Feb. 15, 2023 PAC General Meeting Minutes

Sperling PAC
General Meeting Minutes for February 15, 2023

Meeting called to order at on or around 7:08 pm. Meeting was held electronically (via Zoom).


Attendance: Kelly, Sheeba, Jessica, Livia, Jason, William, Cliff, Irina, Jevy, Kristin, Principal Mr. Lee and Head Teacher Ms. Venos, and various parents

Adopt Minutes from Last General Meeting November 16, 2022

The previous Minutes from the last General meeting held on November 16, 2022 were passed and adopted. The motion to adopt was moved and seconded.


Items discussed:

Old Business from Last General Meeting

PAC Table. The PAC received lovely feedback from parents. The PAC plans to hold another one possibly at end of March (March 31st ).

New Business

After School Programs/Activities. In the past, Burnaby Parks and Recreation have offered programs held onsite at the school (after school). Other outside organizations often provide programs as well. All of these programs are provided and implemented outside of the physical school’s administration. All programs have to be approved by the District that considers safety plans, community values, and organizations that are proven as good entities to work with. Burnaby Parks and Recreation has been having a hard time getting enough staff to facilitate and offer more programs. While they are looking to increase the opportunities available, it should be noted that all organizations need to go through an approval process through the District.

The school admin (such as the secretary) are not involved or can assist with any questions regarding the programs and registrations, etc. Parents would need to contact the organization directly in relation to program information.

Volunteer Coordinator Position. The PAC is looking for someone to help maintain and update a volunteer database. This person would also coordinate and liaise with committee members on PAC organized events and activities held throughout the school year, such as hot lunches, pancake breakfast, Sperling Sprint, Fun Fair and would work together to set up volunteer sign ups. If anyone is interested in this role, please contact Kelly at chair@sperlingpac.com

Updates

  1. Hot Lunch. The committee provided a general update and feedback from Term 1’s rollout. Positive feedback overall by parents and students. Mixed feedback on some of the food and vendor (one in particular due to undercooked items). Overall, many parents were appreciative on the return of hot lunch and the hard work by the committee. Term 2 is in progress and included its first in-house Hot Dog day. The hot lunch could not be done without the volunteer help by families. Thank you to all that have signed up and helped thus far.

  2. Pancake Breakfast. The event was a success and an overall amazing effort by everyone. So many volunteers and many happy and smiling faces from the students. Everyone was so happy to have it return after COVID and 2-year hiatus.

  3. Grade 7 Committee. The committee has finalized the year-end event it will be held on June 26th at Central City Fun Park (Surrey). The venue was chosen based on a majority vote by the students. In regards to fundraising, the committee thanks the school and PAC for all their help and support. The recent fundraising efforts by the committee were Shopfunds, Winter Concert Concession and Winter Concert Raffle (lottery draw of the coveted front row seats). Some upcoming efforts include Popcorn Day(s), including a Popcorn and Juice ‘store’ during lunch – on March 2nd which lines up with a hot lunch day. Another planned fundraiser is the Neufeld Farms (frozen foods) fundraiser, which will begin on Friday, February 17th until March 8th . The pick up date will be April 3d (5:30 – 6 pm) at Sperling School. There is also a parent who is hosting a photo shoot session – taking place in May (more details to come out).

    A reminder that the Grade 7 committee also has a bottle depot account (located at Kensington Plaza). The account is (by phone number: 604-839-0311).

  4. DPAC Update. There was a meeting on January 16th which focused on Long Range Facility Planning. The District is looking at enrollment (which is going up rapidly) within the broader community. They will be going to the province with a master plan and seeking funds; the project is currently at the phase of community engagement. No school closures are being considered (good news!) The requirements of schools are being considered and possibly new boundary lines and catchment areas, as well as current projects for seismic upgrades.

    There will be an Open House Meeting that is scheduled for February 22nd from 5-8 pm at various District offices. If one cannot attend there is an online form survey.

    The next DPAC meeting will be on February 21st , which will discuss the topic of Emergency Preparedness.

  5. Lost & Found. Many items were around just before Christmas. The Committee will post the items on the Instagram account (@ecolesperlinglost) soon. The committee parents will also be doing another empty run of unclaimed items just before Spring Break. The Committee is looking for more parent volunteers – please contact Kelly at chair@sperlingpac.com if you can help out!

