Minutes February 6, 2023

LPCI School Council Meeting

Monday, February 6, 2023

MEETING MINUTES

Next Meeting:  Monday, April 3, 2023 @ 7pm in the library and on Zoom

Attendees:  Co-Chair Pamela Wilansky, Principal Michael Griesz, Teacher Rep Suzanne Sparrow, Rui Taborda, Tatiana, John Hiddema, Philip Roberts, Patricia Kay, Andrea Fry,  Megan Fahlenbock, Jennifer Tse

Approval of December minutes: motioned to approve Pamela Wilansky, Passed by Jennifer Tse

Key Dates:

  • Tuesday, February 14 – Cupid’s Café Student Council Event (@ lunch)
  • Thursday, March 2nd – Ski Day (tentative date)
  • Thursday, March 2nd – Winter Wellness Festival
  • Thursday, March 2nd – Virtual evening event – “What Does Hate Look Like?” – register via Ward 8 Trustee Shelley Laskin’s newsletter
  1. Student Council Update – Anna Lingard & Emma Watts, Student Liaison Reps
  • Lawrence Leaders Meeting Jan 13 – clubs and councils shared goings-on
  • SC Cupid’s Café – hasn’t run since prior to Covid; taking place Feb. 14 at lunch, auditions being held this week to perform; Home forms doing bake sale
  • Floor Hockey intramurals, basketball team trials, ski day for next month at Alpine Ski Club – TBD (tentative March 2, more info to follow), max 100 students
  • Business Council had movie night on Friday The Bee Movie – good turnout
  • International Women’s Summit March 2nd to discuss emerging tech and their implications
  • Book Club initiative January 16th – donations of books for Children’s Book Bank and Habitat for Humanity – please send in books for donation – see The Eye for more details
  • School Play – stay tuned – more info to come
  • TedX Event – LP student-run event happening at school, students can audition to speak; event date May 24 6-9pm; Ryan Fineberg in charge of the event
  • School’s Report – Principal Michael Griesz
  • Moved from exams to Second semester; students seemed well-prepared for exams
  • 2023-24 TDSB determined that LPCI will remain a semestered school
  • LPCI is at 150% capacity with 4 portables; some concerns around new builds in the community (ie. Lawrence and Avenue Road); 250 Lawrence (new building east of Avenue) will be included in new count – only 4 students expected to come out of that building
  • Future programs at LP: Looking at student-run cafeteria in the long term (hoping for Sept. 2023) – hospitality / culinary course/program
  • Green industries course – potential for maintaining LP grounds
  • Facilities – windows being replaced on north side of the building, 12’ x 12’ banners celebrating 85th year, other celebrating oldest FI program in Toronto (40 years) to be installed in the near future; school name letters being painted and reinstalled
  • Alumni Association – 50th grad year have been organizing a reunion in June (offsite) with some onsite events, school council to be involved to some extent; auditorium foyer space to be dedicated to alumni plaques (currently in storage); stairwell next to auditorium will be lined with old photos from the main hall; interviewing grads for archival material, hiring a photographer (ie. black student alliance) to include diversity which is not currently reflected within existing photo collection
  • Chat GPT – informal school committee discussing deeper questions about teaching and learning; how to use AI as a tool for teaching, ethics, values, etc. to be considered; potential policy paper by end of year on how to move forward with AI platforms
  • Grade 11 English course being converted to Indigenous Education Course in 2024; still an English course; however, incorporating with Indigenous narratives rather than Shakespearean works; English department bringing Indigenous written works into the library
  • Work continues on Anti-Black Racism, staff development, initiatives coming out of the Black Student Alliance CYW i.e. hosting dinner for families of black students
  • Anti-Semitism – host parents of Jewish students at LP to have a conversation on moving forward, further programming
  • Voices for Change – Equity Conference taking place in May (possibly marks-based to ensure student engagement)
  • Coming to the end of the school improvement plan – next month, will be interviewing for positions of responsibility – curriculum leaders ie. position entirely dedicated by equity and Indigenous Ed., among others, which will have a huge effect on the culture of the school
  • Executive Reports                 

