Sir Ernest MacMillan School Council 2020-2021
October 5, 2020 – 6:30-7:30 p.m., over Zoom
Present: Chris Row (Principal) Christian Brudnjak (Faculty)
Andrea Howard (Staff) * Jenna Burnham
Diane Leclerc * Karmyn Bokma
* Gail Blakeley * Rosanne Kendall
* Ann Morgan Douglas Emerson
Sarah Bean
*5 voting members, which means quorum is 3.
WELCOME
Mr. Row welcomed everyone.
Douglas invited everyone to introduce themselves.
Ann moved to accept the minutes from the Feb. 3 as posted, Karmyn seconded. Motion passed.
2020-2021 ELECTION
Rosanne was acclaimed as secretary. Ann was acclaimed as treasurer. Karmyn was acclaimed as chair.
Douglas strongly recommended that someone job-shadow Ann this year, because she will be leaving after this year and we will need a new treasurer next year.
Douglas’s child is attending virtual school this year, but he graciously offered to attend meetings as a non-voting member this year, to serve as an unofficial liaison with the virtual school community. Mr. Row thanked Douglas for his years of excellent service on Council.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Ann reported that we currently have about $3,960 in spendable money. There is about $5,183 in the Council account, but some of that is earmarked. We have less money to spend than usual at the beginning of the year, because we had to refund $4560 in pizza money.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Mr. Row reported that out of about 320 enrolments, approximately 60 of our students are attending virtual school, and the other 260 in class, which makes for a total of 14 homerooms. This is the last year of the Extended French program. There are lots of kindergarteners this year, which is a good sign for the coming years.
Not much is happening around the school so far – no field trips, no extracurriculars, and all fundraising is put on hold unless directed by the board. Clubs are allowed to happen in school, but only if they happen in cohorts, so nothing has been done in that direction yet – everyone is still trying to get into a routine for the year. Hopefully the restrictions will be eased as the year goes on.
There is no rotary this year – instead, the students stay at the same desk, and the teachers rotate. The school is trying to minimize the number of teachers who come into each class (ideally 2), in order to protect everyone. We have to track everywhere each adult goes in the building, in case of contact tracing.
Mr. Row admitted that August was a very long and difficult month, with the news changing every week and the regulations changing even more often than that. For example, the screening tool has changed 4-5 times already this year. (He commented that this latest version is significantly more helpful than some of the previous ones, so hopefully this one will continue to be used.)
There will be a virtual parent-teacher night happening soon. The details are being worked out.
There are no school photos scheduled yet – the school is currently working out how to bring outsiders (photographers) into the schools safely. But school photos do need to happen – not just for families to have mementos at home, but also so that the school has up to date records for each student.
Having the class cohorts outside together at recess is working fairly well. The schoolyard and field have been marked off with chalk, and each class has a zone they must stay in. The older students are having more trouble not visiting their friends in adjacent zones, but the teachers are keeping a watchful eye on the situation.
The biggest concerns on a typical school day, with regards to possible droplet spread, are at lunch and recess – hence the boomerang lunches this year, so that students are not walking to the garbage cans with their masks off.
Mr. Row commented that the school year is off to a really good start so far; he praised the teachers for working hard to make that happen. He is very proud of the students, because most of them understand the importance of the new protocols (hygiene, distancing, etc.) and are following them quite well. He is also proud of our parents – most are taking the screening/plans seriously, picking up students when they are sick, getting them tested etc. That is one reason why the latest screening tool is so helpful, because it helps makes a distinction between a cold and Covid.
If a student feels ill at school, they are put in the isolation room until they can be picked up by their parents. The rest of the class moves to the emergency classroom (the former staff room) while their main classroom is deep cleaned.
If specific student(s) are out of the school for isolation etc., they do virtual learning (i.e. catching up using Google Classroom, as if they were home sick for any other reason) until they are allowed to return.
