27 May, 2003 PAC Minutes
by Candace Watson & Laurie Frederick
This is a DRAFT copy
LORD BYNG PAC MEETING ? MAY 27, 2003
MINUTES
Location: Lord Byng Library, 3939 West 16^th Avenue
The Meeting was called to order at 7:20 PM. There were 24 parents who
signed the Attendance Sheet.
Student Council President
- Ryan O?Conner gave a brief address. He mentioned the dance
on April 24^th , the students enjoyed it very much.
- The Film Festival (which was his idea) was held for the
second year. This is open to all students (free). Students make short
films and submit them and they are shown at noon in the auditorium for a
week.
- The Student Council elections have just been held. The new
president is Dan Hawkins; VP is Toma Phillips, Treasurer is Elsie
Newbert, (he couldn?t remember who the new Secretary is), Grade 12 Rep
is Ben Arsenau and Grade 11 Rep is Sarah Young.
- Ryan thinks that in his 5 years at Byng it has become a
better school; a great place to be.
Minutes
- The Secretary is out of town and Susan forgot to bring the
Minutes from the April meeting so adoption of the Minutes was tabled
until the September meeting.
Treasurer?s Report (John)
- John circulated a statement of operations for the period of
April 1^st to 31^st . PAC has $6,800 in the bank as at May 20^th and
$1,500 will be remaining in the account for next year.
- Treasurer report sheet attached.
- Susan thanked John for a job well-done that he hadn?t really
wanted to take on.
Swyng With Byng (Jeff Rice)
- Jeff reported that there was good participation, that the
band was good, however receipts were down $1,700 from last year (net
receipts were $2,000)
- Reasons for this were thought to be a conflict with this
year?s Play and also an NHL playoff hockey game. The dance will be held
in February next year.
Flower Baskets (Chris)
- 181 baskets were sold, there are 3 baskets left. Net
receipts were approximately $2,500.
- The Grade 12 students will receive the funds toward their
sanctioned Grad expenses.
- Sales were good despite the fact that the notices went home
with students.
Grocery Certificates (Joan)
- This is the largest ongoing PAC fund raiser; $982.88 was
received this month for a total this year of $8,818.16. This year a
minimum of $9,500 will be raised which goes to support 53 different
school programs.
- Joan thanked the Byng families for their support,
particularly the 30 ?regulars?.
- The last order will be in the Office by June 6^th (before
exams start)
- Certificates are not available through the summer so parents
were urged to buy extra certificates in June.
- Susan thanked Joan for her hard work. Certificate sales
entail the most work during the year, involving consistent and detailed
work.
Calendars (Liz)
- Calendars will be produced by the same company who do the
Agendas. It will be a ring bound calendar which will show Days 1 and 2,
all Block flips, all school events. The top side will have history
about the school, teachers, PAC Executive, information and ideas on how
to help students with homework and exams.
- The calendar will be sent home in August; the information is
being compiled now.
- The cost will be covered by student enrolment fees.
- There was a question about the Student Directory which
appears to have fallen by the wayside in the past few years.
/MOTION: Shirley moved and John seconded a motion that PAC cover the
extra costs of mailing the consent forms which are required in order to
publish the directory, not to exceed $250. Motion carried./
School Planning Committee (Joan)
- 3 SPC representatives from PAC were elected in early December
(Joan, Ken Cameron and Jeff Rice) and there have been a series of meetings.
- The real purpose of the SPC is that it performs a
mini-accreditation on an annual basis and therefore a considerable
amount of time was spent analyzing data.
- There are 3 goals which are equal in weight:
o Social Responsibility, which includes not only responsibility
for oneself, others and the environment but also more effort to
integrate and involve ESL students;
o Academic Success, maintain and improve academic success which
is steadily improving at Byng and is measurable by external data;
o Continue to meet the needs of the diverse learners in the
school. Although Byng is a relatively small school it is a melting pot.
