Minutes February 27 2019

By JO pac
Posted in Fundraising, Meetings
On March 1, 2019
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Details on what happened!

Present: Sheril Gelmon (PAC Co-Chair) Lara Spence (Communications/Social Media), Jo-Ann Gordon (Co-Secretary), Michelle Koski (Treasurer), Damian Wilmann (Principal), Edie Kernighan (JO alumni), and 6 parents.

The meeting began at 7:00 pm with approval of minutes from Jan. 23 meeting by Lara Spence and seconded by Darnelle Moore.

Principal’s Report – Damian Wilmann

School Update –

– end of January “Experience Week” was bigger and better than last year

– February 21 – Elementary schools visited JO

– Course Planning – students have selected courses for next year; timetable drafts will be done in April

– March 13 – REEL Canada – film festival at JO (no cost to us)

– New Curriculum – Planning 10 and Grad Transitions is being replaced by Career & Life Education (CLE) and Capstone project in Gr. 11 and 12; plan is being drafted

– Long Range Facilities Plan has been published – and is vague

– May 24 – John Oliver is one of the schools on the West side chosen to host 25 international delegates who are looking at the Education system in Canada

– March 14 – report cards

– March 15 – last day of school before spring break

– April 1 – school begins again

– April 8-12 – “Journey to the West” play put on by the Drama

Treasurer’s Report – Michelle Koski

Michelle Koski is the new Treasurer, taking over from Tracey Santos. A total of $700 has been donated to the Ken McLeod memorial fund for the JO archives.

Gaming Grant Funds – Damian Wilmann

– applications for funding requests (from student clubs and other groups) to be sent to Damian Wilmann for teachers to look at first in October

– PAC Treasurer to meet with Mr. Wilmann and teachers to go through the applications as well

– this way the requests can be coordinated with school funds (for learning resource materials, etc)

– if there are multiple requests of the same type, they can be grouped together

– teachers can also help the groups complete the applications and adhere to guidelines

– Sheril to provide Mr. Wilmann with updated application forms by May 2019

– presentations to the PAC will then take place at the November PAC meeting

Liaison Teacher – Shareen Siddeeq/John Silver

– no one present at the meeting to give a report

DPAC – Suzanne Smythe

– New Long Range Facilities Plan is out, as well as a response from the Parent Advocacy Network (see attached).

– There will be a meeting for parents on Q&A of the plan on Thursday, March 7 at the VSB from 6:30-8:30 pm. It’s really important that JO be represented. Can someone to volunteer to attend?

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/long-range-facilities-plan-qa-tickets-56364456607

I attended the facilities subcommittee meeting of DPAC and there is considerable discussion about the strengths of the report (not focusing on closures but on capacity issues in families of schools/ neighbourhoods) and weaknesses (of which there are many but most significantly that the plan seems purely about squeezing as many kids into as few schools as possible without an educational vision for what kinds of schools we want and need to ensure the goals of the new curriculum are met and that the actual space needs of schools with respect to children with special needs, art and music, STEM etc are planned for).

JO is listed as a low enrollment school (our numbers in relation to the size of the school which is really unfair given this school was built large in the day) with HI (high seismic risk) and so it’s status/future in the plan is still unclear (eg if it will close, be rebuilt, if the site will be developed, etc).

As we all know, the school had been accepted to go ahead to reconstruction after the 2012 plan but the Ministry at the time sent it back and it has been on the back burner ever since.

BINGO Night– Lara Spence

– Friday March 8 – 6:45 pm doors open – 9:00 pm doors close

– $10 entrance fee (includes 4 bingo cards) – can buy more

– prizes, food, fun

– need 8 more student volunteers for set-up and clean-up (- sign up http://signup.com/go/nSmAsqu), as well as a couple of parents to help in “Calling the Bingo”

– any prizes can be dropped off to the office (Mr. Wilmann) who will store them in the back room in the cafeteria

– last year Bingo made $630 which was shared between PAC and JO Mini, based on attendance and participation

Ken McLeod Memorial Fund – Edie Kernighan (JO Alumni)

– Ken McLeod was her brother, from class of 1962

– a group of alumni established the Legacy Fund in 2012 (100th Anniversary of JO), with funds being used to refurbish the auditorium and provide an annual $500 Legacy Fund scholarship

– Edie and others would like the Ken McLeod Memorial Fund to be used for Archival storage and display

– more space is needed in the school for storage, as well as permanent cases for items to be displayed (ongoing rotation)

– Dustin Keller made a list of what would be needed to digitize the archives, including scanners and copiers, totalling about $5,000

– eventually would like a South Vancouver High School Museum (maybe in the Barn behind the school)

Fundraising Events

Sunday April 14 – JO Music fundraiser at Hood 29 (at Main St) formerly known as “Cottage Bistro” from 4:00 – 7:00 pm

– JO students will be playing a few short sets – cost is $25 (includes chicken/beef/veggie burger, fries or salad, draft beer or house wine)

– tickets are being sold by Mr. De Couto and at the door (cash or cheque to John Oliver Secondary)

Dine out for JO – fundraiser

– Chander Pathak (parent at JO) co-owns 4 restaurants in Vancouver (Los Cuervos Taqueria & Cantina at 603 Kingsway; The Wolf & Hound Irish Pub & Restaurant at 3617 West Broadway; Deacon’s Corner in Gastown and Deacon’s Corner in Kitsilano)

– if you bring paid restaurant receipts to JO PAC (put in envelope in PAC box in office) then Chandar will offer 15% of the amount as a gift to the JO PAC – more details to be shared when they are available

End of meeting / next meeting:

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm, with the next PAC meeting to be held Wednesday April 17, 2019 at 7pm in the Library. Have a good spring break!