  6. PAC Website Update. The website has now been updated with current information, including:
    – (under News Link) to-date and past Minutes
    – (under the Calendar Link) events connected to the school calendar and any other PAC related events
    – (under the PAC tab) – you will find email addresses for all PAC Executive and Committee representatives; outlines of all the PAC meeting dates and times; general descriptions and Q&As about PAC

    The link, which was also posted on the chat at the time of the Zoom, is: https://new.sperlingpac.com/

  7. CPF Update. CPF held a recent French movie showing but many schools weren’t able to make it unfortunately as transportation was an issue. Another session of French language learning classes (for parents/adults) are being made available in April. L’Ecole (book subscriptions) are underway; Sperling will receive 3-4 books due to the amount of subscriptions by families this year.

    The next CPF meeting is slated for February 21st.

  8. Budget Update.

    Fundraising Account:
    a. Incoming funds received:
       i. Hot Lunch orders and payments (via MunchalunchStripe deposits)
    b. Expenses disbursed:
       i. Invoice for Hip Hop sessions
       ii. Invoice payments disbursed to various hot lunch vendors
       iii. Unused Munchalunch credits since 2020 (due to Covid) disbursed to various parents per written e-mail instructions. Note there are still approx. 30 more accounts with unused credits that require follow-up; there are also funds to be donated to the school that are still in progress.

    Gaming Account: There were no funds received nor expensed since the last General Meeting.

    Grade 7 Account:
    a. Incoming funds received:
       i. Popcorn fundraising proceeds
       ii. Hot lunch program donation proposal of $500 (see paragraph below)

    Motion for the current budget was proposed to be adopted with an amendment to increase the grade 7 donation from the Hot Lunch proceeds from $500 to $600. Motion was seconded and approved by majority show of (online) hands. The budget was approved and the Treasurer will amend the budget accordingly.

  9. Principal’s Report. The principal thanks everyone for the warm welcome to Sperling; he is trying to get out there and be visible. He is encouraging of all communications that are happening or should happen.

    At the District level, he emphasized the Long Range Facility Planning as summarized by the DPAC Representative at this General Meeting.

    The school has been able to secure Metro Transit Police/Speed Patrol onsite to observe and analyze as well as provide some bylaw enforcement.

    Thanks to the grade 6/7 basketball coaches; teacher time and their efforts is very appreciative. Sports is about building sportsmanship and camaraderie and we wish them a successful season. Track and Field (grades 4-7) is coming up in May and June.

    Wheelchair Basketball will be coming in shortly for the next gym session – all ages.

    We are approaching that time when report cards are coming out soon and the whole process of student communicating learning. Report cards alone are not just the only part of the whole learning picture; conversations help to consistently and continue to open up the lines of communication among parents, caregivers, teachers and students.

Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.

The next General meeting will be May 17, 2023 (AGM).

Nov. 16, 2022 PAC General Meeting Minutes

Sperling PAC
General Meeting Minutes for November 16, 2022

Meeting called to order at on or around 7:08 pm. Meeting was held electronically (via Zoom).

Attendance: Kelly, Sheeba, Jessica, Livia, Jason, William, Principal Mr. Chow and Head Teacher Ms. Venos, and various parents

Adopt Minutes from Last General Meeting September 26, 2022

The previous Minutes from the last General meeting held on September 26, 2022 were passed and adopted. The motion to adopt was moved and seconded.

Items discussed:

Old Business from Last General Meeting

No follow up items. Some further updates to previous items are noted below.

New Business

  1. Elections for vacant Executive roles. PAC has vacant positions for DPAC (2 co-rep spots) and Treasurer (1 co-rep spot). Two parents, Clifton Lo and Irina Robertson, have shown interest to fill the DPAC co-reps; one parent, Jevy Wu, has shown interest to fill the role of Treasurer co-rep. Nominations were made, seconded and voted in favour of
    electing the above-named parents to fill the respective roles until the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May. Pursuant to section 9.6 of the school’s Constitution and Bylaws.

    Updates

  2. Hot Lunch (Liv). The rollout of hot lunches has been great so far! The Hot Lunch team is back at it and any volunteers on board and eager to help. The first one was held on October 17 th (pizza) and another on November 3rd (Sushi/Rice Bowl). The feedback from parents has been overall positive and very appreciated. We are going through
    new vendors and also working out logistics and mechanics with each hot lunch.