- the final meeting will be June 18^th at 6:30. It is open to
all, meetings generally last 2.5 to 3.5 hours. The language around the
goals will be finalized and these will be posted to the Website.
- There will be a new election to the SPC in September.
June Staff Appreciation Luncheon (Julie)
- the luncheon will be held on June 26^th ; the day that the
kids get their report cards and year books.
- A list has been circulated for food items which need to be
dropped off either at the cafeteria or the school office between 9:00
and 9:30 AM.
- The luncheon is for teachers and Staff and will begin at 11:30.
- Volunteers are needed for set-up and clean-up.
Speakers
- Kathy was responsible for the speakers and Susan thanked her
for doing an incredible job.
- Kathy said that all of the Executive contributed to
brainstorming, working as a team.
- The speakers for the last two years included Scott Rintoul
from the RCMP speaking on Ecstasy, Teresa Harris who writes a Teen
Advice column in the newspaper, Patrick Clark speaking on where the boys
are, Alison Kerr spoke about the Byng Arts mini school, in September the
counselors spoke, Carol MacFarlane spoke on career opportunities outside
of university, and another speaker addressed Drugs and Alcohol.
- In January there was a new format with a panel discussion on
getting kids to go to university.
- In February there was a presentation on Suicide and in March
on Depression and Grief. In April there was a presentation by Justinda
Johal on how to get summer jobs for students.
- Kathy asked that parents jot down ideas and phone or e-mail her.
Nominations
- Susan stated that she had a most enjoyable year, the PAC
Executive had got a lot of work done and that because every member of
the Executive had a job to do and did it made her job the easiest one.
- Susan informed the parents that membership on the Executive
meant attending two meetings a month (the Executive and the PAC meeting)
and that the benefit was finding out how the school works.
- Members-at-Large were to be voted in tonight and the
Executive elects the four Officer positions at their meeting in June.
- Four PAC members had put their names forward in addition to
returning PAC members. Those standing for election were as follows:
Laurie Frederick, Kathy Road, John Robertson, Ken Cameron, Cris Gefaell,
Jan Berney, Liz Cullen, DeAnne Eisch, MaryBeth Sullivan, Rick Downey,
Candace Watson, Cindy Brenners, Paul Greisman
/MOTIONS:/
/Susan moved and Glenna seconded a motion that the members at large be
elected as a group. Motion carried./
/Susan then moved, seconded by Julie Boni, that all, of the members at
large be elected for the 2003-2004 year. Motion carried./
/Ken moved and Liz seconded a motion of thanks to Susan Balfour Hunt
for her leadership and dedication. Motion carried./
Principal?s Report
- Ms. Braeder noted that she might be courting disaster in
mentioning the final events of the school year: June 5^th Graduation
ceremony, June 12^th beginning of Final Exams, Provincials the following
week and June 26^th Report Cards. However, rather than pending
disasters these were opportunities for success.
- Ms. Braeder differentiated between items that she and staff
could not control and items that she could control.
- The Items that could not be controlled were:
o New Building: The original timetable was to move into the
building at Spring Break, the building is still no complete and there
are 20 pages of deficiencies, which will hopefully be finished by the
end of August. The seismic asbestos removal was to be finished in 5
days; it took 30 days and is $100,000 over budget. Phase 1 of the
seismic upgrade is to be done by the end of August; the cafeteria
upgrade is to be done in July and August. The construction activity has
been very stressful for staff and students.
o Budget: The Operating Budget was $74,000 less than expected
with fewer staff, larger classes and less support staff. Every
expenditure item has to be carefully scrutinized. It is hard for
students to understand the penny-pinching. Ms. Braeder has no idea of
what the budget will be for next year and so they must be very careful.
o Staffing: The steady academic improvement at Byng has been
the result of Staff efforts with student co-operation. For this, a
cohesive staff with the same vision is needed. It was devastating to
receive 10 lay-off notices for 10 of the youngest and most energetic of
the staff (10 out of 60). 11 positions are posted as Ms. Grant is on
sabbatical, Ms. Schwartz is on half-time leave and Ms. Kurth will be on
maternity leave.
o School Planning Council: As a group it worked well and it
was a learning experience with new roles and responsibilities.
