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PAC Meeting Minutes of May 15, 2023

PAC MEETING

Monday, May 15

Present: Jenn, LJ, Lisa, Shawne, Billie, Aniela, Nadine, Teg, Vincent, Charissa

Admin: Kirsten

Regrets: Jenna, Colleen, Florence, Colleen Orzen

 

Agenda:

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Review and Approval of Agenda

Lisa approved, Aniela seconded.

  1. Review and Approval of Minutes
    1. Teg approved.
  2. AGM
    1. Chair
      1. Quorum was achieved as there were more than 2 Executives present
      2. PAC Executive Election: Vincent Ng is Chair; Collen Reid is VP; Shawne MacIntyre is Secretary; Jenna Newman for Treasurer. Vincent wants to prioritize how to get more parents to care about the PAC and be involved. LJ mentioned that pre-Covid, on the first day of school we used to have coffee and muffins and meet and greet.Vincent asked if we could hold PAC meetings at another time like 1:30pm on a Thursday or a hybrid meeting (with Zoom) if that would encourage more people to participate. Overall, it’s hard to find to find people to get involved. Kirsten wondering about possibly rebranding the idea of PAC or once a month do a different time/day to mix it up and encourage people.  Main form of communication is with the newsletter.

Teg: we have a distribution issue and an open issue. How to get folks on the PAC newsletter?

Ultimately, it’s up to the parents to engage and choose to be informed.

The purpose of the exec is to ensure that the official roles and responsibilities of the PAC are fulfilled. Running fundraising and hosting events (eg: food days) are extra on top of that. If we do not have additional volunteers for those, we will not be able to run them. (Jenn)

Engagement is low overall community-wise and it’s going to take time to get more engagement from everyone. (Teg)

Aniela suggests that parents need to be more directly engaged with a specific task.

 

      1. Meetings for 2023/24: first meeting is typically the 3rd week of September; budget mtg typically October (field trip allocations and gaming grant timing). Kirsten suggests the first meeting is Monday, September 25th. Gaming grant needs to be submitted by mid-October. Jenn suggests we do a rough budget planning in June and all agreed. For field trips the only main change is per student allocation versus per division.
    2. Treasurer
      1. Annual Review of Accounts: Billie says Gaming is restricted funds with rules ($9,696) and Operational is where we keep the fundraising cash which currently has $46,000 for a total of $56,000. Billie went over the line by line for everyone.
      2. In past meetings we talked about allocating $ to a big outside structure in the past. The PAC Savings Fund (~$15,000) could be used for the above.
      3. Lisa asked about the Scholarship Fund. The current Dixon scholarship amounts are $300 each to a HG student and a McM student.
      4. Billie mentions that new Treasurer and PAC executive must follow the guidelines of the gaming funds. The grant is usually $6,500/year and is received in October. Billie already applied for it for the upcoming year.

 

  1. Chair Report
    1. Staff Appreciation Event: Jenn purchased snack items for the Staff Appreication at a total cost of  $572.
    2. The PAC newsletter sign-up at movie was not very successful. It was suggested we try and use the What’s App more. Lisa said the What’s App was good for getting hot lunch volunteers. Teg says to make sure there’s more than one Admin to the What’s App.
    3. Vandalism: A lot of parents very passionate about this. Kirsten gave us the timeline of the various dates and locations of broken windows and destroyed property and gardens (4 incidents since April 5th/6th). ACTION: RCMP active investigation; increased patrols when possible and some RCMP parents drive by on their own time; proposal to install pole cameras; Maintenance installing fence around friendship garden; Dix 13 sent flyer to neighbourhood; Potential Parent Block Watch; Trustees aware as some parents have written to them. We must go through School Liaison Constable Parker and Bob Basanti (RCMP parent). RCMP talked to Sarah’s class who are sad and upset about it. Lights off between 11pm-6am but ours will be one for the time being. One parent asked if we can put up signs that say there are cameras even if there aren’t – Kirsten doesn’t know. Sarah’s class wrote a letter to the Richmond Review and it was published. We’ll see what happens tonight. Teg suggested 3M security film and more modern technology. (when we do seismic, we will get rollers over the window). Vincent wants to know if this situation is on the District’s radar as a continuous problem or a one-off. Some local neighbours have reported vandalism in the area.
    4. Scholarships: These will be given to HB and McM students once they’ve graduated.
  2. Fundraising Update
    1. We made $800 on last movie night which was less than the previous but still good.
  3. Lunch Days Update
    1. 2 hot lunches left this year; some parents have stepped up to assist with hot lunches for the next school year and Lisa will connect with them to sort that out. Richmond Celebration Fund hasn’t been sent yet and we should get it this week and will be able to use it for something that needs to be spent (ie: pumpkin run)**UPDATE per Charissa: we were awarded $1280. 
    2. June 16th will be a “End of the Year BBQ” – A Dixon parent (Rob) will be cooking burgers at the event. Will need to figure out how to pre-order (Lisa could help with this maybe?) Tickets can be created from Munchalunch. We had a table with a master list of who bought something. Need to pre-cook a lot more and have more condiment stations instead of one table. We’ll need a bunch of volunteers. Shawne will email Hugh Boyd for 20 student volunteers. Passive games for the students to self-play. Bubble wands; hula hoops; etc. Nadine and LJ will bring their bean bag game/big jengas. We can do 50/50 there and its easy and fun.
    3. Dixon Craft Fair will be Thursday, November 23rd. First Craft Fair meeting will be last week of September.
    4. Movie Night’s in September, December to begin. Get emails for PAC!
    5. Purdy’s for Christmas (run the third week of October).
  4. Administrator Report
    1. Fridge is going well; fruit and veggies, milk, etc. 100 kids access it every day. Colleen orders via Instacart; funded through Student Affordability Fund.
    2. Clothing Library; kids more aware of it and Div 11/10 did a service and donated some items to it. Need boys sweatpants in particular!
    3. How to create access to Hot Lunch for all children? Kirsten sees a language barrier happening.
    4. Hop-On biking was a big success. Booked for next year.
    5. Ride to School Week: Kirsten do a draw for all kids who bike and can win something like a new helmet/lock? Can PAC donate cash to buy a gift? We’ll do a $50 gift certificate for SportChek our of Operations fund. Motion: Teg, Second: LJ, Approved: all
    6. Div. 8 Swimming at Minoru was successful and do it for more kids next year starting with older kids and down. $44.50/child parents register child.
    7. Lots of field trips happening: Gateway Theatre, Gymnastics, Planetarium, Beach Trip on the 14th
    8. Track Meets happening, Parent Appreciation Event on May 25th, Cedar Weaving, Dragon Day, Community Picnic Movie Night, Band Concert, Recognition Assembly, June 28th Grade 7 Assembly
    9. 2023/24: Projected 330 students; EAs will stay the same; actual numbers are fluid
  5. Questions & Discussion
    1. Aniela said Welcome to Kindergarten was great.
    2. Adjourned at 8:45pm
Updated: Thursday, June 8, 2023