Dixon Parents Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes of Meeting of September 18, 2017

PAC Members Present:

Sandra Townsend – Co-Chair

Lisa Fisher – Immediate Past Chair

Laura Gillanders – Treasurer

Volker Helmuth – Secretary

Karen Fisher-Hagel – Fundraising

Lyn Yang - Fundraising

Diana White - Fundraising

Dixon Administration Presents:

Sean Harrington – Principal

May Wong – Vice-Principal

Parent Guest

1. Welcome & Introductions

PAC members and parents attending introduced themselves.

2. Review and Approval of Agenda

Approved.

3. Review and Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting

Volker advised that, as no Motions were passed and no expenditures authorize at the June 13^th meeting, minutes were not formally recorded and published. 

At the conclusion of the June meeting, the PAC fulsomely thanked Meg Riter, outgoing Co-Chair and past Chair, and Patti Bates, out-going Treasurer, for all their years of efforts in support of the PAC, Dixon’s students, and Dixon’s teachers and administrators.  The PAC also thanked out-going Principal Bill Juhasz and Vice-Principal Tanya Major for their commitment to, and support of the students and school, during their tenure at Dixon, and presented them each with a memento of the PAC member’s appreciation.         

4. Voting on Outstanding PAC Positions

Lisa Nominated Karin Schweitzer to the position of Co-Chair.  Nomination accepted. 

MOTION - to approve the nomination, seconded and approved unanimously.

5. Administrator’s Report

Sean Harrington reported how welcoming and helpful Dixon’s teachers and staff have been to May Wong, all the new teachers and him. 

Including May and Sean, there are 14 new staff members, and 1.5 Resource/ELL teachers are still required.  Due to the hiring, class sizes are smaller than last year.

Sean thanked the PAC for organizing the Sweet Start event and special thanks to Lyn for helping with the pizza for meet the staff event.

Student leadership opportunities are being offered, with names having been taken for assembly crew, morning announcements and office monitors.

A first fire drill has been held, the Terry Fox run was a success and next to take place is grade 6 and 7 Camp Jubilee.  Monday the 25^th is a Professional Development day – no school for the kids, and parent conferences will be scheduled on Thursday Sept 28^th.  Photo day will be Tuesday, Oct. 3^rd.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Laura presented a budget with assets of approx. $18,500, less proposed expenditures for the year (liabilities), providing an unallocated surplus of approx. $1,800.   In addition, Gaming Funds amount to a further $10,000, with approx. $7,000 currently unallocated for expenditure.   Noted was that $1,200 of previous year’s funding must be spent by the end of September.  Discussion was held about the need for a new larger pull-down projection screen in the gym, and it was proposed that the gaming funds requiring spending be allocated for this purpose.

Motion - Karen Fisher-Hagel moved that $1,200 of gaming funds be authorized to be spent on a replacement gym projector screen.  Seconded and approved unanimously.

Discussion was held to amend the budget by adding a liabilities line item of $500, those funds to be made available to the school administration to support families that require funding support in relation to a specific activity.

Motion – Laura Gillanders moved to pass the budget as presented, but subject to that amendment to include a line item of $500 for hardship support, as discussed.  Seconded and approved unanimously.

7. Fundraising Committee Report

Karen reported that the Craft Fair is going ahead again this year, after not being held last fall, date to be Nov. 15.   Food days, pizza day and movie nights are being scheduled as well.  A newsletter with dates is being prepared.

8. Confirmation of Dates for 2017-2018 PAC Meetings

PAC meetings dates in the current school year will be:

Oct. 16, Nov. 20, Jan. 22, Feb. 19 ,

April 16 (AGM), May 14, June 11.

9. Emergency Kits

Food and drinks in the kits have “best before” dates and need to be sorted to remove items approaching end-of-life, and those items then need to be replenished.  Sean will advertise in a future School News update that parent volunteers are sought to coordinate and participate in a review of the items.

A discussion was held as to where the kits/supplies ought to be stored.  Sean will seek guidance as to policy or recommended practice from the District staff.

10. Robotics Program

Pilar Ramos proposed a Lego robotics program, but as she was absent, the proposal was put over to the next meeting.

11. Additional Items

A card of thanks was received from the student you received last year’s university entrance scholarship. 

Motion to Adjourn Meeting:

MOVED, SECONDED and CARRIED that meeting be adjourned, at 8:10 p.m.

Next Meeting October 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Dixon.