DRAFT Minutes
School Council Meeting via ZOOM
Etobicoke School of the Arts
October 13, 2020
- Welcome
Simon Wild, Co-Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting. - Call to Order
Simon called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm. A roll call was taken, and quorum was present. Simon explained that this was the first meeting of the new school year and that the outgoing Council’s term would end with the election of the new Council. - Approval of the minutes of May 26, 2020
Ann Wilkinson corrected the minutes of May 26 to replace on page 4 item #7, “separately incorporated body” with “foundation”.
Ann Wilkinson/John Doherty
Move that the minutes of the May 26, 2020 School Council be approved with change.
CARRIED - Treasurers report
Rose Ernjakovic presented the Treasurer’s report. The opening balance for the new fiscal year, August 1, 2020-July 31, 2021 was $115.36. So far there has only been bank fees of $1.95 for each of August and September. The current balance is $111.46.
All the required TDSB financial reports have been filed by the deadline in September. - Report of Constituent Representatives
- Principal
Grant Fawthrop, Principal, presented his report.
Grant welcomes all the parents and guardians to the meeting. There had been two informal parent meetings to answer questions about the start of the new year. He thanked the community for their support through a difficult school year start. The students have been great in following wearing a mask and physical distancing. The teachers have all had to completely redo their approach. Condensing a school year into a quadmester and have classes of 4 hours has been difficult and challenging.
The focus for the start of the year has been setting a new routine and wellness. Everyone is dealing with some level of anxiety. The school will try to provide stability, security and safety. The school is restarting the Student Success program which will help students who are facing any type of challenge. The goal is to make the school year a success for all students.
860 students have signed up for in person schooling out of a total enrollment of 940. This is one of the highest in the TDSB. All students are in one of two cohorts. Each cohort use the entire school and the outdoors. The school has received two additional staff.
The TDSB has decided that the decision on whether to be in person or virtually has been delayed to another unspecified date.
It is unlikely that there will be any changes to the offering of courses during the four quadmesters. The TDSB has taken the full year schedule and allocated period 1 and 2 to quad 1, 3rd and 4th to quad 2, class 5 and 6 will be in quad 3 and the last two classes in quad 4. The school wanted to have the arts program at the start of the year for the first year students.
The TDSB is working towards extra-curricular activities. It will probably start as a virtual program - Student Representative
There was no student report. - Faculty Representative
Nick Morgan reported that he did not have a report. Because of the structure of the school day most teachers do not see one another. It has been a challenge for all the staff adapting to the quadmester structure. - Ward Council report
There is no ward representative yet - Community Representative
There was no community report, except the alumni were here to help in whatever way. - SESAT
Ann Wilkinson, President for 2020-2021, provided the SESAT (Supporters of ESA Talent) report.
SESAT is a parent/guardian group who raise money for the 6 art programs at ESA. They are a registered charity with a mandate to raise money for TDSB for ESA. The money raised is divided equally between the 6 art majors. This money compliments the money raised by parent/guardian groups in each of the 6 majors.
Last year SESAT reviewed it process to work with the TDSB so that SESAT can now take advantage of the TDSB infrastructure and remove this responsibility from the parents/guardians. There will be a discuss this year about the future structure of SESAT.
SESAT also raises money through non-receipt donations like the annual yard sale, the craft show and selling of healthy snacks at art events at the school during the school day. These activities are either cancelled for the year or suspended.
SESAT raises between $40,000-$60,000 a year. The current balance is $14,416.75
The next meeting is November 2. - Alumni
There was no alumni report.
- Principal
- School Council election
Simon Wild outlined the way Council operated. There are usually 14-15 voting members of the Council. Some members are not elected including the staff representative, the Principal, student rep and the community rep. Simon read the names nominated for the Council:- Simon Wild, student in grade 11
- Rose Ernjakovic, student in grade 10
- Jill Alexander, student in grade 9
- Danielle Harrison, student in grade 9
- Shawna Grosskleg, student in grade 9
- Angela O’Hara, student in grade 11
- Derek Shipman, student in grade 11
- John Doherty, student in grade 12
- Mary Bella, student in grade 10
There were no former nominations.
- 2020/2021 meeting schedule
Simon Wild/Angela O’Hara
Move that school council meetings be held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm.
Carried
Simon welcomed all parents/guardians to attend and participate in all school council meetings. - Guidance overview
Natalie Webber, ESA guidance teacher presented a brief overview of the university and college application process- November 2 – deadline to drop a class for quad 1 without it showing on the transcript
- November 20 – first mark upload
- January 15 – deadline for application to Ontario universities
- February 1 – deadline for Ontario colleges
The full Guidance presentation can found in the Grade 12 Guidance Google Classroom or at this link.
- Question and answer
Principal Grant Fawthrop answered a wide range of questions. If parents/guardians have any questions people should phone or email Grant. 416-394-6910 grant.fawthrop@tdsb.on.ca - Next meeting
The next School Council meeting will be Tuesday November 10 at 7:00 pm via Zoom. - Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:46 pm