Regrets: Kristy Cunningham, Natalie Stolte, Melissa Phillips, Lindsay Torok-Booth, Attendance: Melissa Giroux, Ryan Gerace, Kathy Surmon, Natasha Lavoie, Pam Germain, Kessa Todd, Lisa Kohel, Sherry Gagne, Sandy Cimino, Karen Slugoski, Alyssa Frew, Charlotte Caillou, Joe Becigneul, Daianna Bijou, Christina Matrangolo, June Leblanc, Courtney Haigh Business Portion of the Meeting

1. Call to Order – 7:04 p.m. 2. Opening Prayer- Melissa Giroux on behalf of Natalie Stolte 3. Good News to Share

a. Mrs. Rokos became a Grandma and Mrs.Flynn had a baby boy. Many congratulations to both families!

4. Introductions - Melissa Giroux 5. Additions to the Agenda

a. New Business (Ryan): discussion around the possibility of new busing regulations for families within the 2.4km radius of the school. Addition added.

6. Approval of the April 2017 Agenda a. Kathy Surmon– approved and Pam Germain - Second

7. Approval of Minutes from March 2017 School Council Meeting a. Kathy Surmon – approved and Lisa Kohel - Second

8. Fowler Report-Ben and Alec Colliou a. Badminton tryouts have concluded and practices are under way. The 2017/2018 musical

“Shrek” will start auditions next month. More information to follow and a great opportunity for grade six students and their family to get involved in the Fowler Family. The Bike-a-Thon for Mental Health is May 5 and more than 30 teams of five have registered. The teams are asked to raise $600 or each student is asked to raise $100 each. Funds will go to the Mental Health Association and $33,000 has already been raised towards this great cause. Shortly following the Bike-a-Thon Fowler will have “Scrimmage for the Village” which is a school spirit day where the students take part in various sporting activities to fundraise for the school in Tacloban. Robert S Fowler has already experienced higher than previous years school enrollment. Thank you to all who have registered. The workout room is currently being updated and there has been some great community support for it. Fowler had a very successful Math night a few weeks ago with approximately 40 parents – we hope it was enjoyed by those grade 6 parents who attended. The topic was “Engaging families in Mathematics Education”. Students along with family members explored effective strategies for approaching mathematical problem solving. This event will be hopefully happen again next year because of the success this year.

9. School Council Elections for 2017/2018 School Year <ATTACHMENT> a. Presented by Sandy Cimino at the meeting.

i. School Council Executive ii. Committee Positions

10. Old Business a. NMR Friends and Family Ski Night-Melissa Phillips and Anne Hanson

i. Anne Hanson presented: Family ski night was successful this year and will continue for next year. There will be a price increase passed onto us from Snow Valley but we have yet to confirm that increase. Below is the financial breakdown for the 2017 – Snow Valley Family Ski Night with Neil M Ross (NMR) and Vital Grandin (VG):

Neil M Ross Catholic School Council Tuesday, April 25th, 2017 7:00 pm in the Staffroom

1. Invoice Total: $4,394.25 2. NMR Paid: $3,194.25 3. VG Paid: $1,200.00 4. Profit to Friends of NMR: $480.75 5. NMR Tickets Sold: 152 6. VG Tickets Sold: 63

ii. Vital Grandin has agreed to participate with NMR for the 2018 Family Ski Night and will commit to 50 tickets.

b. Staff Appreciation Week-Jacquie Pylypiuk i. Great response from parents and many thank you to all volunteers involved. ii. MVP Monday iii. Super Bowl Tuesday iv. World Series Wednesday v. Starbucks Slam Dunk Thursday vi. Field Goal Friday

c. Playground Bins-Lisa Kohel and Melissa Giroux i. Presented by Lisa Kohel: Checking Bin for donation by parents; some donations have

come in and have been distributed to the bins around the school. Spring shopping will start soon once the weather clears up. For the 2017/2018 school year $400.00 has been approved by Friends of NMR for playground bins.

d. Playground Committee-Melissa Giroux i. School meeting between NMR, Keenooshayo (Keeno) and City of St.Albert on May 15,

2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Keeno gym. Information will be provided in the At-A Glance and via email. All parents are welcome to attend.

11. Trustee’s Report-Joe Becigneul a. Trustee members went on a board planning retreat last weekend (April 21 – 22). Discussion

around boundary review, first nations - metis - Inuit plan, 3 year religion plan, ESSMY and VG will be undergoing some program changes; new language (Pilipino), rec programming. GSACRD has three schools as a single track French Immersion – need to have students designated to a school for busing – going to present to the Minister of Education. Currently, it is an option for parents for French Immersion for their children. Dual Track is the majority.

b. Survey online for busing – Bill 1 has proposed to fund students 100% for over 2.4km. Greater St.Albert Catholic Schools sent out an online survey that will close April 30, 2017. This is an opportunity to provide feedback on changes to transportation fees for the upcoming year. There have been three options for busing presented by the Trustees regarding funding and will be discussed at the next GSACRD Trustee meeting.

c. MLA mailing address (JOE TO PROVIDE) – regarding catholic school funding and the importance of catholic education. It was presented in Saskatchewan that non-Catholics would not receive funding if attending Catholic school (from the government).

d. Trustee Board elections are coming up for 2017/2018 and there is one vacant position opening up.

e. Boundary Review – GSACRD sent out an email outlining their decision regarding the boundary decision. New boundaries for Sister Alphonse Academy and NMR can now expect to see more students from the newly added Namao area.

f. May 16, 2017 – Mayors Celebration for Volunteers – there are three nominations from NMR and a finalist.

