Date: September 19, 2023 6:30 pm

Location: Microsoft Teams

1. Call to Order

   The meeting was called to order by Andrea Purdy at 6:33 p.m.

2. Approval of the Agenda

   Agenda approved

3. Approval of Minutes from June 13, 2023

   Motion for approval of meeting minutes made by Tara, seconded by Alina

   Meeting minutes were approved

4. Acknowledgement of the Land – Provided by Tara Israelson

5. Administration Update – Lea Sherwood (Principal)

   • Fantastic start to the year, students are excited to be there.

     Had Terry Fox Run this past Friday, did a great job supporting that cause.

     October 2nd will be School Photos, not October 23rd, as indicated previously. Lea will update this in her weekly updates.

     Few staffing updates:

     Jenna Firkus is now Grades 1/2/3 instead of Grades 4/5/6 and will be in her classroom fulltime this year.

     Chelsea Williams – Grade 4/5/6 new teacher to Killarney

     Kristin Schulhoof – returning to CBE after being in Australia in Grade 1/2/3

     Kathy Charlton-Brenner – new music teacher

     Numbers: Sitting 9 children less than last year

     Kindergarten – 56 students

     Grades 1-3 - 169 students

     Grades 4-6 - 121 students

     346 total students

     Parent Teacher Conferences: Thursday and Friday this week – book online if parents have not yet done this. Bring your children to these conferences, if possible. Call the office if you’re having trouble booking these.

     Meet me at the Symphony – 40 families met at Meet Me At The Symphony this past weekend with Ms. Charlton-Brenner. There will be more of these throughout the year.

     Orange Shirt Day – September 28th

     Friday the 29th is in lieu of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, no school that day

     Grade 6 vaccinations are October 6th – paperwork will be sent home shortly.

     Field Trips:

     Upper El – Swimming starting October 10th – October 19th

     Upper El – third week of October will be going to Blackfoot Crossing

     Will the Parliament Trip up to Edmonton go ahead? Upper El Students will go to Camp Chief Hector in May, not Parliament Trip

     Yearbook has been completed, not sure when these will be delivered to the school yet, these will be distributed when available.

   • Cori Braun (Assistant Principal)

     • Judy – Legacy Garden has been used by students during school, families are using the space at pick up time.

       Have done some work on signs of Fall and using the grass, did visual journals to sketch on what the students saw for changes of fall. Manufactured vs. natural materials has been discussed.

       Plan to continue this with land-based learning in the fall.

       Carrie – Field Trips are being planned for Lower Elementary. Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area for Land-based learning and social studies and science tie-ins. Three times visits throughout year – October, February, and May, to see the changes throughout the year and make observations. Elder will meet with the classes and engage with the children on the land. Pond dipping, winter walkabout, love of life.

       Last year had done a similar trip to Glenbow Ranch, this year will be a new venue.

       Looking into Heritage Park in November to tie in social studies curriculum to connect to the past.

       Question – did children get report cards from June swimming lessons? Yes, students were sent home with these at the end of the year.

6. KSC Updates

   • Events – Joanna

     First Day of School – August 31st – First Day Frames, Welcome Back Sign

     September 7th – Hosted Kindergarten and New Parent Coffee Welcome in Peace Garden – met the new parents to Killarney School, connect with these families and answer questions

     September 14th – Hosted Welcome Back Event, featured opening of Legacy Garden

     Coming up:

     October 5th – World Teachers Day – communication to come out soon, ask for baking from parents

     October 19th – Save the Date – Halloween Family Party and Dance

     Killarney School and Staff endeavor to abide by three pillars:

     Care for Self

     Care for Others

     Care for This Place

     Each child needs a parent or guardian for supervision at these KSC Events

     Question: What are we calling the Halloween Dance? Halloween Family Party – have movie, concession/bake sale, have a haunted house. Not just a dance. Halloween Howler as a suggestion.

     Question: Will there be a Christmas type event or concert? The school plans a Christmas event with Christmas crafts, early Dec or late December, still working on what this looks like. Contemplating a concert or crafts and carols. Size of our gym is a limiting factor as we can’t fit all the families in the spring. Possibly splitting this into two events.

     Mayor’s Food Drive will be in December

     Save Halloween candy can be donated to Happy Birthday Project

     Comment – staggered classes/entry by classroom for an event to assist with limitations

   • Volunteers – Clancy

     Volunteer Form to be filled out online – looking to have this filled out by more families. Lea can include this in her weekly update and teacher updates. Clancy will send this to Lea

     Shan – Question about yellow form – what is turnaround time to get email about security clearance? Give Brooke Harvey a call in the morning to ask about this and sort this out.

     Alina – Suggestion on multiple forms – can we create a blurb about three forms that need to be filled out – can we send this out separately, away from typical weekly meeting? This helped last year to get the largest response. Can get the teachers to send this out mid-week.

     Alina to work with Clancy on this message and get this to Lea to provide this to the teachers to send out.

     Joanna – comment to Shan – annual registration form, might need to redo volunteer clearance or take ID into Brooke?

