MINUTES

Present: Sandy Trudel, Kathy Thornborough, Michelle Moffatt, Brent McEachen, Mathew Gustafson, Leslie Loader, Brenda Kerswell

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.

Minutes from March 16^th, 2004 were reviewed but not adopted due to lack of quorum.

Principal’s report: A staffing summary provided by Terry Osiowy was circulated and reviewed during the meeting. If you are interested in the contents of the report please contact Sandy Trudel at sandytrudel@hotmail.com and a copy will be emailed.

Additional notes from the staffing summary:

· The Division staffed positions for the student support program and the community transitions program are not included in any staffing ratio calculations.

· Enrolment for the 2004-2005 school year is currently 829 and this number can increase anywhere from 60-90 students over the summer months. In the 2003-2004 school year there were 932 students registered.

· All the staff allocated for VMHS will be used.

· The section of the report speaking to program/course growth and decline is a total for all courses and grades offered for the entire year.

· The last page of the report illustration registrations per subject area and grade level are for the entire course offering for the full 2004-2005 school year. Subjects with ### in their fields indicate that the courses will not be offered during the upcoming school year due to low enrolment numbers. The courses will be offered again in the 2005-2006 school year.

Technology update: There has been a major shift in the Division regarding technology and the allocation of it. A proposed 5-year replacement plan will be voted on in the near future. This new system would see a substantial increase in the number of computers allocated for VMHS. We currently have 274 computers and this number will climb to 360 is the new plan is adopted. As a result a technology committee has been struck with reps from all the major program areas in the school to formulate a plan for the allocation of these new computers, as responsibility for these items will be managed onsite. Massey currently has one computer technician that spends a half day every day at the school. The belief is that despite increasing the number of machines in the school the workload will remain manageable for the technicians, as the newer machines should require less maintenance.

The new student admin package will be implemented in September 2004 with the conversion of information occurring in July 04. The new system will permit staff to input attendance and grades online.

Student Council has approached administration to have school dances permitted. Administration will consider their request but only grant approval if a comfort level exists that issues previously raised by administration have been addressed.

Rhonda Wlock is replacing Eric Dowsett as student advisor as Eric has been granted a years leave of absence.

May 21^st, 2004 is a school-planning day Division wide. VMHS will spend the morning hearing reports from the existing school plan committees. The afternoon will consist of small group discussions that cover what has gone well with the plan to date, what needs improvement and what other initiatives should be considered to further progress in the school plan. An invitation was extended to any parent council members that are interested to participate in the daylong session.

June 28^th is graduation. The ceremony begins at 1:30 p.m. and is being held in the Keystone Centre. There is approximately 200 graduates. Tickets prices for the banquet have been increased to $ 28.00 per person. If there are any families that wish to attend but are unable to afford the ticket price, administration will make the necessary arrangements to ensure they are able to attend. As it stands 25 grads have indicated they will not be attending the ceremony for a variety of reasons. The $55 grad fee graduates pay covers the cost of gown and cap rental and facility rent.

June 15^th is student recognition evening at the McDiarmid Alliance church.

June 17^th is the athletic awards evening at the McDiarmid Alliance church.

The next major production will be Suessico and is scheduled for November 04. Auditions will be held in May. Corie Nevell will be directing the production and Nancy Pitcairn will be executive producer. They will alternate these roles in future years.

Old Business:

Parent Funded Scholarship: There was discussion whether we wished to proceed with a PAC scholarship and members in attendance agreed that our limited funds and unwillingness from most to fundraise did not provide a long-term foundation for offering PAC scholarships. During the next school year we will discuss ways to appreciate and recognize our students through other means. Leslie will continue to work with Allison Clement on scholarships, as it is an area of interest for her.

New Business

a) Members agreed that as a result of low attendance at meetings we would defer the request from Manitoba Student Aid to make a presentation to our group to the school to see if such a presentation could be incorporated into their postsecondary information events.

b) Members agreed that as a result of low attendance at meetings we would decline the request from Workers of Tomorrow to make a presentation to PAC. It was noted that this info is already shared with students via information sessions the school organizes.

c) A request for support of a nomination from a parent of a VMHS parent was received for endorsement of this individual as MHS rep on the Manitoba Association Parent Councils board. The Executive discussed the request but felt that since the parent had not made any effort to connect with or attend any PAC meetings that we could not support the request. Members in attendance agreed with the Executive’s recommendation.

d) Resolutions from MAPC for voting: Leslie circulated three resolutions that were being prepared by MAPC. Those in attendance agreed all three resolutions (2004-1, 2004-2, 2004-3) were supported by the VMHS PAC with a request that prior to endorsing 2004-1, Leslie would check with MAPC to ensure their were appropriate guidelines and checks and balances in place to ensure the proper expenditure of Advisory Council funds.

Committee Reports:

a) Parent Division Liaison – a draft copy of the parent handbook the committee has prepared was offered to those in attendance and feedback was encouraged. Laura Crookshanks provided the Parent Division Liaison Committee with an update on activities and shared that they were following up with schools to determine whether the anti bullying programs have been effective within their schools. The committee is also looking at how school fees are collected throughout the division, amounts collected, what the fees are used for, etc. with the end result to develop a policy to guide students fees.

b) Brandon Group Parent Council – Parent Councils were approached by Westman Dream For Kids with the offer of $ 20,000 (roughly $1,000 per school) to meet the needs of students that may be falling through the cracks. Their wish was to have Parent Councils use the funds as seed money and work towards a revolving fund that would be replenished via fund raising. There was considerable discussion around the challenges of meeting this expectation. Leslie will follow up with both Terry and Westman Dream For Kids to see if they would consider alternative uses / parameters for the use of these funds.

c) Financial – Leslie forwarded $ 20.00 cash to be deposited for the scholarship fund (this will bring our balance to a level that will allow 3 - $100 scholarships.

d) Correspondence – a list of incoming correspondence appears below and can be obtained from Leslie Loader should members wish to review it. Leslie in consultation with Mathew will see if the scholarship links can be added to the PAC website as a resource for parents.

Work education pamphlet which describes benefits and roles for Career Prep,
Work Experience, Take Our Kids to Work and related programs
2 Pages BSD’s biweekly newsletter
New Curriculum of Senior 2 Science and Senior Years Family Studies from
Manitoba Education and Youth
Manitoba Education list of new books available
Letter from Minister of Education inviting staff to send students artwork
to be posted on a corkboard in his office
MAPC notice of Annual Conference May 7&8 Winnipeg
MAPC newsletter and General Meeting Report
Letter from Terry Osiowy to Dr Michaels regarding the smoking tree and
related issues

Next Meeting: May 18^th @ 7:00 p.m. in the VMHS library (reminder that we are seeking volunteers for the positions of secretary, treasurer and vice-chairperson).