    Hot Lunch received an e-mail from a family wishing to (anonymously) sponsor/donate some funds to put towards providing hot lunch(es) for families in need. Kelly C mentioned that the family can give this donation through SchoolCash Online and can specify where they would like their funds allocated to (ie hot lunches); the school can work on the families that would benefit from this and keep it as anonymous and discreet with the hot lunch committee.

  3. Pancake Breakfast (Liv). The PAC run Pancake Breakfast has been approved by the school – happy to have it return! The date for the event to be confirmed and will be sent out through School Communications. The event has been organized and run by the Hot Lunch team with many Sperling community and family volunteers lending their hands before the event and on the day of. The event is held in the gym and volunteers would help prepare and serve breakfast; families would loan out their personal griddles and pancakes would be flipped by rotating volunteers on the gym stage.

    In prior years, the breakfast was held before school hours (7 to 9 am) with half hour seatings assigned to families. In 2019-20 year the school tried a different approach and held the breakfast during school hours (9 – 11:45 am). The students would enjoy breakfast with their buddy class and teachers get a chance to sit and enjoy. Parents/families were still welcome to join, but if they couldn’t make it, every student was still able to partake in the event and sit with someone (buddy).

  4. Grade 7 committee. A parent of the Grade 7 committee was present and provided brief information on their fundraising efforts. They have been discussing a fundraiser with The Pie Hole bakery; and potentially the Kernels popcorn fundraiser, similarly to last year. Fundraising will likely be more in the spring; no plans at Christmas time; however, for the winter concert they may be considering some type of lottery draw for front row seats – ie purchase tickets to enter the lottery which would be a prize of reserved seating; promoting more chances to get drawn rather than highest bidder which would make it more fair.

    The committee has also been discussing the year end venue and event for the grads. The theme is looking at more casual and fun.

  5. Fruits and Veggies (Shannon). Great to hear it’s back (since post-Covid hiatus)! A small group of parent volunteers have been overseeing and organizing it. The recent produce items delivered were blueberries, carrots and pears; next up are expected to be mandarin oranges.

    The committee will send communications to the school to let the teachers know the delivery dates and expected produce item (subject to change). Delivery to the classrooms is usually around 2:00 pm on the day of.

  6. Lost & Found (Sheeba c/o Alessandra). The Lost & Found rack is getting quite full; the parents overseeing this task will post the lost items on Instagram (handle is @ecolesperlinglost). Watch out for them!

  7. PAC Website update (Sheeba). A PAC Executive has gone through the current PAC website for updates, revisions and consolidations and have been sent over to the parent volunteers (Ian and Estralita) who manage the site. The updates are coming and the new link will be sent out soon. The site is meant to bring awareness of all the PAC information available and provide access to the general meeting minutes.

  8. Stay Safe/Babysitting (Sheeba). PAC is organizing a couple of workshops run by Sea to Sky Safety Training services. They are scheduled for April and June and will be open intermediate students (grades 4-7 age):
    – Stay Safe (First Aid) – tentatively for April 24 th and June 2 nd (both on Pro-d days)
    – Babysitting Course – tentatively for June 2nd

    Registration and payment are still being worked out; information to come out in the new year, so look out for that. This event will be noted in the calendar on the PAC site once confirmed. Any questions on this can be directed to the Vice Chair (Sheeba) at vicechair@sperlingpac.com

  9. Body Science (Sheeba). PAC has been looking into the body science workshop training operated by Saleema Noon and her team. The workshop would be held over 3 days (May 10 th – 12 th ) and held in person/class for all grades. There would also be one evening information session for parents/caregivers prior to the start of the workshop. The evening workshop for parents will be virtual via Zoom (on May 8th).

    The age appropriate workshops would be divided up by: grades K to 2 (30 minutes); grades 3 to 5 (45 minutes) and grades 6 to 7 (45 minutes).

    An inquiry was raised on whether parents would getting a heads up on what would be talked about – this would be in the parent information session (evening).

  10. CPF Update (Jason). The French book subscriptions (Ecole?) have been distributed out to parents; if we get 10 subscriptions, the school will benefit with French books in the school library.

