Runnymede PS Council Committee Meeting – March 28, 2017

FINAL MINUTES

Attended: Rob Hochberg, Anna Intarakosit, Anne Markee, Andrew Reynolds, Dale Cadeau, Greg Kerr, Sarah Frame, Erin Meana, Allison Madigan, Kathleen Hyatt, Shirley Suurdt, Ivana Barbieri, Tasha Balla-Boudreau, Marissa Hollis, Helen Williams, Carolyn Shaw, Joa Roth, Emily Hollis, Anita Jim, Danielle Kaftarian, Susie Hardy, Colette Harper, Sharon Kelly, Pamela McGrath, David Begleiter, Christine Evans, Nora Irwin, Andrew Reynolds, Miriam Riches, Susan Stayna, Christine Evans, Emily Osborne, Audrey Robinson Regrets: Tracy MacIntyre A.1 Call to order (Dale) The meeting was called to order at 7:06 p.m. A.2 Attendance (Dale) A.3 Adoption of agenda (All)

• Agenda adopted as proposed with the following amendment: o Adding Mr. Latter to the agenda as item A.8 Periaktoi

A.4 Review of previous minutes (All) The minutes of the Jan 26, 2017 meeting were approved on Feb 2, 2017. A.5 Report from Co-Chairs (Dale and Greg)

• Councillor Doucette visited in early March for a site visit that focused on road safety • She wanted to understand the level of vehicular and pedestrian traffic at Runnymede; this was very

beneficial for her to see • Improvements will include:

o Painting the world ‘SCHOOL’ on the road to raise visibility (this will happen board wide) o Back road near Kennedy will have bump outs (traffic calming measure); this will reduce chances

of accidents (to be completed in 2018). • Council asked about a traffic study on Runnymede and Colbeck (study was completed in 2012 so we

qualify for another study). Will wait and see if approved. Pro Grant

• Council received $1000 from the Board for a talk on the topic of social media (targeted to the grade 6 students). This will occur Tuesday Apr 18th 2-3pm.

• In the evening on the same day, parents will be invited to attend with their kids to hear the same message

• Next year, Council will apply for the grant with the idea that the topic will be geared towards kindergarten aged students (it’s difficult to get a topic that can apply to both age groups)

Hot Lunch

• We’re in week 5 and the program is going very well • Currently on target to reach $1300 in revenue (25 cents per meal go toward Council) • Serving 300 meals on average every week • Email runnymedelunch@gmail.com or Joa directly with feedback • Working out kinks but very positive reception so far

• Dale said there’s a number of companies approaching the school that would like to run programs at

Runnymede • We are looking for volunteers to help Rob and Dale review and evaluate these companies. Please

contact her if interested.

• Lastly, Council is looking for a person to act of as co-chair with Greg as Dale is coming to the end of

here 3 year term. A.6 Admin Report (Rob)

• Rob welcomed Mr. Latter and Mr. Medley to the meeting • Construction update:

o The senior wing now has walls/plumbing and the windows have been ordered o The next step is to spray the ceiling, paint walls and install tiles o Once completed, the hoarding will come down o Phase 2 on the windows is almost done o There’s been some issues with classrooms not having access to the windows and rads

therefore temps have been too hot or too cold o There’s pressure on the board and facilities to fix our heating system before Phase 3 starts (the

heating system has been a problem for more than 5 years) • Rob has had a couple meetings about refreshing the library

o voting to happen on new carpet tiles; samples are in the library for viewing • Runnymede has started an Early Reading Intervention Program

o $3000 has been allocated o 2 EAs have been trained to work with students o They are working with 15 students (12 students are in grade 1) o We will track the program and data and hope to see them really succeed with their reading so

they can graduate from the program • TDSB will be sending home a census in April (K-3 parents complete the form, 4-6 parents/students

complete, 7-8 students complete) • Teachers have been concerned with congestion on the playground especially during the morning drop

off period o Students can be dropped off on the sidewalk and can walk in by themselves o A reminder will be added to the next council newsletter to get parent’s support o Sarah said that she sees a lot of grade 6 students walking down on Bloor during the lunch hour o There needs to be some education around this issue o Rob/Anna confirmed that students can’t go off the property alone until they are in Grade 7 o Sarah suggested that the rules be highlighted in the weekly Runnymede Reminders newsletter

• Staffing for next year: o Runnymede has been allocated 52 teachers for the 2017-18 school year o This is broken down to English and French; then broken down to FDK, Primary etc .. o These provisions are all shown on an allocation sheet based on the number of students the

board projects Runnymede will have o Rob met with the teachers to go over the information and then everything is sent to the

superintendent for review/approval o Teacher preference forms are then sent out and teachers are slotted into the various positions o There are 6 English JK/SK this year and 2 French SK o Next year there will be 5 English JK/SK classes (4.5 classes essentially as 1 class would have

15 students which would mean they wouldn’t get an ECE) and 2 French o Projected number for FDK students per class will be 29 next year o Admin has decided to move the grade 6 students into the Senior division

! Why? It provides more flexibility for teachers and more readiness for the grade 6 students to move into grade 7/8 (and then high school)

! Other changes for grade 6 students: more rotary, no recess, dismissed at 3:02pm as per senior schedule, senior assemblies, dances, parliament etc…

