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Hello / Bonjour GJ Families!
Another school year is complete! And what a wild ride it was for us all. First and foremost, the PAC Executive would like to thank all of the parents who dedicated their time and expertise to support the events, fundraisers, and initiatives this year. Without you it would not be possible for us to provide the support that our kids need. Thank you! And, of course, a GIGANTIC thank you to the teachers and staff at the school. You were so nimble and open-minded through this unusual experience that we all shared. Thank you for showing up for our kids. Thank you for working hard to educate them and love them. THANK YOU BANNER UPDATE We have received several directed donations from PAC members to cover the cost of the thank you banner that was purchased and hung outside the entrance to the school. Thank you so much for your generosity! The full cost of the banner has now been covered through donations. MONK’S SCHOOL SUPPLY FUNDRAISER Reminder that you have until JULY 19 to complete your order for school supplies. This is a really great fundraiser for our community and a convenient way to get your supplies for September! Online -
PLANNING FOR NEXT YEAR The PAC Executive has been frequently meeting over Zoom since mid-May to ensure that we are well prepared to have a great 2020-21 school year. Some things we have been discussing and preparing to bring to our first General PAC Meeting are:
At any time you are welcome to suggest items to be added to general meeting agendas. This upcoming year will likely require creative thinking as business is definitely not as usual. We’d love to hear from you. To suggest agenda items, please contact our Secretary, Roberta | [email protected] WELCOME BACK BBQ PLANNING We are currently developing a Plan A, B, and C for our September Welcome Back BBQ, depending on how many people can safely assemble on school grounds, with more details to follow as we get closer to September. If you are interested in joining an Organizing Committee to support planning, please be in touch! Please contact our President, Andrea | [email protected] SUMMER GARDEN SIGN-UP Mrs. Trihn is circulating a sign-up sheet for parents who wish to support the school garden over the summer months. Even if you can only sign up for one week, everything helps! The sign-up sheet can be found by clicking the link below. When you click it a request to access will be sent to Mrs. Trihn. Sign Up Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10h14K4sRiYQCZWkIkaYXoTjOOJOG40AM8h7Zldl5tAQ/edit?ts=5eec10a1 GJ SUPPLY SWAP FOR TEACHERS Reminder of the classroom supply swap spreadsheet. If you would like to contribute to classrooms, you can see a list of items that teachers have requested for donations. Cleaning out our closets while stuck at home? See if any items you plan to give away can be of use at the school. Supply Swap Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18lXhSgCQIH4LNx3uECdZ4xWgvS6s1KpNlsFrNG2g89s/edit#gid=1129904490 CONTACT INFO FOR PAC EXECUTIVE We have some new email addresses for our PAC Executive. Please feel free to contact any of us if you have questions! President | Andrea Walker Collins | [email protected] Vice-President | Sam Albers | [email protected] Secretary | Roberta Hamme | [email protected] Treasurer | Zeta Lay | [email protected] Member-At-Large | Maritia Gully | [email protected] Member-At-Large | Leslie Rewega | [email protected] We hope everyone has a wonderful summer! George Jay PAC Executive
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George Jay PAC Executive Meeting
24 August 2019 11:00am-12:20 pm Café Fantastico In attendance: Angela Cooper-Carmichael (President), Kim Drapeau (Vice President), Andrea Walker Collins (Treasurer), Roberta Hamme by phone (Secretary), Alicia Power (HWAC rep), Maritia Gully (Member-At-Large) Regrets: Lilli Bauer Patey (Member-At-Large) Abbreviations: PAC = Parent Advisory Council, HWAC = Health and Wellness Committee Budget: Much of the meeting focused on finalizing PAC budget items for the coming year. Andrea proposed an initial budget on 19 August based on amounts spent the previous year. Individual line items were discussed at this meeting. Amounts marked accepted in these minutes will be brought forward at the September meeting for discussion and approval by the full PAC.
Update on Welcome Back BBQ: Angela chairing Welcome Back BBQ subcommittee. She has been very successful in securing donations. She sent letters at end of last school year to ensure all requests received in time. So far: Cobbs Bread - 200 hotdog buns, Save-On-Foods - 1000 hotdogs and 10% off of anything else we need to purchase, Thrifty Foods - All condiments, napkins and more buns, Wellburn’s - Juice boxes and bottled water (not enough for everyone). A huge thank you to these great community sponsors! Kim is working on setting up a PAC table that will have a way to sign-up for PAC e-mails, a take home form to provide more info, grocery fund raising cards, raffle and entertainment book sales, etc… Still needed: 1) Get update from Mel on involvement of Optimist Club. 2) Talk to Fat Daddy about halal dogs. Determine how many halal dogs needed. Best to overestimate since halal dogs can be substituted for regular hot dogs but not vice versa. 3) Organize volunteers. Discussion of new Teacher’s grant: Plan is to create a transparent and easy way for teachers and others to apply for PAC funding. Roberta and Alicia are working to develop a form, with input from rest of PAC. Each teacher will be guaranteed $250 from the program for extra-curricular activities for their class. This year, an extra $2000 total (possibly more) will be available for requests above this value or aimed at more than one class. Funds that come from gaming sources need to go to extra-curricular support, so we will need to take care that most applications focus on this. Suggestion to add terms and conditions to the top of the application form. PAC would also aid teachers and others in applying for other grants to support their projects. Discussion of whether a maximum value should be suggested. $500? Previously, teachers provided receipts and filled out a form to list the different amounts on. Teachers all spent their money in the last month, which suggested that many teachers were not aware of the available funds at first. Action item: a PAC executive member to attend teacher meeting to present info on funds and process to all teachers. Subcommittees: Suggestion made by Andrea that PAC create subcommittees for each large event to spread the work. Lead or chair of subcommittee would report updates at PAC meetings. Building PAC membership list: We need direct permission from parents to send PAC e-mails to them. Could we put a request for their e-mail for this purpose on the Welcome Back BBQ forms? A form should be included in the September bundle that goes to all parents. Sign-up sheets should be available at all PAC events. Criminal record checks: PAC executive members should see office at start of school year to complete criminal record checks. Helping future year PACs: Strong suggestion that each executive member keep clear and detailed notes on items / events that they help organize to provide a blueprint to pass onto the next executive. George Jay PAC Executive Meeting
