JO PAC Minutes – January 19, 2022
Date: Jan 19th, 2022
Location: Zoom
Attendance: Shannon Kaplun – PAC Chair, Darnelle Moore – Secretary, Samantha Anderson – DPAC Rep, Lara Spence – Communications, Sue Bains – Treasurer, Corina Tataru – Communications, Brent Schieman – JO Principal
- 21 others
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Meeting called to order – Shannon
Motion to accept minutes from Nov 17th, 2021 PAC Meeting/2nd – Samantha & Sue
Motion to approve the agenda – Sue & Corina
Round table – Participants short introduction
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Item 1 – Guest speaker Chelan Wallace, Community School Coordinator
- Chelan spoke about her role in the community school team, JO being like a hub; bridge between local community and school, through the highschool & the feeder schools
- Through their work with the community centre & neighborhood house they provide:
- Mentorship
- Leadership skills development
- Opportunities for volunteering and sports
- Engagement with the school
- Donations for food support and basic hygiene needs
- Any financial contribution would be appreciated; easiest way – by online donation on the JO website, specifying for „food security”
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Item 2 – Financial update (Sue Bains)
- Gaming account = $ 21267.17
- Legacy account = $ 1082.15
- Consultative account = $ 6403.97
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Item 3 – Principal’s update (Brent Schieman)
School start:
- Lower attendance than before the winter break
- In the 1st week of back-to-school there were 25 people away; some classes were affected by not getting a subject sub; the school does what it can
- Still no field trips
Staffing:
- Fairly stable;
- One staff member is in maternity leave and will not be returning
Events in the past month:
- Small band & choir concert in December 2021 held in the Auditorium, with 180 people dispersed around (out of 700 seats)
- The school play was postponed to spring due to Covid restrictions
- Grad movie night went on, with buckets of cotton candy donated by a parent
- Photos with Santa
- Door decorating
Upcoming events:
- End of 1st semester = Jan 31st, which will be an I Day (Instructional) – no classes running for the students, teachers to inform them previously
- 2nd semester starts Feb 1st;
- No block rotation – it would have been way too complicated (e.g. guest speakers from outside the school who need to come in the mornings, at the same hour, for various classes)
- G10 to take the Numeracy test (Mon & Tue)
- G12 to take the Literacy test (Wed/Thu/Fri)
- There are barely enough computers (school is waiting for the new computer lab)
- Practice tests available on Teams
- For Literacy 12, UBC requires a scoring of 3 out 4 (aka „meeting” requirements), and there will be make-ups if kids are sick
- Student Learning Survey to come out; its results will be used to update the 3 years old school plan
The Grad Ceremony:
- Chan centre booked for June 7th;
- Possible to move later, with green light depending on the district’s decision – there might be an outdoor venue available for all the schools
- Timeline – know by April how Grad will look like
Functional closure:
- Is a district decision, if there are too few teachers to cover the school needs
Cell phone rules (parent question no. 1)
- They depend on each of the teachers; some do not accept them at all, others are ok with them for research purposes; in short, is recommended to respect each teacher’s decision
Update on status of the locks – previous inquiry from the Student Council (parent question no. 2):
- Jake from SC didn’t get back with clear examples of disfunctioning locks; the school maintenance people were required to monitor all of them – fixed & looked at; but the hooks are an issue – they break due to the weight of the backpacks which are not supposed to be hanging there
Others:
- Kelly Egilsson (VP) will start a Rugby Club meeting on Fridays
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Item 4 – Staff Liaison, Nancy P
- Nothing special to mention for now except that this a bargaining year (contracts up end of June)
- All good on teachers’ side, happy that the kids are dutifully wearing their masks
- Short survey among present parents – what do the kids prefer (semester, trimester or like last year, 4x)
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Item 5 – DPAC Update, Samantha Anderson
- Last meeting for 2021
- Helen McGregor- new Superintendent with VSB, as of Jan 1st, 2022
- Experience with removal of SLO; can help Vancouver with transition
- Discussion about the video cameras in schools (other districts such as Delta have cameras in schools)
- Anti-racism report for community engagement (link on the DPAC website)
- The district asks the schools to plan for the 3 years ahead
- New survey to come out
- Important to know: parents can approach DPAC if there are issues that need to be tackled at higher level
- Establishing of a Music Education Program
- Potential school closures – JO is not on the list; more annex type of schools closing; more transparency required at this level
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Upcoming Meetings
Feb 16, April 20, May 18, 2022 – 7pm, Zoom
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Motion to adjourn meeting Corina/ Sam
