Dixon PAC Meeting

Minutes of Meeting of October 18, 2016

Attendance:

PAC Members: Lisa Fisher, Meg Riter, Lyn Yang, Patti Bates, Karen Fisher-Hagel, Diana White, Volker Helmuth

Staff:   Bill Juhas, Tanya Major

Guests: Kelly Greene, Richmond Schools Stand United (RSSU), and various Dixon Parents.

1. Lisa Fisher opened the meeting at 7:05 p.m. and welcomed guests.

2. MOVED & CARRIED that the agenda be adopted.

3. MOVED & CARRIED that adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting be deferred until prepared for the next meeting. 

4. Richmond Schools Stand United/Next Steps Brainstorm

• Lisa introduced Kelly Greene from Richmond Schools Stand United (RSSU). 
• Kelly reported that School Trustees have asked from community support in their bid to secure provincial funding.  District school funding is applied to buildings, staff and programs.  If Trustees cannot save money by reducing the costs associated with buildings (by closing schools), they will require more provincial funding, or will have to save the money by cutting programs and/or staff.  Schools and PACs advocating together for more funding from the provincial government has been shown to be effective. 
• RSSU will remain active, but instead of meetings, they may focus more on podcasts.  They have also engaged with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.  They want to try and raise funds for advertising, to keep attention on the need for more government funding.  Upcoming meetings are being scheduled with the School Board Chair and NDP education critic.  Contacts have now been established with PACs in most Richmond schools. 
• An additional focus of outreach has been on the Chinese-Canadian community, but more needs to be done in this regard. 
• Best source for RSSU information is their facebook page, as well as their website, which include their recent video and many good links.  Please look them up and share the links! 
• Discussion followed about further advocacy options, and it was emphasized that between now and the start of the election period is when both provincial parties need to be pushed for school funding commitments.

5. Election of a Representative to attend meetings of the Board of Education

• Volunteers were sought to attend all School Board Trustees’ meetings, to reflect the community’s continued interest and engagement in the school remediation / school closure issue, and funding issues in general. 
• Sandra Townsend and Amie Nowak volunteered to attend the meetings and report back at PAC meetings.

6. Administrator’s Report – Bill Juhas

• Mural Project – it is being proposed that the school undertakes a tile mosaic mural project, comprised of one tile per student (each tile being created by a student).  A grant has been submitted for funding, $3,500 of funding are requested from the PAC.
• Assembly – Assembly was held to celebrate the School Trustee’s decision not to vote on whether to close any schools.
• Report Cards - Application for an innovation grant has been submitted to develop a new report card to align with the new curriculum.  Possible that it will no longer involve letter grades, but instead provide an assessment of degree of effort and achievement of learning goals. Parents are welcome to email Bill Juhaz with ideas and input. Schools are required to communicate with parents five times per year (three report cards and two parent/teacher meetings), but goal is to be innovative and do more with technology.
• Parking lot – Parents need to self-manage traffic flow at the drop-off/pick-up area!  Some parents are still ignoring, or even moving, the cones and thereby putting children at risk.  In terms of the back parking lot safety, the school is working with the City as it is recognized that drivers need to given better indicators that children race out of the driveway and across the 4 way intersection.

7. Treasurer's Report - Pattie Bates

• Pizza day fundraisers remain successful.  Movie night revenue will be captured in October’s revenue.  The currently showing deficit is due to the budget being for the whole year, and will average out to balance as the year progresses. 
• Gaming funds in the amount of $5,200 remain and an additional amount of approximately $7,200 in grant funding is expected later this year.

MOTION: Karen Hagel moved to give the School administration the following amounts for the purposes of contributing to the cost of the Mural Project: $797 (from last year’s gaming grant funding), $1,200 (from fine arts grant funding) and $2,000 )from this year’s gaming grant funding).  Amounts approximate.  Seconded & CARRIED (Unanimous).

8. Fundraising Report – Karen Fisher-Hagel

Unable to hold the craft fair this year, due to the required pre-planning time having been consumed by the effort to prevent the school closures.

• No time yet to make plans for any other initiatives, other the regular lunch/food fundraising initiatives.
• Revenue will likely be down somewhat this year.
• District PAC is looking into the possibility of a group PAC movie rental rate discount.
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9. Richmond District Parents Association (RDPA) Update

• Karen Hagel will act as Dixon liaison to the District PAC and report back following meetings. 
• Sandra Townsend and Diana White volunteered to attend for Karen, as alternates.

10. Canadian Parents for French - Richmond Chapter update

• No one attended last meeting.  Next meeting Nov. 1^st.

11. Chair’s Report

Lisa reported that:

• Richmond is a test district for new report card development (see item 6 above).
• The new curriculum is being implemented by a number of teachers.
• “Canada’s 150^th Birthday” grants are available to be applied for.  Deadline is Nov. 18^th.  Need ideas for initiatives to fund.  Karen Hagel will lead the review of this grant opportunity.

MOVED by Lisa Fisher, SECONDED and CARRIED that meeting be adjourned.  CARRIED.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Next Meeting December 6, 2016 in the Dixon library.