! Next year there is most likely going to be a 6/7 split ! Another change is that we’re going to move from the BDS model to let all students pick

an instrument and have access to drama ! Right now when students are in grade 4 they rotate between BDS, then in grade 5 they

have to make a choice and they have to stick with that program until grade 8 o Runnymede has decided to add a gender neutral bathroom

A.7 Teacher Report (A. Markee)

• Great turn out for Scholastic Book Fair • We sold $13,000 worth of merchandise (approx. $10,000 English, $2,200 French)

• Runnymede gets to keep $5000 • April is Anti-bullying month • On April 12th, students are being asked to wear Pink to show their support

A.8 Periaktoi for Runnymede (Mr. Latter)

• Mr. Latter came before Council to ask for financial support ($3991.16) for a set of triangular prisms (Periaktoi) to be used for drama & school presentations

• Periaktoi are devices used for displaying (and rapidly changing) theatre scenes • They were first used by theatres in ancient Greece • They are each 7 ft high and 3 ft wide (built on castors) • Cost $1000 each as they have to be custom built by a scenic construction artist • Drama showcase is coming up at the end of April so Mr. Latter would need a decision very quickly • Dale thanked Mr. Latter for his presentation and said we should take it offline and talk with Admin to

see if there’s any extra funds to make this purchase happen • Tasha said that procedurally that we would need quorum and officially vote on this item as it uses

Council funds • We will loop back to this agenda item at the end of the meeting

A.9 Ward 7 Trustee Robin Pilkey

• Kathleen welcomed Trustee Pilkey to our meeting • The PIAC (Parents as Partners) conference is happening on Sat and everyone is encouraged to attend • Robin is currently the Chair of the TDSB and she has 3 kids that have gone through the school system • She is interested in hearing what’s happening at various school councils hence her visit today • There’s a new director at the TDSB (John Malloy) and he is taking the board in a new, refreshing

direction • He’s primarily focused on student achievement and equity • One thing that John has put into place is Learning Centres (Runnymede is in LC #4) • Rather than be top heavy as it has been in the past, LCs give schools more autonomy • The purpose of LCs is to bring decisions down to the school level • This has resulted in more superintendents with fewer schools (each super has 20 schools and they are

mandated to be in them more frequently) • There’s also Exec Superintendents who are in charge of 7 supers • Another difference, is that John doesn’t present ideas fully baked • This has been a shift from the past and there are now fewer central staff; these resources have been

moved down to the schools • The Integrated Equity Framework is another initiative that the director has brought forth; we need to look

at every issue through an equity framework • Secondary Schools need to be under review

o 3 year plan: year 1 - talk to students about what a High School will look like, year 2 - discuss programming, year 3 - where do we put that High School

• Long Term Plan – goes to the Board in May o What are the expectations for the different schools in the city?

• In this area, Swansea and Keele schools are over capacity (many new condo buildings going up in those areas)

• US travel policy was put in effect last week (25 trips will go ahead that are already booked however no new trips will be planned to the US)

• April is census month o Last census was completed in 2011-2 and had a 65% return rate on 245,000 students o Census tracks demographics, emotional well being, school safety etc..

A.10 Committee updates

A 10.1 Yard - Sarah • The Lion Mural went up at the front of the school and Sarah recognized Scott Robinson for his efforts • Green Teacher program ended right before March break

o We will be scheduling the Spring sessions soon • Yard and STEM committees have a working group

o They have come up with a list of improvements for the outdoor kinder areas

o These ideas have been developed in conjunction with the kindergarten teachers • They have completed an inventory of kindergarten play equipment (i.e. balls etc..) and the committee will

be fulfilling their wish list FOR GR 1-6 CLASSES by end of April • Spring Yard Day is scheduled for Apr 22nd

o School has permit in place however the window construction may jeopardize the day o Admin is talking with the construction team to determine what can be done.

A10.2 Centennial – Sarah

• The playground construction is most likely happening this Summer due to construction. Should be done by September.

A 10.3 Communications – Tasha

• The new website is up and running • They are looking for a new banner; looking for a graphic designer • The newsletter is coming out next week

A 10.4 Spirit – Allison

• Pub night made $4500 • Strawberry Social is up next

A 10.5 STEM – Tasha

• Math Amazing Race is up next along with Angry Birds for JK/SK

A 10.6 Arts – Ivana • Primary Phase 2 Arts roll out is beginning on Monday (working on impressionism) • Ivana has a lead on a venue on Bloor St for a Spirit event to celebrate the FDK arts roll out • There is not much interest in an outside venue for grade 1 & 2 art enrichment as most of the B

student’s art is currently on display in the school. We hope a larger JK -3 art venue maybe possible next year.

A.11 Other business • Discussion on Periaktoi purchase

o Decision needs to be made on a very tight deadline o Not fair to other departments that didn’t have a chance to pitch for funds o What else can we do with this money? What are the other school needs? o Rob said that in talking about Equity, there might be other teachers that would like to make a

proposal o Procedurally, the motion would have to be circulated prior to the meeting and advertised that a

vote would be taking place o Council collectively agreed that we will table the decision and add it as a wish list for next year o We will poll other teachers and have a wish list by end of April to present to Council

A.12 Next meetings

• The final Council meeting will be held on June 8, 2017

A.13 Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 8:57 pm.