    Upcoming Events:
    – French film festival (further information to be provided)
    – Patinage/skating day scheduled for December 10 th (location TBD); free for CPF members or a small cost for non-members
    – French lessons (for adults/parents) – these have begun and will run through to Spring Break; it is now sold out; if you looking for more information, reach out to the PAC rep at cpf@sperlingpac.com

  11. Budget Update (Jessica). Updates since the last budget circulation:

    Fundraising Account:

    – Disbursements issued for the following items:
    — Classroom consumables
    — Pumpkin patch expenses – note the bill ended up higher than what was budgeted ($80 difference); the school covered the balance. PAC to consider increasing the budget amount for the next year. The budget includes the pumpkins and the hot chocolate supplies.

    – Hot lunch
    — Expense disbursements issued
    — Munchalunch funds received (via bank deposit from Stripe account)
    — Invoice payments disbursed to hot lunch vendors
    — Donation to grade 7 fund – flat rate of $500 – subsequent to this meeting, it was noted that the donation in the budget line will be reviewed at the next General meeting

    Gaming:

    – Transfer of a budget line for field trips ($800) was made; the Treasurer noted that if there are any residual funds regarding field trips, the school will give back to PAC.

  12. Principal’s Report (Kelly Chow). Themes coming out:

    Rise of illness in schools and in general (workers):
    – not all Covid related, even cold and flu season
    – Continued effort to keep up safe practices where appropriate; never question mask wearing
    – Staffing shortages – if too many become away and can’t be replaced; Sperling has been fortunate that the ones that have been away have been able to find TOC’s; but there may be a threshold (what’s that limit) and when that comes what are we able to?
    – Other schools have already shown a high absenteeism within the District
    – Stress patience
    – Encourage everyone to stick with common sense and keep child home if they are sick with any symptoms, even if it’s not Covid

    Pro-D Day:
    – Coming up next Friday (November 25 th ); staff attending many workshops; Kelly C and Rosemary are already in discussions on what to work on for next year to work collectively as a staff and how to support each other

    Winter Concert:
    – Primary classes only during the Winter (the Intermediate classes perform at the Spring Concert)
    – 2 tickets per family (due to capacity) and will be either for the afternoon or the evening show (not both); if there are extra tickets available the school will send communications out to parents
    – Inquiry was made on whether there is a way to video the concert, to mitigate people using their phones etc. but the concern is the liability and obtaining disclosure/signoff by every parent from a student that was in it

    Student Leadership Group:
    – Mme Altman is working with the students to develop a mission statement; broadening their horizons; not representing themselves but the entire group/population
    – Coming up with a statement that asks the question ‘does the activity or what they are doing, fit everyone collectively’ (rather than only a certain group)
    – Leadership Group is collecting for a toy drive – bring an unwrapped gift for donation; the Group have set goals and incentives – x amount raised allows for some extra stuff


Meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm.


The next General meeting will be February 15, 2023.

Sep. 26, 2022 PAC General Meeting Minutes

Sperling PAC

General Meeting Minutes for September 26, 2022


Meeting called to order at on or around 7:03 pm. Meeting was held electronically (via Zoom).

Attendance: Kelly, Sheeba, Jessica, Livia, Kristin, Jason, William, Principal Mr. Chow and Head Teacher Ms. Venos

Adopt Minutes from Last Executive Meeting May 19, 2022

The previous Minutes from the General (AGM) meeting held on May 19, 2022 were reviewed and no corrections to be made. The motion to approve and adopt the Minutes was moved and seconded.

Items discussed:

Outstanding Business (from Last General Meeting)

There was no outstanding business discussed.

New Business

1. General Introductions
The PAC Chair started with a self-introduction, followed by a general introduction by each PAC Executive member:

  • Kelly Zecca – Chair
  • Sheeba Faqih – Vice-Chair
  • Jessica Liu – Secretary
  • Livia Hong – Co-Secretary
  • Kristin Wessel – Co-Secretary
  • Jason House – CPF Co-Rep
  • William Au/Gloria Au – CPF Co-Rep


The DPAC position is currently available and the Exec team is looking for new reps – ideally 2 co-reps to spread the load. A brief explanation of the role was given (attend monthly meetings, represent Sperling PAC); If anyone is interested, Please contact chair@sperlingpac.com

2. Meetings
PAC General meetings are held every 2 months – November, January, March, May (AGM). The Exec team will meet shortly before each General meeting as well as monthly in between General meetings. All meetings will continue to be held via Zoom.

