Tavistock Parent Council Meeting Minutes Monday October myth - 7:00 PM In Person

Agenda #

Item

1. Welcome

- Introductions

2. Nominations

- Explained duties involved within each role

Nominees:

• Chair - Jess Roes

• Co-chair - Ashlee (second by Rachel)
• Secretary - Sasha (second by Sarah)

3.Newsletter

• Well Received
• Spirit days will be released on a month-to-month basis to allow changes if need be.

4.Old business

- None

Principal Report

5. EQAO:

• Individual reports went out
• Overall scores are sitting at- or slightly above board average
• Scores across the entire board have dipped
• Results can be found online @ EQAO website

6. Staff updates:

• Sonali Singh Grade 2/3
• Anthony Pelle Grade 4/5
• Crystal Isaac ECE
• Hilda Doyle covering for Mr. Whetstone
• Mrs. Howell covering Kidergarten for Emerald Borton
• Jesse Grant covering music class for Sarah Gallant

1. Student population - 387
2. Portables occupied by - Donna Ross & Mrs. Dafo
3. Donna Ross is working on a musical with the students.

New Business

1. Tree trimming near primary area. Jill is going to look into whether it is a board issue or township.

2. Safety Concerns:

• Numerous children on bikes without helmets are a rising concern.
  Yard supervision position is changing
• Discussed that it might be a good idea to have a community police officer to see if they can come have a chat with the students about safety (eg. helmets, proper use of sidewalks)
• Complaints about the crossing guard posted at The Maples.
  Jodi will reach out to Jennifer Albrecht regarding concerns.
  Concerns were brought up about the 'kiss and drop' in the bus drop off zone. Was discussed there were a lot of ongoing hiccups with that and trying to find a better solution for all.
• Discussion around the possibility of junior students leaving through the arena gate upon dismissal to limit congestion.

1. Harvest Feast will be on November 26th - Pending approval
2. Changes to the Holiday Extravaganza:

• Kindergarteners will be having their own concert
• Looking to shift the layout of the concert to allow a shorter overall concert. Possibly spread over a few different days or times.
• More info to come on this subject.

Home and School Association

• Raised $30,00 to date
• Will be adding the $7,500 worth of funds from popcorn and hot lunch sales.
  Dicsussed funds that are unaccounted for from previous years of fundraising. Jill will check with Jodi.
• Talked about upcoming Halloween Family Dance on October
  26th,
  Talked about upcoming Christmas ladies night - DIY centerpieces on November 29th.

Decided that due to upcoming School Spirit Wear fundraiser, we would wait until Spring to relaunch the Small Town Proud fundraiser

Tavistock Optimist Truck

• Tip bucket balance was $349.00
• Sold 500LBS of potatoes
• Discussed the possibility of running another one during the May open house

Next Meeting

Monday, November 4th - 6:30pm

Agenda # Item

1. Welcome
2. Review March Meeting Minutes

Approved by Ashlie and Laura

3. Old business
1. Staffing Updates
a. The 3/4 position has been filled. Sam Witzel is going to be teaching the ¾ class. She has years of classroom experience and also experience working in special education.
b. The point 4 position has been filled. Jill Martin is going to fill the point 4 position Point 2 is French and point 2 is primary prep.
c. 6/7 class is getting pushed to round 2 hiring – there has been only 1 applicant.
d. Carla Musser will be finishing on Friday June 6th to start her maternity leave – Kelly Burke will be filling her position for the remaining 3 weeks of the school year.
e. Sparks was going to be having her baby this week
f. Joels wife Steph had a baby girl named Grace
g. The afternoon custodian, Bree Hoefs had her baby. Her husband John has been filling her position.
h. The music teacher Sarah Gallant will be coming back in September. 

4. Principal Report
1. Sue Gregg is currently filling in for Jodi while she’s off for medical reasons.
2. Health inspector was in the school today, May 26th. She was really happy with the conditions of the food prep space.