All of the above could have been overwhelming challenges but for the
good will and dedication of Staff.
The items that could be controlled were:
Programs. Byng offers a large number of individual programs to
meet individual student needs including Byng Arts, enriched
classes, electives, and support programs such as Horizons.
Outside of the Classroom work. Staff are available to work
one-on-one with students or to tutor them. A full range of
athletic programs is available to engage students and help them to
feel part of the school.
Extracurricular activities. There are a number of clubs that are
fun for kids as well as those which promote social responsibility.
Celebrations. June 5^th graduation ceremony will be very
phenomenal. This graduating class is very talented academically.
Last year there were 43 students who didn?t graduate. This year
there are 13 students but 9 are ESL students and they will
complete their requirements by the end of August. This is a huge
step ahead thanks to the efforts of Staff, students and parents.
Focus and endeavor to achieve school goals which include academic
success and social responsibility. It has taken a lot of effort
to change how people see Byng. We are strong in the arts:
Strings, Band, Drama. There is an Art Show this Friday and we are
strong in Athletics (the only team not represented is Girls Field
Hockey).
Vice Principal?s Report on Articulation
- Mr. Land spoke on the process of replacing the out-going Grade 12?s
with incoming Grade 8?s which started in the Fall and continued into the
Spring:
- there was a Breakfast Meeting with the Staff
and Administration of the feeder schools;
- 2 Parent nights were held in January (one for
Byng Arts and one for the regular students);
- tours of the school were held with 19
teachers on hand in their classrooms; this was very successful;
- there was a Grade 7 afternoon when the school
was dismissed at noon and over 400 Grade 7?s were given tours of the
classrooms
- two special programs were offered to Grade
7?s (6 classes) in metal work and fencing.
- 140 Grade 7?s participated in a Techno
Olympics at Byng.
- Mr Land noted that there are many parents ?shopping? for schools and
that Byng is working at attracting students to a special school. Our
enrolment potential is 1,300 students. Mr. Land anticipates a steady
enrolment of 1,100 in the next few years.
Principal?s Concluding Address
- Ms. Braeder noted that students participated in trips to Hawaii,
Austria, Paris, and Whistler and there was a successful Grade 8 Camp.
- Ms. Braeder feels that the strength of Byng is our dedicated, caring
and committed staff; she feels that the school has become stronger and
better but there is always room for improvement;
- she thanked the parents for their support.
Questions
- Parents asked what would be the result of a shortfall in
staff; the answer is larger classes. The effective decrease in staff
will be 4 teachers.
- There was discussion about the fact that teachers will be
hired on the basis of seniority and that there is no interview process.
The process is that teachers apply ranking their preferences, the school
ranks the applicants and the VSB chooses who gets the job.
- This process is not in the teachers? collective agreement but
is the result of a side agreement.
- The problem is one of stability. Staff spend a lot of time
mentoring new teachers then they have to do it all over again. Not only
will there be layoffs (to which the youngest teachers are vulnerable)
but there will be a great number of retirements in the not too distant
future.
/MOTION: John moved and Cris seconded the motion that the PAC send a
letter to the School Trustees asking them to review the process as it is
counter-productive and it undermines the authority of the Principal and
Vice Principal. Motion carried./
- There was some discussion about the process of marking
attendance. Ms. Braeder stated that they had looked at a process of
taking notes to the Office but clerical staff and the paper budget were
both cut. Every year the Staff discusses this question and it is very
frustrating. Would the parents be willing to help out (like Late
Arrival at Elementary school). When asked whether CUPE would object Ms.
Braeder said that we should be okay because there is no existing position.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20.