3. PAC Committees
There are various PAC sub committees and ongoing events that welcome volunteers:

Fruits and Veggies

Big thanks to our parent volunteers who were in the school Monday delivering blueberries to the students. This program is facilitated by the PAC. Suppliers will deliver fresh produce weekly or bi-weekly to the school to be distributed to all classrooms. If you’d like to volunteer to help on delivery days (around 1:30 pm to wash and dry fruits/vegetables and deliver to the classroom) please email hotlunch@sperlingpac.com

Grade 7 Committee
A committee is usually formed by the parents of grade 7 students to help with fundraising and grade 7 events throughout the year. If you would like to organize or be a part of the committee, please contact chair@sperlingpac.com and Kelly will connect those that are interested.

Lost and Found

The Lost and Found is managed by 1-2 parent volunteers (Alessandra and one other) throughout the year. There is an Instagram account @ecolesperlinglost where lost and found items are posted. Please keep an eye on this account if you’re missing something! The lost and found items/rack is located in the hallway just beside the primary boys’ washroom (near the school doors nearest the portables). Your child can ask their teacher to check the lost and found if they are missing anything.

 

Emergency/First Aid Supplies
Sperling has a large earthquake bin (behind the basketball court facing Adair), as well as emergency backpacks in every classroom including the library. The bin and backpacks will need to be checked over for supplies to see if anything needs to be restocked or replaced. Ms. Venos, Mme Day and one parent volunteer (Phil) have currently been on top of this duty each year. The school and PAC would like to do a bit more for the earthquake bin.

Hot Lunch Committee

The committee is currently comprised of about 6 parent volunteers who are ready and excited to roll out hot lunches again – planning is underway and help is needed! There are lots of opportunities for volunteering, in various capacities and both during school (about a 1 hour commitment on lunch days) and outside of school hours. The hot lunch dates and vendors are currently in the works with a projected start of mid October. The PAC committee is also planning to send out a survey shortly to get some insight, feedback and provide more volunteer information. If you are interested to help with the committee or volunteer, please e-mail hotlunch@sperlingpac.com Stay tuned!

4. PAC Table
The PAC Executives plan to set up a PAC table on a Friday morning for a meet and greet and to welcome any families to stop by with any questions or sign up for volunteer opportunities. There are lots of different ways to help out with the PAC and the Sperling community.

The PAC has its own website, separate from the school site (although you can find the link on the school’s tab titled “Parents”). The site is currently being updated but you can check it out and find out all the Meeting dates, Minutes to meetings, and PAC Team contacts at: https://new.sperlingpac.com


5. DPAC Update
As there is no current DPAC representative on the committee, there was no update to provide at this time.


6. CPF Update
The first meeting was held last week. Flyers will be sent out next week.
CPF will be holding French lessons/classes for parents again – a great way to learn or refresh the language skills. Sign up asap to get a spot as the courses are very popular and fill up fast.
The AGM date is coming up – October 15th – there will be an option to have an online presence if it is not in-person.

7. Budget
The Treasurer shared (on-screen) a copy of the 2022/23 Proposed Budget. The PAC has 2 accounts – a Fundraising account and a Gaming account.


Fundraising Account

These funds are generated through the school’s fundraising efforts and community donations. The proposed revenue (incoming) budget for this school year is estimated at $13,400, which includes various items such as:

  • parent donations
  • Sperling Sprint
  • hot lunch sales
  • Other small fundraisers


The proposed expenses (outgoing) budget for this school year is estimated at $14,545, which includes:

  • Classroom consumables ($150 per teacher; 22 divisions)
  • Community night (see further notes below regarding discussion)
  • Hip/Hop dance class (to be confirmed)
  • School bus rental (re Track and Field)
  • Banking/Admin expenses (ie stop payments and cheque replenishments)
  • Teacher/Staff Appreciation (see further notes below regarding discussion)
  • Pumpkin Patch
  • Special School Project (extra curricular activities) – ie, this could be for tennis
  • Fruits and Veggies
  • Traffic Safety
  • School bus rental (Cultus Lake)
  • Sport boxes (rainy days)
  • CPF/DPAC membership fees
  • PAC domain name

 

Gaming Grant/Account

These funds come from the community gaming (ie casino revenue) and is distributed by the government and based on the amount of students in the school – approx. average $20/student as an estimate (can change each year). The school must apply for this grant; the cutoff to apply is June 30 of the prior school year; submission of financial statements and other documents required; it takes a couple months to process; if approved, funding will be released to the school around September/October; the school does not know the amount until it actually comes in. There is also a guideline that must be followed on how and where these funds are used.