5. New Business
1. Staffing Updates
a. Jill has been told she will be staying in her role as Principal for the upcoming school year.
2. Upcoming events:

• Friday June 6th is the Bike Rodeo
• EQAO for grade 3 starts tomorrow May 27th. EQAO for grade 6 went very well.
• PA day on Friday June 30th – Teachers will be writing report cards.
• Tavi’s Got Talent is on June 17th. Tryouts are for grades 3 and up.
• Various field trips coming up o Grade 8 recognition will be on June 17th at the memorial hall
• Primary picnic is on June 24th
• Kindie picnic is on June 20th

6. Home and School Association
1. Playground funds sitting around $128,000.
2. Annual General Meeting will be on Wednesday, May 28th. This will be open to the public.
3. Laura and Rachel will be leaving the team, so we will be in need of more volunteers.
4. We’ve projected that we will have the money before the deadline. One option is to NOT put the octopus in right away, and at a later date, use the taxes that we get back for it.
5. $2,750 was raised for the ‘Small Town’ clothing fundraiser.
6. Waiting on final amount from Optimist Food Truck.
7. Chad Keller is going to be removing the current playground towards the end of the school year.

7. Snack Program Update
1. Laura, Aysha and Danielle will be leaving snack program.
2. Discussion around annual turkey dinner and allocating some of the banked funds towards that to make it more affordable for families.
3. Snack program will be needing more volunteers for next year. They will need someone to take on the role of running the program. This is a full-time job in itself with grocery shopping, prep, etc. There is another option available, which is to use a standard food delivery service. They would deliver all the foods, then the volunteers would serve them. Last resort could be a bin of pre-packaged snacks in the classrooms. 

8. Next Meeting
Monday September 29th – 6:30pm 

Tavistock Parent Council Meeting Minutes

Monday March 31 - 6:30 PM - Virtual

Agenda # Item

1.Welcome

2.Review January Meeting Minutes

Approved by Ashlee

3.Old business

NA

4.Principal Report

1. The following Administrative procedures/ Board policies have been updated:

• Privacy and Management of Personal Information (2014b)
• Trustee Recognitions Procedure (2034a)

2. At the March 25, 2025 Board Meeting, the Board of Trustees approved amendments to the Governing Bylaws for the TVDSB.

You can find them on our website here: https://www.tvdsb.ca/en/our-board/board-bylaws.aspx

3. Please share this opportunity to provide input into the following draft documents with the School Council members and Home and School Association in the (your) school community.

- Employee Group Leaders are asked to share this information with their membership.

For details, public input deadlines and contact information, please visit:

https://www.tvdsb.ca/en/our-board/public-input.aspx?_mid_=811

Public input is requested for the following documents) by April 16, 2025:

Creating Safe and Caring Schools Policy (4008)

Securing Schools and Buildings Procedure (4008d)

Access to Schools Procedure (4008h)

TVDSB Code of Conduct Procedure (4008i)

Bullying Prevention and Intervention Procedure (4008j)

Bias-Aware Progressive Discipline Procedure (4008k)

4. EQAO dates:

Grade 6 - May 12, 13, 14

Grade 3 - May 27, 28, 29

5. Staffing Updates:

1. Chris and Donna Ross are retiring! Very exciting times as they embark on this next chapter.
2. Many maternity/parental leaves now and into next year (Dafoe, Parker, Sparks, Musser)
3. Contract hiring begins soon, LTO (leave) hiring will take place in the summer.

6. Upcoming events:

May 5 - Track and Field at CASS grades 4-8 (rain date May 9)

May 5 - Education Week Open House 5:30 - 7 (fry truck will be here for Home and School)

May 7 - class photos

May 8 - Volunteer Tea at 10:00

May 16 - Jump Rope for Heart and Blue Jays spirit day

May 22 - Regional Track and Field for athletes who qualify

1. Summer construction - washroom renovations are scheduled.
2. Grade 8 recognition - June 19th

New Business

1. TVDSB Public Budget Presentation

Received an email regarding the boards budget.

The board is in a deficit of 16.8 million for 2024/2025 year.

They have 2 years to address the costs and eliminate the deficit.

Currently administration is reviewing programs and staffing for cost savings - ie. Layoffs, larger classrooms in the upcoming year.

-There is a meeting April 8th @ 5pm. Ashlee will send info on that if anyone is wanting to attend.

2. Welcome Kit Bags - each school is given $500. Last year Parent council bought the welcome kits with that money.

- Jess reached out and asked if anyone wanted to do anything different than the tote bags but had no response - so they've been chatting with Jill and decided to continue with the welcome bags for the upcoming Orientation.