12. Administration Report – Sandy Cimino and Sherry Gagne a. Laura Bird Memorial Beacon of Hope Award. Laura Bird was a teacher in St.Albert in the 1960s

and 1970s. She initiated the establishment of an Opportunity Room. She was dedicated to addressing a broad spectrum of learning needs. The form for this award’s procedure and nomination form can be found on the division website for online submission and hard copy is available.

b. Parents are encouraged to review the “Expectations for Learning” found in the parent handbook. It outlines information on how bullying is addressed and how our school is building an inclusive environment. All schools operating within the district must adhere to the School Act policy. Division wide there is a uniform policy. Minister wants to ensure that parents have an

understanding of the Expectations for Learning and offers the opportunity for parent feedback. NMR has incorporated and promotes via Positive behaviour program; SOAR. If parents have feedback or wish to discuss further they may do so by contacting Sandy Cimino directly via email, in person or phone.

c. Discussion regarding Woodlands incident; protocol of the situation that happened and breakdown in communication for NMR being notified. The district is currently investigating the incident.

d. Spring Concert (Grades 1, 3, 5) will happen on May 9, 2017. Sacrament is coming up and Run Wild is May 7 for all 150 NMR students registered!

e. Big thank you for the Staff Appreciation this week. 13. Friends of Neil M. Ross Report-Charlotte Colliou

a. Spring Spelling Bee – information to come out shortly – Spelling Bee to happen in May. b. Car Bingo scheduled for June 2 at 7:00 – 8:30. Pizza arrives at 6:30. $20 per vehicle with pizza

as an extra charge. First 10 people to register will get a bingo dapper. Minimum is 25 families signed up to run the event. Scavenger hunt and prize giveaways. Always a fun time!

c. Friends just issued a cheque in the amount of $8,772.91 to the NMR Administration to go towards the purchase of a new gym curtain. This item has been on the Admin Wish list and it is exciting for the Staff and Students of NMR. To be installed September 2017.

d. Chair of Friends of NMR is vacant as of September 2017. Charlotte will sit as past chair. If you are interested please contact Charlotte Caillou for information pertaining to the role.

14. Hot Lunch Committee Report – Kathy Surmon a. Nothing to report.

15. Holy Family Parish Update –Natalie Stolte a. Youth:

i. Verve for Junior High Students – runs Wednesday night from 7:00-8:30p.m. and Unite for High School Students – runs Mondays from 7:00-9:00p.m.

ii. Information can be found on bulletin board at the parish, website, parish Youth and Young Adults Page on Facebook.

b. Music: i. May 13, 2017 Joe Zambon will be stopping in St.Albert on his “Love Is” tour. Joe is a

catholic musician form Ontario. His concert will be held at St.Albert Parish from 7-9 p.m. People are encouraged to leave a donation and join in on the fun!

c. Catholic Women’s League: i. Our Lady of Good Counsel Mass (April 26, 2017) at 9:00a.m. ii. General Meeting and Strawberry Tea is May 1, 2017 at 6:45p.m. iii. CWL Canada are asking us all to participate in 12 hours of Prayer for Palliative Care

Thursday May 4th. iv. On May 6th from 12:00-3:00p.m. The 5th Annual Mother’s Day Tea will occur. v. Wings of Providence collection box in coatroom for Night of Marking a Difference

September 21st. Information on CWL bulletin board. All Ladies welcome, Always. 16. Yearbook Update –Melissa Giroux on behalf of Sandra Kosik

a. Yearbooks are still for sale – please use CashOnline to purchase yours today. b. Interested in being part of the Yearbook Committee please contact Sandra Kosik for more

information. 17. New Business

a. Education Foundation Annual General Meeting – May 17, 2017 at 7:00 at the district office. Annual General Meeting; election of officers, financial statements review and fundraising. Friends, District, Ministry

b. Alberta School Council Association Update – Annual General Meeting is coming up. c. Online meetings

i. Question posed regarding online/call in meeting format. Discussion required around set up, bylaws etc.

ii. More information to be gathered and pilot program to be discussed. iii. Tabled to next meeting – May 23, 2017.

d. May School Council Mixer

i. Treats and Drinks to follow meeting. Please join us for the meeting and gathering to end another year of School Council Meetings!

e. Discussion around the new busing regulations for families within the 2.4km radius of NMR. i. From NMR: Less than 2.4 km the government will not provide full funding – the fees

have not yet been discussed; pending Bill1. Greater than 2.4 km will be provided with government funding for busing.

ii. Concern raised over the speculating price increases. MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:50 p.m.

NEXT SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING: May 23rd, 2017 at 7:00pm

Please join us following the meeting for the Annual Spring Mixer