The proposed revenue (incoming) budget for the grant, based on previous years, is anticipated at $10,000. The proposed expenses (outgoing) budget is estimated at (estimated amount to be confirmed), which includes various items such as:

  • Emergency supplies
  • Body Science Workshop (see further notes below regarding discussion)
  • Mental Health Workshop (for parents only) (see further notes below regarding discussion)
  • Other budget items typically accounted for in past years


The account appears as a negative balance but this is due to residual funds which were unused from last year.

Summary of new proposed budget items:

Community Night

  • Thought it would be nice to budget for this community event; looking into this to build community; PAC has been discussing for a while and want to do this for the community


Teacher/Staff Appreciation

  • In the past the Teacher/Staff Appreciation has been an in-house potluck luncheon with a small budget allocated towards a gift; since Covid we shifted to a catered lunch ordered from a local restaurant for the Sperling teachers and staff at the end of the year


Body Science (Saleema Noon)

  • Thinking about trying to organize workshop(s) by Salima Noon
  • Targeting age groups
  • Discuss body science – a sexuality component for older children
  • Get a different perspective on things and learning information

PAC is working to see if we can make this happen and will follow up with Principal Chow on details/approval on Body Science Program from Saleema Noon.

Guest Speaker Presentation

  • Meant for parents/caregivers
  • Presentation that discusses mental health, anxiety, how to help parents cope and manage
  • Provide information and guide us on these topics and during this pandemic time


Motion was made to adopt the proposed 2022-23 budget. The motion to adopt was moved and seconded. Budget passed.


8. Principal’s Report

Introduction from the new Principal, Kelly Chow with school updates. The first week of school went smoothly from a staff perspective. The principal read a book “Circles All Around Us” – encapsulates our circles and extend out and make bigger connections; why we are doing this and what we are doing, all over the world; building community; reconnecting with each other; school is one place to do that and other places as well (ie. PAC table is a way).

The first staff meeting talked about building community; getting clubs back on track, re-introducing programs. Covid is still around. The recent Pro-D Day on September 21st was a jam packed day for Sperling teachers who discussed building community, under the idea of 4 pillars:
(1) Vision (what do we value most, what does it mean as a Sperling student) – want to engage the staff and parents throughout the year.
(2) Expectations – are they clear? Not just to students, but to everybody; let’s not make it a mystery.

(3) Instructional Practices – social emotional learning – what are teachers needing to help support students.
(4) Home school piece – what are the current things we’re doing and what more can we do to build even stronger connections.

The principal also mentioned a Coffee Curriculum – an opportunity to engage parents with the principal about questions around school matters; another way to bridge the connection between school and parent community; goal is to try and gather more parent engagement and we will continue to do things moving forward as to what’s best for our community and work with everyone’s comfort levels.

Teacher updates – welcome Jackie Schroeder to the LSS department to provide support to the classroom teacher (social, academic, or both). Mme Rachel Montague has returned from maternity leave as one of the French Immersion teachers for Kindergarten.

Student learning used to just be exchanged through report cards and maybe a parent-teacher conference or two; now we are focusing on building ways to understand how kids are doing and bringing the learning to the parents outside the 9-3 pm daily basis. That’s what schools are trying to change to make things resonate a lot more.

Parent Teacher Intake sessions were scheduled through an online scheduling process. Hoping it was streamlined and easy to navigate. The principal would love any feedback from parents on how it was, helpful, frustrating, etc.

Upcoming Events

National Day for Truth & Reconciliation – no school for students on Friday, September 30th; Thursday September 29th will be Orange Shirt Day and the students will attend an assembly and talk about what trust and reconciliation meants to them.

Terry Fox Run – the date has been changed and will now be on Friday, October 7th in the afternoon. Volunteers are requested from 1:30 pm to help supervise along the run/walk route.

Pro-D Day – the next Pro-D Day is October 21st and is province wide.

