WRPS - School Council Meeting Minutes - June 10, 2025

Windham Ridge School Council

Tuesday, June 10, 2025  6:30-8:30 p.m.

Welcome & Introductions 

• Notice of error/correction required on the agenda.
• Adjustment of agenda to move Teachers’ Report and Administrators’ Report later in the meeting

Land Acknowledgment 

• Land Acknowledgement read by Jodie
• S. Singh-Itwarie discusses National Indigenous History Month.

African Ancestor Acknowledgment 

• African Ancestor Acknowledgement read by S. Singh-Itwarie

Approval of Minutes 

• Approval of Minutes by Irene, 2^nd by Rocco 

Approval of Agenda 

• Approval of Agenda by Irene, 2^nd by Rocco

Treasurers’ Report – R. Di Lena & S. Singh-Itwarie 

Council-sponsored Initatives

• 2024-2025 Fundraising Goal
  • Current year fundraising goal was to raise $39,000. Our fundraising brought in $26,736.63. We have spent $26,971.00 to date, leaving a deficit of $234.37. The report is calculated up to the end of June. 

• Summer Celebration
  • School covered the cost of the DJ for summer celebration.
  • Sabrina can purchase things for the summer celebration on her purchasing card – approx. $500, ie. Ice, water, etc.
  • After Summer Celebration we have a profit of approximately $900.
• 2025-2026 Fundraising Goal
  • Discussion - Fundraising during next dances to raise money for the cost of the DJ. Suggest switching back to Bounce Entertainment
    • Outcome – Council to explore fundraising ideas
  • Discussion – Funding for the Fall BBQ
    • Outcome – Council should be able to borrow from hot lunch in the fall to fund the Fall BBQ.
  • Jodie suggests adjusting fundraising goal to a more realistic amount. The $39k was taking into previous years fundraising that included a raffle that raised $10k
  • Discussion about spending on classroom experiences vs craft club by grade
    • Outcome – Council to explore both options
  • S. Singh-Itwarie suggests setting budgets for each initiative and trying to keep within that, not increasing/going outside of budget without further discussions.
  • S. Singh-Itwarie suggests that Booster Juice might be too expensive for some families.
  • Discussion about other hot lunch programs for the fall.
    • Outcome – Council will explore other hot lunch programs

Committee Reports - Various

• Volunteer Committee
  • Jodie sent an email recruiting volunteers for Fun Day and Summer Celebration.
  • Discussion -  High School volunteers and complications from previous years.
    • Outcome – We don’t have the resources to manage high school students and will not be using high school volunteers this year.
  • Discussion - Fundraising that comes from food trucks
    • Outcome – Because we’re not accepting cash, the ice cream vendor is willing to provide a credit from their usual donation to be used at an upcoming Fun Day.

• Fundraising Committee

  • The Booster Juice fundraiser took place on May 28 and raised approximately $330 with 251 orders.
  • The Big Box Fundraiser has been approved to move forward and Mel will work with them to get details.
  • A fundraising plan for next year is being worked on and will be shared with Admin in coming weeks.

   

• Communications Committee

  • Summer Celebration Poster – Mel to adjust and send final version
    • Jodie suggested adding posters to the walls. S. Singh-Itwarie confirmed that we can’t put anything on the windows but can at the front doors and throughout the school.
  • End of Year Newsletter – Comms Committee to work on
  • Coffee Chat Poster for event taking place on September 11, 2025 @ 8:45am – Comms Committee to work on
  • Food Drive to promote the current food drive that will run until the Summer Celebration – Comms Committee to work on

   

• Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee

  • Nothing to report

   

• Parent Engagement Committee

  • First Coffee Chat of the 2025-2026 year will take place on September 11 @ 8:45am.

   

• Student Programs Committee

  • Nothing to report

   

• French Ambassador
  • Nothing to report

New Business & New Year - C. Lennox, I. Petre

• Staff Appreciation

  • The Staff Appreciation event was well received.

     

• Fun Day

  • Discussions are happening in WhatsApp group to plan the day.

     

• Food Drive 

  • Started today, ends day of summer celebration
  • Donations go to the Richmond Hill Food Bank 

   

• Hot Lunches

  • Suggest starting Sept 22
  • Irene to reach out to leads to make sure all can lead/what options to go with

   

• First Council Meeting

  • Set for Sept 17, 2025

   

• Fall BBQ – Sept 25

  • Fall BBQ & Curriculum Night will be held on the same night
  • Curriculum night runs first for 1 hours 2x20 minute sessions, 10 min between, BBQ after. Actual timing TBD, Curriculum Night 6-7, BBQ 7-8.
  • Discuss making it more like a BBQ instead of Pizza. BBQ vendor should be booked ASAP.
  • No DJ, use the money for a DJ for the two dances in the year.

   

• Summer Celebration
  • Smash burger approved to show up providing he has his own generator.

  • Leif will come as well with their own generator.

     

• Coffee Chat – Confirmed Thursday, Sept 11 @ 8:45am

   

• Fundraiser for September
  • Suggest Terra Cotta Cookies Dough during first week.
  • Discussion - Gift Card Fundraiser for Oct/Nov.
    • Outcome – Mel to reach out to vendor for more info.

Teachers’ Report – N. Saadati

• Yearbooks are completed. They will be delivered to students June 25^th
  • Discussion – Ordering Extras
    • Outcome – We’ve done this in the past and ended up with many extras. We don’t make money from the yearbooks so there isn’t a budget to pay for any extras.
• Track and Field for juniors today, intermediates tomorrow. We had a little bit of rain.
• EQAO is complete. Exciting for grades 3s & 6s
• Mulan play was at end of May.
• Fun Day and Jump Rope for Heart will be combined into one day on June 13^th. Mme. Gaudreau and Mme. Saadati are organizing
  • Jump rope in morning for primaries, after recess for junior / intermediates
    • Art activity inside for students when not outside.
  • Fun Day in afternoon
    • Students receive freezies in the morning and ice cream cups in the afternoon.
    • “Choose your room” – gives kids opportunity to choose different activities ie. Dance, artful art activity
    • Circuits after lunch
  • Rain date is following Wednesday June 18
• Grade 1s going to Community Safety Village on Friday June 20
• Grade 5s going to parliament on June 10
• Mme. Suleman has requested that students begin to return library books before the end of the year.

Administrators’ Report - S. Singh-Itwarie

• Graduation
  • The grad ceremony is coming up. The ceremony will be held in the gym and the reception and dinner at Oakview Terrace. We were able to bring the price down with grade 8 fundraising efforts. Site visit took place at Oakview Terrace.
  • S. Singh Itwarie suggested setting aside some funds or organizing fundraisers for the Grade 8’s next year to be able to continue to offer the same graduation at a reduced rate for parents.
  • Discussion  - Running Terra Cotta cookie drops and popcorn for Grade 8s. This years grade 8s raised approximately $2000 to subsidize the cost of Oakview Terrace.
  • Rocco suggested having a Grade 8 table at the Summer Celebration to talk to current grade 7 students/parents about graduation and fundraising.
• Lost and found items will be on display for Summer Celebration and donated after that.

• Summer gardening maintenance email will be sent to parents.

   

Closing – C. Lennox

8:27 p.m. – motion to close the meeting made by Cassandre – Motion approved by Rocco, 2^nd by Irene

Next council meeting – Wednesday, September 17, 2025