School Council Minutes
West Oak Public School Council Meeting Minutes
Monday, March 4, 2024 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
_________________________________________________________________________
Instructions to School Council: Please review and bold your name if you approve
these minutes
Attendees (3 staff, 6 members, 0 guests)
Maria Solomon-Dias (Principal & Chair)
Lesley Andrews (Vice-Principal)
Jenny Hay (Teacher Rep)
Sarah Reid (Treasurer)
Lori Chen (Secretary)
Kate Kuok
Andrew Gaudet
Bethy Brink
Olga Klimenkova
Regrets
Vivek Kansal
Ashley Mohammed
Deborah Hunt-Kansal
Florence Kan
Jana Jardali
Lynsey Horner
Qian (Cathy) Ma
Kendra Baillie
Bianca Smalley
Erin Capel
Parul Agarwal
Ashraf Al Daoud
Bryan Luren
Karen Skitt
_________________________________________________________________________
Action items are highlighted in yellow below. Approved items are in red.
1. Welcome & Introduction - Maria
○ Meeting started at 6:30 PM
2. Treasurer Report - Sarah
○ Fundraising funds available = $5901.67
i. $1058.70 from Make It Sow fundraiser
ii. $385.74 from Nov Subway
iii. $229.35 from Dec Subway
iv. $205.52 from Jan Subway
○ PIC/PRO funds available = $1989.54 ($500 from PIC grant received in Jan
2024) - need to use by June
○ Staff appreciation = $86.82 - consider using for April 8 PD day
○ Funds out
i. $2166.65 to Hand Tool Cart
ii. $100 deposit to Moveathon
○ Balance owing = $620 for Golden Horseshoe Music Festival
3. School Updates
○ Maria
2
i. PD Day Jan 22: Staff learned about small group instruction, inquiry
learning, monitors (discuss how to help kids who may be struggling
with math and literacy).
Board has switched literacy programming for young children – kids not
reading levelled books until level 22 (grade 2/3). Parents can see the
plan on the HDSB website. This means resources need to change &
$8000 has been spent on this to help teachers to learn and teach the
new curriculum.
ii. Parking lot: Recently a parent and child walking to school were almost
hit twice by cars entering/exiting the parking lot. Town was notified and
an active traffic and travel flow review was conducted in response,
which was attended by police, school staff, trustee, etc. It was felt the
school was doing well overall. Unfortunately, parking issues are
common to most schools in HDSB. School is aware that parents are
frustrated and continue to send messaging out and manage the
situation.
iii. Kindergarten enrollment: Only 21 students currently registered for JK
and staffing is being reviewed. Enrollment is decreasing in several
Oakville schools.
○ Lesley
i. VexIQ Exhibition for Halton Skills occurred at West Oak on Fri Mar 1.
Teams successful at Halton Skills go on to represent the school at the
Skills Ontario exhibition. High school teams successful in Ontario go
on to represent Ontario at the Nationals while elementary team do not.
VexIQ challenges that West Oak students participate in include
technology, design and build, green energy, TV and video design, and
construction.
ii. Lockdown practices: West Oak practises 6 fire drills and 2 lockdown
drills each year. One lockdown drill was done last week and one today
(Mar 4). Doors are locked, blinds pulled down and students asked to
stay quiet. If a student is outside the classroom (e.g. washroom) at
time of lockdown, they are to go to the closest classroom, even if it is
not their classroom. Students who are not in their class or are in a
different class are logged on a Google Doc so they can be kept track
of.
○ Jenny
i. Mrs Jones thanks council for funding for the Golden Horseshoe music
festival, where the band won gold. They have been invited back for
Nationals, but will not go as the cost is high and it would be a similar
experience to what they have already done. They are looking forward
to a Wonderland trip and upcoming spring concerts.
ii. Intramurals, adapted games going well
iii. Yearbook club starting soon and will be open to grade 7 & 8 students.
iv. Jr Jays (inclusive program for different abilities to experience baseball)
starting soon
4. Council Discussion
3
○ Make It Sow Fundraiser: Went well and raised just over $1000. Largest work
effort was setting up the options on School Cash Online, but council felt this
was the best platform for parents and would use it again. Otherwise, it was
reasonably easy to run.
○ Move-a-Thon: Booked for Mon May 27. Deposit of $100 paid. Donations will
be set up on School Cash Online. Check with Vivek - have all
paperwork/questionnaires been filled out?
○ Movie night: Due to supervision concerns, any students attending would need
to have a parent on site. Council discussed having a parent event during
movie night, but concern was raised about leaving younger children for the
entire movie and who would supervise children while parents are away.
Decision made to just have a movie night on April 25 between 6:30-8pm.
i. Send out Save the Date notices after March Break - Kate/Lori to
work on this and send to Leanne
ii. Confirm the movie before the next council meeting. The movie has
to be rated G & Maria needs to check if HDSB has licensing for the
choice. Past movies include Coco (2016), Hotel Transylvania (2017),
Cars 3 (2018). Suggestions during the meeting included SING and
a Minions movie & Maria to check licensing for these.
iii. Look into ordering popcorn from Film.ca & decide at next
meeting whether we charge for this or use PIC funds to pay for it.
- Kate to speak to Bryan about this.
○ End of year party: Will be on June 6. In preparation for next meeting, council
is asked to:
i. Think of potential names (e.g. June Jamboree, June Jumble) for
the event
ii. What events, food, etc. should we have at the event? One option
is an ice cream truck that could be paid for with PIC/PRO funds (costs
~$1000).
○ Art Cards by Kids- start planning for 2024/2025 - deferred
○ Subway lunch sign-up: Members reminded to do this. In Feb, there was a
piece of ham in a veggie sub two weeks in a row. Kate called Subway and
this was resolved.
5. Parent Involvement Committee - Andrew
○ Funding for PIC received ($500)
6. New Business/Parent Questions - Everyone
○ Cell phones in the change rooms: Bethy asked about procedure for this, due
to concerns about potential for students to take compromising photos of their
peers. Maria noted the school policy is for students to not have cell phones on
them nor to use them at school; however, students may have watches where
they receive notifications. Parents may also text students and expect a quick
reply. Staff frequently remind students and parents of the policy. Regarding
change rooms, staff cannot be in them to supervise. But if a student is caught
using their phone, it is taken away for the day and kept in the office. If they
are continually caught, a parent is called to pick up the phone.
4
○ AI: Sarah mentioned that at the supercouncil meeting, this was discussed.
HDSB isn’t banning AI (although some other school boards are considering
this), but is trying to figure out how to use it in a positive way (e.g. lesson
planning for different abilities). Maria said Halton is working on admin
procedure for AI (e.g. when and how it can and cannot be used).
○ Next meeting: Was set for April 8 which is now a PD day. Next meeting
changed to Apr 15.
7. Meeting adjourned - 8:00 PM
School Council Meeting Dates:
November 6, 2023 (Current)
Week of January 15, 2024 (virtual)
Week of March 5, 2024
Week of April 15, 2024
Week of May 6, 2024
Potential only - to be decided.
Resources of Interest
⮚ For any council related matters please feel free to reach out to
us at WestOakChair@hdsb.ca
⮚ Halton District School Board www.hdsb.ca. Click on the Parents &
Community tab to go to School Council
information.
⮚ Parent Involvement Advisory Board (Province) www.edu.gov.on.ca/