Pumpkin Patch – scheduled for Wednesday October 26th, to be supported by the PAC who will also provide hot chocolate to the students. The setup will be how it was in previous years, with pumpkins laid out all across the field.

8. Other Business

Question: What is the school protocol on parent presence on-site?

  • The school is considering procedures/best practices for opening the school up to parents for assemblies and school events as well as hot lunch help. Still in consultation phase. No decisions yet.


Question: Will we have a Fun Fair this year?

  • The PAC Executives discussed this at the end of June last year. This requires a lot of planning and work by the PAC. It was decided to put it on hold for this coming year and more realistic to start now and plan for 2023/24 school year.


Question: Will there be a Winter Concert this year? Grade 7 Band?

  • Mr. Martin is working on a plan for a Christmas Concert with the hope that parents can attend. Expect there to be limited attendance. Grade 7 Band Concert is also in consideration.


There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:10 pm.

Prepared by Livia Hong and Kristin Wessel

May. 18, 2022 PAC Annual General Meeting Minutes

General PAC AGM minutes May 18th, 2022

Called to order 7:05pm

DPAC (Alessandra)

Monday presentation and AGM. Survey results reviewed. No notes or screenshots

allowed because of the sensitive nature of survey. Perspective of students, parents, teachers, bipoc. Patriarchal and colonial system. Nothing to distribute at this time. But it was hard and we have work to do.

CPF (Jason)

AGM next week. no updates yet. summer camp registration is full now. Mme Therien is the emergency backup for the camp but they’re polling for high school students. BBQ date TBD

BUDGET

Only membership stuff and only 2 transaction the last month. accounted for incoming for gr 7

popcorn sales. Nominal activity.

  • Balance the same as before for gaming acct, fundraising acct, and gr 7 acct balance. Budget passed as presented.


PAC CHAIR (Kelly)

Sidewalks looking to be installed on Hycrest in 2022. This should make parking interesting but walking safe.

 

HOT LUNCH / Sports Day (Liv)

Email sent yesterday for June 2 thurs. pizza options for fresh slice. 11:30 sports day activities end. Early dismissal at 12:30. Trying to still get ordering and payment methods and processes figured out. committee in place but may still ask for volunteers.

  • Looking to expand hotlunch program for the next year.

 

GRADE 7 (Lorie Siu)

Grad raffle launched this week. great prizes. Samosa made a few hundred. Popcorn sale again this Friday. Bags have been pre-bought so hoping to sell them all. Big thank you to the gr 7 teachers who have been helping Lorie with the students who have not submitted photos and have not answered questions for the yearbook. Susie has also sent an email to the individual parents so big thank you to her. Very slim on gr 7 photos… only 3 pages so far, so if any parents have photos of gr 7’s that would be appreciated. ie pancake breakfast or Christmas craft pics. 4 individual shots of kids to be included. Lorie on school ground hoping to get a few photos today of band and other activities. Books are taking longer to come back so need to submit by June 5 at the latest.

2022sperlingyearbook@gmail.com

  • PAC will pay for a slice of pizza for hot lunch for gr 7s on sports day
  • $500 float from PAC will go to the grad which was in the budget that was passed in sept.

 

EXECUTIVE PAC Positions for 2022/23

 

  • CHAIR: Kelly will stay for 1 more year. would like someone to shadow her. Would like to be on gr 7 grad the following year so hopes someone will take over her position. Nominated and voted in
  • VICE CHAIR: Sheeba would like to stay on. Nominated and voted in
  • DPAC: Alessandra and Naila will be stepping down. Would like to have 2 new people. will make a call-out for September (learn what the district is doing at the policy level and practice level. Also allows you to share the wonderful things that sperling is doing. Has impact into policy and budget. Advisory committee to district level and trustees.)
  • CPF: Jason and William both nominated to stay on and are happy to do so. voted all in favor
  • TREASURER: Jessica would be happy to stay on. Nominated and voted in
  • CO-SECRETARY: Ruth will be leaving the school this year. Liv would like to stay on and would like
  • another helper. Nominated and voted in. Kristin is interested Wessel. Nominated and voted in.


MINUTES

Minutes passed from previous general meeting.

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Moving to Inman. 5 years of learning and half of them have been pandemic years. New principal is Kelly Chow moving from Inman to Sperling. Dave says thank you and is really proud of the things we have done at sperling and proud of what the community has done and held together.