     Posted volunteer sign up link in chat:

     Open Positions on KSC Executive:

     Chair

     Vice Chair

     Communications Chair

     Garden Chair

     These are voted in elected positions, voted in. Welcome anyone interested in co-charing or chairing these positions. Reach out if there are any questions or send through to info@killarneyschoolcouncil.ca

     Other positions available to Volunteer:

     Casino Volunteers – Oct 24th and 25th – brings in $70k, needs large amount of volunteers to run this

     Healthy Hunger support (monthly)

     Canva designer

     Bakers – World Teacher’s Day, October 5th

     Photographer – student art, etc. – throughout the year

     Organize PTI teacher dinner – September 21st

     Dance Committee – October 19th

     Food Bank Drive – December

     Seasonal Tables – Giant Pumpkin

     Swag Planners

     Grounds Maintenance and Winterization

     IT/ Tech Transfers and social media access

     Email volunteers@killarneyschoolcouncil.ca if interested in volunteering for any of these roles.

     Comment from Joanna – save the date of third week of October 19th for Halloween Dance

     Will be a lot of volunteer support needed for the third week of October with field trips, Halloween Dance, and Casino

     Sharlene – student council spent $134k, need a lot of volunteer support to be able to do this, run the events that we do, get involved in the positions

     Casino shifts – different length of shifts (4 or 8 hours) – makes $70k for the school, these funds are used for next 18 months of the school. Really encourage all the volunteers for this fun event. Don’t have to have police clearance to volunteer for this event. Signup early to get the best spots – link provided in Lea’s weekly email.

   • Communications – Tara Israelson

     Looking to shift this a bit to reach more parents – will be scaling this back and focusing

     more on social media channels.

     Connect through any of these social media channels: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Email, Twitter (run by CBE) Principal’s Weekly Update, KPC Monthly Meeting

     Website is being revamped into a mobile-friendly page

     Looking to do a survey to understand where is the best place to put messaging for parents to be best informed and be part of the community

     What channel do parents find the most useful? Instagram, Facebook

     Tara will be stepping down from this role but here to support during transition phase as someone else takes over this chair

   • Legacy Project Wrap Up – Joanna for Carolyn

     Large project wrapping up – celebration happened last week with a tremendous about of gratitude for everyone involved in this project from three years ago and how much effort and volunteer hours have been put into this project.

     Thank you to everyone who participated in this project – feedback has been very positive from the students, teachers, and community.

     Sharlene – Legacy have spent $110,957.26 on this project throughout. Raised funds and grant funding.

     Carolyn will do a formal summary of this project in November with all the numbers, facts, and figures on this project.

     History book has been worked on by Andrea Nagle, waiting to order these books through Shutterfly. Can pre-order this book, if interested.

     Carolyn and Angela are working on putting together a grounds maintenance document to keep everything alive and thriving.

     Looking at doing a plaque on the outdoor learning commons or a QR code to understand/learn more about the project.

     Carolyn is working on a final report and grant report for completion of the project.

     Question from Shar: What date is ULS doing the watering until? ULS has been there 3-4 times since start of school.

     Shout out to Angela Brady for all the weeding, watering, and looking after things. Andrea Nagle has done a lot of weeding.

     Angela will transition new Garden Chair – this can be co-chaired as a position.

     College Waterworks will come to winterize gardens at end of September, on a Friday afternoon.

7. New Business

   • Open Positions:

     1. Chair

     2. Vice Chair

     3. Communications Chair

     4. Garden Chair

   • Will be hosting AGM on October 17th to vote in positions. Third Tuesday of every month is KSC meeting.

     Joanna will be proxy for Andrea at next meeting.

     Shar: from June meeting, need to vote on laminator – will handle in KPFS meeting, up next

     Tara: Question, Artists in Residences for this year – do we have any previews? Cori and Lea have met with one of their specialists from Indigenous Education Department to create a mural out in the Legacy Garden with the students. Still determining artist to work on this project.

     Heather – had emailed Lea about an indigenous artist today

     Tara – talked last year about next big build project after Legacy. Playground – will this be refurbished? 22 years old, shelf life for a playground is 25 years. Fundraising and grant writing wouldn’t happen for next 2-3 years. Minimum 2 years to complete. Costs can be >$300,000 for these projects and take over three years to complete.

     Shar remembers 2024 was end of life for playground, what is the protocol for the CBE to handle this? Lea will start asking some questions to find this out and email Sandy Quinn to find out more information and bring this to the next meeting.

     Erin: Noticed art on Lower El doors needs repair. Are the south upper/lower elementary doors available for art? Yes, possibly, but would need funding for this.

8. Old Business

   • None

9. Montessori Moment

   • These come in the weekly emails from the teacher, did not do a formal Montessori Moment at this meeting.

     Community building, working on grace and courtesy as a focus in September. Will be featuring lessons that they are working on in classes.

10. Wrap Up and Adjourn

    • Meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. by Andrea Purdy

    • Next KSC meeting: Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 6:30pm on Teams