There were still some bags left over from last year, but would need to purchase more, along with more supplies.

• Orientation will be held on Thursday, April 24th 5-7 pm in the school gymnasium.
• Expecting 50 new kindergarten students - give or take.

Parent Council agreed to using the totes and extra supplies, note pad, pencils, mirror, cards, ruler and crayons.

- Ashlee purchased books from the book depot (cheaper than buying through

Scholars Choice) for $2.35 each.

Home and School Association

1. Playground funds sitting around $85,000.
2. We have booked the playground but it's still tentative until the funds are collected.
3. Upcoming events:

• Thursday April 10th is the Spaghetti fundraiser. Quails is generously donating all the food - 100% profits are going towards the playground fund.
• "Small Town Tavistock Proud" merch fundraiser is running till after open

house.

- Basket fundraiser is going well so far with lots of donations coming in.

Classes will be collecting till mid April and the draw will take place at the open house.

- Optimist fry truck will also be coming out to the open house again.

Snack Program Update

1. Finally received a grant from the federal government. Money finally came to them this past month which was $4,000 - but they were given a deadline that they'd have to spend the full grant by June or they will take the money back.

• They are hoping that they can bulk buy in June to carry over items for upcoming school year.
• Laura is hoping to speak with Jill about putting a deep freezer in the school to store some food items to use in the future.

Next Meeting

May 26th - time to be determined

Tavistock Parent Council Meeting Minutes Monday January 6th - 6:30 PM In Person

Agenda # Item

1. Welcome

2. Review November Meeting Minutes

Approved by Ashlee and Rachel

3. Old business

1. Tv during lunch

- Jill had a conversation in the staff room with the other teachers. As a whole, staff wanted Jill to reassure us that it's not an everyday thing and kids are also still allowed to mingle and chat with their friends.

Overall, they have found kids ate more while watching tv, rather than being distracted by talking with other kids. Jill requested of them to be mindful to not have videos playing during all breaks. Jill ensured she will monitor. There is a fear among teachers that if they turned off the screens completely, there will be a lot more undesirable behaviours during lunch breaks.

4. Principal Report

1. Jodi asked that we discuss the $94.54 Mabel's Labels funds that are in the school account. She was wondering if we would be interested in moving the funds into the playground fund.

All in attendance of the meeting were in favor of moving the funds over to the school playground.

5. Staffing Updates

1. Jesse Grant has taken a teaching position in London. Tom Sproat has taken his place for the remainder of the year.
2. Job posting for ECE in Kindergarten closes tomorrow (January 7th), Hoping that someone will be in position by the end of the week.
3. Kaylee Howells mat leave coverage came to an end - Emerald Borton is back.
4. Isaiah Whetstone is hoping to come back in February.

6. Upcoming events

1. Thursday January gth and Friday January 10th - Dental Screening
2. PA Day on January 17th. Teachers and educators will be writing report cards.

Jill will be in London for workshops.

1. CCAT (Canadian Cognitive Abilities Testing) coming for grade 3's. Test scores will have no bearing on report cards or student achievement.
2. Early ID has happened for primary. It will be coming soon for Kindergarten at the end of the month.
3. Friday Jan 24th -

"Tavi's Got Spirit Day (green and yellow)

1. Thursday January 9th and Friday January 10th is Dental Screening day for Grades Kindergarten, and any Grade 1 students who have received a note for a follow up
2. Friday Feb 7th - Winter Carnival Day
3. Huron Park came into the school on September 11th

Waterloo Oxford will be coming to talk to the students about their options.

• WCI has not been out yet at this point.
• There is a document being co-created by the Oxford High Schools that will educate the students on what is being offered at each location. The document will be shared with the community soon.

 Skating on the 20th was successful - there will be another one coming up on March 7th.

7. Snack Update

1. Smile cookie campaign raised $1,700.

Snack program will be starting up again the second week of January.

8. Home and School Association

We are currently sitting at $77,000 - only $53,000 to go!

1. Jibbitz sales are going well so far!

Home and School ran it past Jill - wondering if we could sell during a school day if possible. Jill is on board and willing to help out where she can.

9. Newsletters

Will make traffic and parking a monthly mention.

10. Next Meetings

March 3rd 6:30pm (Rescheduled to March 3