  • New Indigenous display in the school… when you get a change come take a peek. Great catalyst for conversations for classes to use.
  • Congrats for Mme Therien who tore up the rug at the dance performance last night.
  • Thanks to Dave Kelsey and crew for organizing sports day. Will be doing it in classes. Not inviting parents but also not turning parents away if they show up. Encourages people to be respectful of distance and space. And to follow protocols. Early dismissal
  • Hub cycle tmr… bike lessons on upper gravel fields turned into biking track
  • Not surplussing any teachers. Asking parents to list kids learning styles as well as 2 kids they work well with in class. This is an opportunity to share what your child is like and not an invitation to be negative
  • Track… hard time to find people to run it with volunteers. 2 different events for 4/54 and 6/7. But 4/5 lands on our sports day so that won’t happen. Running club had a great finish at rocky point with a 6k run. Ran most of the year. District decided that meets would happen at 4 different high schools. 1 track meet for gr 6/7… only 5 students on the team. Not that excitement in kids that wanted to be involved.


OTHER BUSINESS


PAC pays for bus for track meet. Jessica already dropped a cheque to school. But they don’t need a bus and nobody has booked a bus. We usually pre-issue the chq. School can cut a chq back to Jessica and if chq hasn’t been cashed yet we should void it.

Q teacher appreciation? We have a budget for it. since pandemic we have ordered catered lunch. Cosmos has closed but we can order from elsewhere. What date would work? June 15th is a Wednesday and has the most teachers present. Budget allotted $350 for teacher appreciation. Motion made to make a one time adjustment to the budget and seconded to move money from teacher lunch room furniture to make it 1200 for teacher appreciation lunch. Seconded and passed. Options ideally local but gray olive was suggested as was white spot

Meeting adjourned

Feb. 16, 2022 PAC General Meeting Minutes

PAC General Meeting February 16th , 2022

 

Held via zoom and called to order 7pm

Adopted minutes from meeting Nov 17, 2021

DPAC

 


No updates since the last meeting where they talked mostly about Covid protocols which would now be outdated. Minutes from meetings are likely online on their website

CPF

 


Another round of lessons for parents link went out. Some people were able to sign up. Secondary event was scheduled high school students read a book to the kids and it’s called bedtime stories… Q&A. no late signups were allowed. There will be another sign up in May.

Film festival info will be sent out as part of these minutes

Budget

 


Only 2 transactions since the last meeting in fundraising account and no transactions in gaming account.

  • Tent $335.99
  • $75 BCCPAC membership fee.

$577.60 available for grade 7 grad

Budget passed.

Chair

 

 

 

  • Parking… not going to get into it. Walking sidewalk will only work with volunteers. We need so many that it doesn’t seem possible. There was an article in the Burnaby Now. Reach out to Kelly if you want to volunteer 15 minutes in the morning when the traffic rush is happening.
  • Grade 7 grad committee will report today. Ira and Stephanie spearheading fundraising. Focus there until restrictions ease. Working with Rosemary as school contact. Lori yearbook. Plans pending. Budget made pending approval. 7 initiatives they want to do at the school.


Principal’s Report

Grad committee formed and she is liaison. Working toward event.

Sports equipment for classes has all arrived and has been distributed. Came in less than half the budget. Each intermediate class has a color coordinated set to avoid fights and loss. Labelled. Many types of balls including frisbee and cone. Primary play ball soccer ball and hula hoops.

FEB 28th 2 weeks of wheelchair basketball (or possibly some other sport)

Air scrubbers received a month ago for each classroom. Today received smaller filters for auxiliary rooms like learning resource, counsellor, braille etc and will be put into place in the next few days.

Report cards coming up

Overall calm at the school and it’s a good thing. We are getting excited that we may be able to start some bigger and more fun activities moving forward.

 

 

Open for Questions

Ira asks about legacy gift. Students never see it. Idea needs to come from them. Gr 7 parents not to be responsible.

 

Hepa filters… where did they come from. Came from district… portable units and district installed them as a district wide initiative.

Plug for new members to join exec. We have a great team. Kelly stepping down but will shadow

someone next year. Ruth on her last year.

Next meeting May 18 AGM

Adjourned 7:27