PAC Meeting Minutes

Monday, September 25

Present: Vincent Ng, Shawne MacIntyre, Nadine Eade, Aniela Daum, Susan Ingram, Teg Bains, Jenn McMillan, Rainbow Koo, Mindy Lam, Taylor Sims, Maggie Li, Lindsay Lu, Jenna Newman, LJ Cajigas, Rose Ryan, Charissa Anderson; Silvia

Regrets: Colleen Reid

Admin: Kirsten Wallace, Principal; Colleen Orzen, Vice Principal

Agenda:

1. Welcome and Introductions:

• Vincent welcomed all and went over today’s agenda

2. Review & Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes:

• Teg motioned and Shawne seconded; all in favour to pass

3. Review & Approval of Agenda:

• skipped

4. PAC Overview:

• Vincent went over the PAC Structure; Dixon Bylaws are being revised and this was spearheaded by Jenn Macmillan in the previous year; Nadine will join the Bylaw Committee along with Vincent;
• Currently the PAC communicates with parents via WhatsApp; WeChat; Facebook, Mailchimp Newsletter;
• Vincent is building the newsletter list and hope to acquire more parent emails for community communication;

5. Priorities & Goals:

• Group discussion ensued regarding concerns which included:
  • Aniela mentioned she enjoys the community runs (pumpkin run, etc);
  • Mindy mentioned their team is worried about safety (ie: broken windows) and what is being done to prevent that; concerned about whether teachers will oversee the clubs this year due to staff changes. Shawne also mentioned her hope that teachers might lead sports clubs this year;
  • A parent mentioned they saw a Carnival Day done at another school and this might be fun to consider as a good community builder;
  • Susan suggested Dixon parents might organize a Community event such as a picnic/swimming/movie night that is not a PAC/fundraising initiative but is still community building;
  • Nadine raised about whether a parent would be allowed to/be interested in taking over the leadership of a running club/sport club; Kirsten indicated this is possible but would want to ensure a parent’s coaching philosophy is same as the school’s = participation is the key focus and not winning;
  • A parent asked if Saleema Noom is coming this year;
  • Kirsten indicated that staff Kaela Kaerne has volunteered for volleyball; and another has teacher volunteered to do Basketball; Ms. Evans will be running the turkey trot this year (food bank fundraiser);
  • Kirsten mentions that she feels very fortunate that Dixon is fully staffed and is grateful for all the help that parents and teachers provide

6. Administrators Report:

• Kirsten gave a land acknowledgment as Dixon is on the lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language group; we welcome new staff including Mme. Jien, Ms. Chan, Mr. Naylor, Mr. Lawlor, Mr. Holman, Ms. Hansen;
• 15 divisions this year and most classes are combined (split grades);
• 334 students, EFI is full (201) and some Neighbourhood (133) spots still open;
• School community programs include: “Say Something: (about doing the right thing); Terry Fox Run; Orange Shirt Day Activities coming up (Dixon is trying to integrate the TRC recommendations per the Richmond School District Strategic Plan); Turkey Trot is upcoming;
• Swimming Lessons for upper grade children will be upcoming for 2024; but nothing yet confirmed kids;
• Beach Day planned for June 12^th;
• Holiday Performance on December 14^th afternoon and evening;
• Cross Country October 17^tht at Garry Point;
• Lunch Monitors organized by Mme. Kaerne;
• Student Council will be re-imagined this year by Mme. Kaerne;
• Kirsten mentioned that a lot of the students have been expressing low self-confidence right now and that learning happens in the failing; Dixon/Richmond has been using the Proficiency Scale for Summative Assessments for years already and this is now being adopted by larger school district;
• Seismic Upgrade – the project has been approved by the Ministry; design process is starting; 2 PAC reps with be involved; it will go Out for Bid, may start after Spring Break
• School Story will be revised and incorporate First Peoples’ principles; we need to improve with using the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language;
• HUB Bike Program for grades 6/7 begins now and is free;
• iRide bike program begins in May for grades 4-6 (last year was subsided but this year may have a small fee attached);
• Jenn M. mentioned that all ventilation has been completed throughout the school