There has been one positive case of Covid in the school. When that happens, the only way Mr. Row finds out is if the family of the affected student contacts him, or if Public Health calls him. Then he goes into action, working with public health to determine (through contact tracing) who is high risk and who is low risk. Low risk = class continues without the positive student. High risk = class closed for 14 days of isolation from date of contact, which is what happened in this case – it was too hard to determine whether any of the other students in the class had been close to the positive student outside at recess. The teachers were rated low risk because of their PPE use in the classroom, so they are still at the school, but are teaching the class online until their classroom opens up again. Teaching online = a regular school day but held on the computer, including marking attendance, etc.
In this case, Public Health and Mr. Row worked very hard to identify all the potential high-risk students in the school, and to notify their families immediately. He would not have allowed any student to come to school if they were high risk. If a family was not notified, it means there was no risk to their children from the situation. He commented that he understands people’s worry, but that keeping students home is unnecessary if the school did not contact them about it.
Meanwhile, the isolation period for the affected class ends this Saturday (October 10), so they should be back in class after Thanksgiving.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Karmyn reiterated that part of council’s job is to support Mr. Row, and thanked him for his hard work in all of this. She asked Mr. Row to lead us through some possible dates for (virtual) Council meetings this year. He tentatively suggested December, February, April, and June.
November 30 is the changeover day, when parents can choose to switch their children between the virtual school and in-person school, which means November will be a huge hassle for the whole month. It could potentially require a complete reorganization of everything – classes, number of teachers, etc. If big changes end up happening, It would be good for us to meet in December so that Mr. Row can give an update on the situation However, if not much changes, we may not need a December meeting, because we are not allowed to do any fundraising or host a holiday concert or anything.
Council will be more of a support group this year, until/unless the restrictions ease/change.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE
We celebrated that the new path beside the parking lot is finally installed!
We had set aside some money for landscaping around the front of the school. Mr. Row reported that there are tendered companies that we have to use for improvements to Board property, so unfortunately we cannot use our personal connections for that. It was agreed that we should plan the landscaping that we want over the winter, and then hopefully we can get it started early in the spring. That is one thing Council can work on this year.
Meanwhile, when the Board decides to permit fundraising, Council will really come in handy.
Mr. Row mentioned Grade 8 graduation – he hopes we will be able to do a proper one this year. Last year was difficult, but we learned from it and hopefully this year can be better.
OTHER BUSINESS
Everyone will send Rosanne an email, which she will use to create a mailing list.
Rosanne proposed that we use the money we had planned to spend on last year’s grade 8 grad and put it towards buying some kind of keepsake that could be sent to all of last year’s grads. Like a paperweight with the school crest on it or something.
Mr. Row agreed that last year’s graduating class received somewhat short shrift. He is currently working on getting a composite photo made for the school hallway at least, because the grads deserve that.
Ann reported that we usually give $2,000 to grad. This year, though, if we are not allowed to fundraise, we do not have enough money to retroactively reward the 2020 grads and support the 2021 grads, because we have earmarked $1,500 for landscaping and we already have less money than we normally would at the start of the year.
After discussion, it was agreed that we should guard the money we currently have in order to get us through this coming year, in case we never get the green light to fundraise.
Diane asked that the 2020 diplomas be printed and mailed, though. Mr. Row liked the idea of mailing diplomas – possibly along with a composite photo.
Douglas asked if we could do community gathering events online this year – possibly a speaker, or a virtual coffee hour, or something to make the parents/grandparents feel like they are still part of this community. The students are somewhat connected by being in the school, but the parents are not. It was agreed that we will each brainstorm about this idea, and talk about it at the next meeting. Karmyn commented that that is the one thing that Council can do really well this year, is ask, how can we be the best possible support for our community?
Rosanne commented that her church is hosting Zoom coffee hour once a week. Sarah suggested we could also do paint nights or scavenger hunts over videoconferencing.
Karmyn touched on the topic of recruitment. Many of our current members will be matriculating after this year because their student is in grade 8, so we need to refill the ranks before they empty. However, this is a uniquely helpful year in terms of being able to recruit people to join Council, because they can attend meetings without having to leave the comfort of their home! It was agreed that we would all try to dig up a few people to join.
Douglas suggested that we also keep our ears open to see if there is anyone in the school community who could benefit from some added support at this time.
Karmyn adjourned the meeting at 7:30 p.m.
Our next meeting is the first Monday of December, unless otherwise announced.