child care during the seminar.

BBQ
Planning for a year-end BBQ to be held in June (week of 9th -13th) is underway. Steve Cole communicated with contacts on the supply of food. It was also suggested that Domino’s pizza would be a good choice and pre-orders would be taken to simplify the process. Currently, a call for approximately 12 parents to form a BBQ committee would be necessary and Richard Marcil indicated he would put a letter outlining a request for volunteers as a stand-alone and / or in Dolphin Talk. Activities planned for the event may include:
• Slide show highlighting school activities from all grades
• Air Band competition
• A few games organized by CMAC and volunteers for the younger crowd
Kudos to Steve Cole Lisa Hooper for their early efforts into this event.

School Update
Roger Boettcher and Allison Wardrop provided council with an update of the school happenings, which included:
• Grade 7/8 Quebec trip to Montreal scheduled for June (an information night to be held in January23rd)
• Grade 8 graduation pictures to be taken later in January.
• Spirit Day planned for Jan25th
The possibility of student fundraising was also raised in order to offset costs of the Montreal trip. However, a fund raising campaign organized through the school would not be possible at this time and parents were encouraged to seek alternatives. Lisa McDonald suggested the Community program that organizes Meals on Wheels as they are often seeking students for snow shoveling, yard work, etc.
The possibility of a Science Fair being organized for the 2008-2009 school year was also discussed. Roger was supportive and indicated he would present this topic with teaching staff and get back to council.

Looking for a preview of the February 12th Internet safety seminar?

Avenue Road Public School is also delivering this seminar to parents and students. The parent evening session is scheduled for the following:

Date: Monday January 28th
Time: 6:45 PM
Place: Avenue Road Public School, 40 Gail St., Cambridge
Topic: Safety and Awareness on the Net
Speaker: Officer from Waterloo Region Police Force

Members of the Clemens Mill Public School Council are welcome to attend!

How hot is hot in school portables?

The following appeared in the January 17, 2008 edition of the Cambridge Times. It's a positive next step following lengthy discussions on the topic of heat in school portables. Hopefully, this process will lead to timely resolution of the issue.

How hot is hot in school portables? Board will spend year monitoring temperatures
by Lisa Rutledge
Published on Jan 17, 2008 , Cambridge Times

After years of discussing what needs to be done to help reduce heat in school portables, Waterloo public trustees are one step closer to bringing relief to teachers and students who have been putting in their own kind of sweat equity.

During a Waterloo Region District School Board meeting Monday night, trustees voted to direct staff to spend the next year examining 350 portables across the district and see just how hot they can get in extreme weather.

They are expected to report back to the board in March 2009 with recommendations to make learning more comfortable for teachers and students.

For trustee Cindy Watson, the move has been a long-time coming. She called on the board Monday night to take steps to bring relief. "We've talked about this issue for five years and I'm tired of talking about it," Watson told the board. "It's time to move, it's time to send a message that we're going to address this."

Those comments were echoed by trustee Kathleen Woodcock, who argued the school board should move even faster. She said if the board waits any longer, it could be perceived to be stalling.

She contends it should take a leading role to protect children and teachers. "If we delay this any longer, we're sentencing the students."

In the worst-case scenarios, the district plans to install air conditioners. In cases where the climate is deemed less extreme, other measures will be taken to reduce heat, measures such as increasing ventilation rates, relocating portables from tarmac to shady areas and installing reflective windows and shades.

Other options could include night cooling, which utilizes cooler night air to reduce temperatures in the stand-alone classrooms.

Reading from anonymous testimonials from teachers who demand to see air conditioners installed in portables, Watson said classrooms reach unbearable temperatures, including seven days last September where temperatures rose to between 29 and 38 C with humidity factored in.
The testimonial also stated excessive temperatures cause profuse sweating, nausea and vomiting, lethargy and dizziness, headaches, poor concentration and poor visibility due to the fact that lights are turned off and drapes are drawn in attempt to cool portables.

While there was discussion from other trustees to refer the matter to the board's environmental advisory committee, trustee Catherine Fife, a member of that working group, said the issue has already been discussed and didn't want to see any further delays.

There was also debate around the financial and environmental impacts of installing air conditioners, resulting in the board's compromise to search out the worst-case scenarios, reserving alternative cooling options for other portables.

"For those who are concerned about the environment, we're not doing all of them," explained Watson. "We're just going to do the worst-case scenarios." Air conditioners could be installed as early as the end of the 2009 school year, however, teachers and students may not want to put away their thermometers just yet as the cooling initiative will be phased in over a five-year period from May 2009 to May 2014.

Preliminary agenda for January 16th 2008 meeting

When: Wednesday January 16th 2008
Where: Art Room
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Agenda:
1. Financial update – Ozzie/Richard
2. School boundary study – Roger/Alison
3. 2008 seminar planning – All
4. 2008 BBQ planning – All
5. School update - Roger/Alison

All parents are welcome to attend!