DIXON PAC MEETING MINUTES

Monday, January 22, 2024

Present: Vincent Ng, Shawne MacIntyre, Colleen Reid, Teg Bains, Jenna Newman, Colleen Reid, Taylor Sims

Administration: Kirsten Wallace, Colleen Orzen

Absent: Jenn McMillan, Nadine Eade, Charissa Anderson, Beatriz

Welcome & Introductions
  - Call to Order & Establishment of Quorum

- 6:34pm – Quorum has been met
  - Review and Approval of Minutes from last meeting:

-  Colleen motions to approve the minutes
  - Corrections/Additions of the Agenda of this meeting:

- Vincent ads a parent comment regarding snow, to the agenda

- Teg makes a motion to pass agenda and Colleen seconds; all in favour
  - Review of Constitution/Bylaws (2002)

- Vincent found PAC Bylaws on the Dixon PAC Drive and they’re from 2002; Vincent distributed a PAC booklet he assembled for new parents to encourage involvement; Vincent provided info on how to move motions forward

- discussion ensued about the 2002 Bylaws

- Teg moves to make a motion that Jenna share this doc with the team, Colleen seconds and Executive will look it over

- Jenna forwarded the current Bylaws

- Review of Gaming Funds Usage vs General Fund

            - Vincent has info on the difference between these two for parents as an educational tool; includes constitution/what is a PAC/fund differences document to be reviewed by Colleen and once okayed, Shawne to put it on the website

- PAC Calendar + Admin

            - Next PAC meetings: February 26^th, April 22^nd, AGM is May 27^th, June 17^th

Treasurer’s Report

• Gaming: $11,171 in fund and spent $1,984 thus far of the budgeted $6,520 (volleyball, reader’s choice, snowy day, some field trips)
• Operations fund is $60,193; so far we’ve spent $3,985 of voted spending of the budgeted $16,000. Jingle Bell run came in under budget
• Thus far, we’ve raised $22,767 including hot lunches, movie nights, craft fair, Purdy’s
• 2 movie nights planned this term and not much else at this time besides hot lunches
• $71,000 is the total in bank account right now; PAC funds in a healthy position
• Reminder should be sent to teachers to submit for their field trips
• $12/student allocation is great but doesn’t cover one kid’s field trip in a year
• Only a handful of teachers have requests for supplies thus far
• Billie submitted the final report for last year’s gaming grant (2022-23). We will submit an application for 2024-25 funding in the Spring.
• CRA federal charity return due at the end of February and Jenna is currently working on that
• Colleen inquired about the $1,500 for library book fund; Ms. Pederson is appreciative of the funds but currently there’s no further info about how that will be spent as yet

Administrator’s Report 
  -Request for Funding

• Colleen Orzen has set herself up on Munchalunch as a hot lunch ‘parent’ so that Dixon students are able to access hot lunches regardless of limitations; Dixon wants to help families while maintaining confidentiality
• Kirsten shares our land acknowledgement
• Many Dixon community activities including the Jingle Bell Run, Reading Under the Stars; Skating; and looking at different ways of weaving First Peoples’ Principles of Learning through the everyday learning (as part of the Dixon commitment to Truth and Reconciliation actions and the District Strategic Plan and BC Teachers Council Professional Standard 9)
• The Snowy Day: big success with students, teachers, parents, community; team effort!
• Camp Jubilee planning is underway for September 23-25, 2024 (currently grade 5s and 6s); 8 staff volunteer their time; approx. $350/kid and Dixon can use District provided buses
• Swimming Lessons were very successful especially on the snow days and through the transit strike; there was a bit of an obstacle with a new Pool staff but with lots of work by Colleen, it happened and we appreciate her efforts!
• Saleema Noom’s group Parent presentation is February 8^th; booked primary and intermediates group presentations are on February 12^th; February 14^th
• Currently Basketball grades 6/7 is underway; 3 new coaches
• Toonie Talent Show on February 20^th
• Learning Update #3 conferences on March 7^th; second term is exponential growth of learning for the children
• Artist City collab begins on January 23^rd, artist working with Div 3, 8, 9 learning about flood protection/theme of sustainability; part of the result will be a big graphic novel with every kid having a few pages; kids will receive a copy of those books
• April will be track and field
• Seismic Upgrading – conversation ongoing
• Grade 7 Transitions to High School; Meet the school afternoons with Boyd and McMath (31 grade 7s; 12/14 going to Hugh Boyd, 12 going to McMath)

Routine Updates:
  -Hot lunch: was moved one week ahead due to snow storm in mid-January; Taylor shared that it went very smoothly and with lots of help from parents, it goes very well; next time, two parents will go to two classes at a time to help move things faster; parents and kids seem happy with new lunch choices;
  -Movie Nights: Trolls this Friday January 26^th and last one in April, movie TBD
  -Spirit Wear: Colleen Reid shared that orders closed on January 5^th, then 3-5 weeks for the orders to come; things are still being made and when it arrives, will get mobilized for distribution

Discussion carried over from last meeting:
  - Outdoor learning Space discussion

• Sarah Yick and Sean Harrington shared their grant application with Vincent; Vincent suggests an open invitation to parents to ask opinions about “what would you like the legacy project to look like?” / gather info and opinions, then share it with parents; middle of February we could have; put in the ‘week ahead’ newsletter to ask parents what they want, then host a discussion time at some point before pick up; we could use the rolling board with a map of the school area and show info and solicit ideas to parents – aim for MARCH 7^TH because its parent conference day and parents will be here; idea is to get a cross section of other parents/library will be available; February 26^th PAC night we’ll have documentation ready for parents to look at it already;
• Colleen R. inquired about the budget range for this
• Teg shared that if its an outdoor learning space, could be $50k-100k+ (over 4 years) OR if not that much appetite to spend that, what could be some other legacy options

  - Additional New items

• If we come up with a Legacy idea, we could get $15k or $30k from a grant application but it would need to have more staff buy-in than one or two teachers
• Seismic Upgrade: School board has to go to City for permits; Still at the drawing stage; significant seismic upgrade to this school and largest in the district; they’re going to break school down into 5 blocks and each section to reinforce; $31 million budget – a lot of the wish list things will actually be done b/c they will need to fully break the whole school down (plumbing, paint, millwork, ceiling, flooring, new foundations poured, front of school with be upgraded, gym walls to be reinforced with metal, reconfigured green space, parking, portables); when they get the permits, they’ll work with Admin to deal with school classes moving to temp portables
• Someone inquired about shutters on the window re: past window damage; kitchen and sensory room will be reconstructed and make space more functional; teachers gave feedback on electrical outlet placement, etc.
• Minimum two-year project to start May 2024, ideally
• Addition to Agenda: Parent Question regarding SNOW: is there a way to organize parents to volunteer with shovelling snow to clear paths and lots? Admin welcomes parental help and thanks for the suggestion! Kirsten suggests the parents could send her an email to let her know they’re coming with the shovels

Adjournment

• 7:41pm adjourned