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St. André Bessette Catholic Elementary School Council APPROVED Meeting Minutes

Date | Time 11/2/2018 7:00 PM | Meeting called to order by J. Granata

In Attendance

S. Arvanitis, L. Branco, A. De Souza, T. Dell'Erario, J. Granata, T. Hidden, M. Loberto, A. Monaco, A. Partington, C. Riley, L. Schiavi, V. Zaffino

1. Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge that we are on sacred Indigenous territory and thank the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation for being the stewards of this land.

2. Opening Prayer

Council Prayer

Almighty God May we bring reflection and wisdom to our meeting. Use our expertise and our judgement Lord and direct our contributions. Let us be listeners more than speakers. And may we always have in mind your will for the wellbeing and the future of our school. In the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Agenda

1. We would like to acknowledge that we are on sacred Indigenous territory and thank the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation for being the stewards of this land.

2. Opening Prayer (1 minute) 3. Approval of Agenda (1 minute) 4. Approval of September Minutes (2 minutes) (C. Riley)

a. Any matters arising from the minutes (5 minutes) 5. Treasurer’s Updates (15 minutes) (S. Arvanitis) 6. Review of School Council Survey and School Council Report (V. Zaffino) 7. Update of Council Priorities/Actions for 2018/2019 (ALL)

a. Volunteer List (D. Baldassarra) b. Communications (S. Schiralli) c. Fundraising summary and next steps (A. Monaco) d. Christmas Photos – lead? tentatively set for November e. Dance-a-thon – lead? tentatively set for February 14th f. Movie Night lead? - tentatively set for May 9th g. 2018 BBQ Summary (C. Riley) h. 2019 BBQ preliminaries and lead?– set for June 13th, 2019 (C. Riley)

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i. Inclement Weather Games (J. Granata & J. Kabanov) 8. Teacher Updates (10 minutes) 9. Principal’s Updates (15 minutes) (V. Zaffino) 10. New Business/Open Floor (10 minutes) (All) 11. Adjournment (5 minutes)

3. Approval of the Agenda – J. Granata

Motioned by: C. Riley; Seconded by: S. Arvanitis; Approved

4. Approval of the September Minutes – C. Riley

Motioned by: J. Granata; Seconded by: A. Monaco; Approved with changes to the “New Business” item regarding student monitors.

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5. Treasurer’s Update – S. Arvanitis

• The final report from last school year: 2017-2018 is below:

• Current Treasurer’s Report as of October 31, 2018

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• Communion, Journey into Kindergarten, Games monies not required so will be held over to be used this year

6. Review of School Council Survey and School Council Report – V. Zaffino

• School report gives an indication of all the things done in the school that year • School Council Report is a survey of how council feels the school is doing • Past Council chairs have consulted with school administration on the survey • Current Council Chair has consulted with Council prior to submission after confirming this is allowed with the

board • V. Zaffino would like to discuss the results which have been trending to the negative • Significant discussion followed for the remainder of the meeting (some of the outcomes are shown below) – all

other agenda items were deferred to the next council meeting as a result • Some of the suggestions to improve strengths in various areas include:

• Multicultural night to better integrate the communities • Mass in the evening in the school; perhaps with priests from all students parishes • Consistency of communication styles across teachers; teachers are asked to send a monthly newsletter

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• Ensure that students affected by other students understand that appropriate actions have taken place to address the issue (so they don’t feel “blamed” or “unheard”)

• Council to come back to V. Zaffino with reasons that “Budget” was identified as an “Urgent Need”

7. Update of Council Priorities / Action for 2018 / 2019

• Deferred to next meeting

8. Teacher Update – T. Hidden; L. Schiavi; L. Branco

• Deferred to next meeting

9. Principal’s Update – V. Zaffino

• Deferred to next meeting

10. New Business / Open Floor

• Deferred to next meeting

11. Adjournment

9/28/2017 9:27 PM

Motion to adjourn was made at 9:27 p.m. and was passed unanimously (Motioned by C. Riley; Seconded by J. Granata).

Next Meeting – January 17, 2019