7. Treasurer Report:

• Jenna N., the current Treasurer, is learning/working with the reports; Dixon has a gaming fund and a general fund; we receive gaming grant money that must be used to benefit the community (anticipating gaming grant is $6,680 and expected to arrive mid-October; have three years to spend it); the general fund income is non-restricted and comes from fundraising, etc;
• With the funds, we can support teacher endeavours for benefit of the students/community;
• Year End in gaming account is: $9,986. (including approx. $4,000 worth of approved gaming expenses such as field trips, grade 7 grad, that were paid from general funds when we ran out of Gaming cheques in spring 2023. Transfer is forthcoming to correct this. This will decrease our gaming opening balance for 2023-24 to approx. $6,000 and also increase the balance in the general account); Year End in general account is: $38,020. (all expenses have been cleared);
• Buses from last year have not yet been paid;
• Gaming could support: Reader’s Choice Award; Saleema Noom, Grade 7 grad, Beach Day field trip;
• General could support: Highschool scholarships, Neighbourhood Celebration fund, more ideas to be discussed at the October meeting;
• We keep gaming funds for activities which will occur a year in advance to be conservative;
• “Candy Bones” is booked for October 12^th;
• Indigenous Celebration Day is booked for June 20^th;
• A parent suggested Skating Lessons as a student activity; Kirsten mentioned that going to Winter Wonderland at Minoru Community Centre might be possible

8. Committee Update:

• HOT LUNCH: Rose R. said so far they’ve been setting up the back-end elements and getting Munchalunch up and running and hope to get more parents ordering; parents need to be reminded about ordering and new parents may need to figure out the process;
• Taylor and Maggie will meet to make sure the milk/chips preparation work is ready;
• Nadine raised how to get sensitive information regarding munchalunch affordability to parents who might not be in a position to have their kids participate in this; Colleen suggested she might be ‘the parent’ of a bunch of kids who can order through her via Munchalunch but the parents would have to communicate their need to her and it would take some effort; discussion amongst parents how to manage this as information is confidential; we moved this to unfinished business and tabled it to next meeting;
• CRAFT FAIR:  LJ mentioned she has some team leads for the craft fair already but there are still some positions available; we probably won’t do Raffle this year as it is a lot of effort for little return; there is an upcoming Craft Fair meeting on October 4^th at 7:30pm  (Kirsten will get 50 tables for the fair);
• Teg B. spoke to the idea of spending some of the PAC funds on a new playground as its aging out; this would be a multi-year project due to fundraising efforts and length of time to build; Teg suggest we could add to the background as opposed to tear it down; Teg asking if there’s PAC appetite for fundraising for playground (Westwind is in the process of doing this for example); our playground has some inclusivity issues and these should be addressed
  • Vincent asked if anyone wants to join the committee and that an action plan should be created for it
  • Charissa asked about approximate costs of doing this; Teg estimated $70,000 - $80,000 for zipline plus other elements but a lot of this is dependent
  • Nadine suggested we obtain feedback from parents about this such as doing a survey, etc./collect data
  • Kirsten suggested she could meet with SD38 maintenance to figure out what needs to be done and expressed having the kids participate in what they want/dreaming/involvement; we could set an annual fundraising amount
• Jenn M. put forward motion to use PAC funds to buy the Square Terminal with case up spending up to $400; Nadine seconded it; Motion passed; Jenn McMillan will buy it;
• FUNDRAISING: Charissa said that Purdy’s will be available for purchase after Thanksgiving and the deadline to order is by November 4^th. Orders will be picked up for November 17^th; this will launch after Thanksgiving and run for three weeks
  • MOVIE NIGHTS: October 27^th (Super Mario Bros), January 26^th and April 26^th and December 8^th (The Grinch); movie license needs to be renewed; sound system has been worked out

9. Chair’s Report:

• 8:16pm adjourn