Facility Improvements Subcommittee – Phillip Roberts & Rui Taborda

  • Possible improvement initiatives developed out of meeting with Principal Griesz in November – detail to come at next Council meeting
  • Ongoing field project – John and Liz, Rugby Club moving in positive direction with stakeholders, feeling positive that it’s moving in the right direction – hope for more concrete announcement at next meeting

Treasurers – John Hiddema & Patricia Kay

The motion to School Council is:

“That School Council authorize the Co-Treasurers to implement receipt and payment of funds by EFT,

with a protocol as follows:

1) To replicate the two-signature control we have now, any EFT payment will require email approval

from two signing authorities

2) On the email approval thread for any EFT payment, all other signing authorities will be cc’d

3) Under normal conditions, the Co-Treasurers will process all EFT payments”

1) the motion passed

2) the email address  has been set up to receive payments for school council going forward

3) EFT payments have been set up at the bank, using the  email address

Process:

4) one co-treasurer will initiate an email asking for approval to pay from the other treasurer, and attaching supporting documents (e.g., PDF, scan, or photo of receipts)

5) this email will be cc’d to all other signing authorities for their records (and for transparency and audit trail)

6) for audit trail, we will also cc 

7) when the other co-treasurer approves, the first will make the payment by EFT

8) because  is the EFT email address at the bank, there will also be *bank* emails in that email Inbox (e.g. “payment deposited”), that will strengthen the audit trail further

  • School Council has been doing some fundraising – Woodward Meats campaign; Holiday Tasting Tour; reimbursement from TDSB for technology; donation for a portion of staff holiday lunch
  • SC had some ongoing expenses, which have now been cancelled, for website hosting services and Constant Contact to be able to e-mail the community, separate from the school
  • SC has been using funds for the Staff Welcome Back Breakfast in September and a Staff Appreciation Holiday Lunch in December
  • Cash available as of today is $2,471.88
  • More funds incoming soon with a grant from Desjardins and another Woodward Meats campaign that ran in December

Safe & Caring School – Andrea Fry

  • Meeting took place a couple of weeks ago with Principal Griesz, custodian, and student reps
  • Areas of concern – bathrooms – vandalism and access
  • Ward 8 report – Shelley Laskin School Trustee Ward 8 Newsletter, Twitter posts
  • Latest newsletter – Indigenous Education course, March 2nd virtual word forum “What Does Hate Look Like?” – evening virtual forum – please consider participating – see link in Shelley’s weekly newsletter
  • Mental Health & Wellbeing section (also on Twitter) – produced a Winter Wellbeing Guide – visual document available for families

Parent Engagement Subcommittee – Megan Fahlenbok & Tatiana

  • Winter Wellness Festival – hoping for a speaker – looking for parent input (volunteer hours!)– how can we support you in your kids’ wellness? To help reduce stigma of mental health and hear what our school needs
  • The Committee is looking for FOOD AND DRINK CONTRIBUTIONS for the Wellness Festival – please contact Megan Fahlenbok via our IG account if you would be able to help
  • Fair coincides with the ski day (100 kids less) happening at lunch and first period following lunch
  • Student-led with parent help – let us know if you would like to help via IG @lpciparentcouncil
  • What topics would you love help with? Let’s have a conversation between now and March 1st?
  • Hoping for a couple of speakers over the next few weeks

Equity Committee – David Calloway

  • Met with Equity committee in November – looking for funding to assist with events planned for February and the remainder of the school year
  • Need to do more as a Council to promote equity and diversity – next meeting February 16th

Motion to adjourn: Megan Fahlenbok

Seconded: Jennifer Tse

MEETING ADJOURNED 8:18 pm

** Please follow us @lpciparentcouncil on Instagram!! **

We look forward to holding the next Parent Council meeting in person in the LPCI Library and on Zoom.