6 June 2019 6:30-7:20 pm George Jay Parent Room In attendance: Angela Cooper-Carmichael (Past co-President, Future President), Kim Drapeau (Past co-President, Future Vice President), Scott Laming (Past Treasurer), Andrea Walker Collins (Future Treasurer), Lilli Bauer Patey (Past Secretary, Future Member-At-Large), Roberta Hamme (Future Secretary), Maritia Gully (Future Member-At-Large). Meeting called to order by Angela. Acknowledgement of Songhees & Esquimalt Nations on whose traditional territory we live, we learn, and we do our work. Pledge to begin every meeting with acknowledgement. Quick discussion of a cheque that was written out for use of a button machine. As the machine did not work, the cheque will be destroyed. Official unveiling of the George Jay mural on Cook Street wall will be 4pm on Wednesday 12 June. City councillors and media will attend; all are welcome. Refreshments will be near totem pole with a walk past the mural, as not safe or pleasant to hold the whole celebration on the sidewalk in front of mural. Sincere thanks to Castle Hardware who donated all the material and to Cara Gibson (the artist) who plans to donate her honorarium to the PAC for sports equipment for gym. PAC has applied to city for a grant that would supply honorarium, but hasn’t heard outcome yet. Action item for Andrea to check on grant. Discussion of the planned fundraising raffle, particularly what items the raffle money can be used for. The raffle requires a gaming licence, which has created confusion about whether the funds raised will be subject to the same rules as the funds the PAC applies for and receives from BC Govt from Gaming Revenues. Those BC Gaming funds can only be used for extracurricular expenditures. Scott stated that there are likely specific rules that govern raffle fundraising for schools and what those funds could be used for. Such regulations likely exist to prevent districts relying on PACs to fund schools directly, creating large disparities between schools. Action item for Andrea to check the specific rules for raffle fundraising for PACs. Discussion that a good use of raffle funds would be to create a within-school grant program that teachers could apply to for special projects / opportunities. Such a program would create greater transparency in asking for funds from the PAC and be clearly available to all teachers. Ms. Roberts (teacher at George Jay) stopped by the meeting to thank the PAC for her VCPAC Parent’s Choice award and for the PAC’s service. Report on food items paid for by PAC for upcoming school events. Ordered fruit (oranges, apples, bananas) for Beach Day on 26 June that will be delivered to Willows Beach by Save-On-Foods. Ordered hot dogs for Teacher Fun Day on 24 June. Quick discussion of transferring treasurer’s notes and accounts to Andrea. Easiest to wait for the last cheques to clear first, so Scott will meet with Andrea over the summer for this. Action item: Scott to transfer treasurer duties to Andrea over summer. Welcome Back BBQ planning has begun. Coastal Community Credit Union has offered a substantial donation this year. Other donation request letters have been prepared and will be sent out soon. Meeting attendees offered many suggestions: 1) Put up large signs to indicate which lines go to which food (veggie vs. hallal vs. regular). 2) Set up information tables near lines to interact with people as they go past. These could include: giving out the Thriftys and Fairways cards that parents can put funds on where company donates back to the PAC, signing up volunteers and getting e-mail addresses of parents, the Entertainment book and raffle book roll-outs for fundraising. 3) Put together a poster that details the PACs fundraising goals, i.e. what we want to use the funds for. Action item: Angela to send out donation request letters. Andrea volunteers to spearhead a PAC table at BBQ. Discussion of inclusive playground equipment. The PAC has raised $20,000 that has been given to George Jay to pay for inclusive playground equipment. PAC members are excited about seeing this new equipment come to George Jay, would like to work with the school / district administration in any way that helps expedite purchasing and installing the equipment, and hopes for rapid progress on completing this project. Discussion of new development planned near Gladstone and Chambers. Development will bring a lot of new families into the area, which will significantly impact the George Jay, Central, and Victoria High catchments already at or over capacity. A meeting is planned at the Fernwood Community Centre at 7pm on 20 June. Action item: Angela will attend and speak at the meeting about the impact on George Jay. Discussion of PAC website and increasing transparency / inclusiveness for all parents. Andrea has taken on updating the PAC website. Scott sent necessary log-in information to Andrea for this. Idea to create meeting agenda on google drive with a link posted on the PAC website and pinned at the top of the Facebook page so that anyone could view the agenda before meetings. Minutes from meetings will be posted and archived on the website as well as posted on the Facebook page. A welcome-to-the-PAC letter should be prepared for inclusion in the parent information packets sent home at the start of the school year. Discussion of how to ensure more parent e-mails are part of the PAC e-mail list, so that PAC communications reach more people. $100 of PAC funds were approved for the Health and Wellness Committee’s program to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to classrooms. Short discussion of whether the rules of the Gaming Accounts would allow it to provide funds for this in the future. Next Meeting: 6:30pm on 11 September 2019 (Wednesday) in the George Jay Library 
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AuthorRoberta Hamme & Andrea Walker Collins Archives
June 2020
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