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PAC EXECUTIVE 2010 / 2011

JUNE 2011 NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

Wow!  Hard to believe it’s June already… only one more PAC meeting left before summer break and time to share with you what we’ve been doing.   Included in this issue of PAC News, we are pleased to share reports on how we’ve done with our goals and what some of our big accomplishments were this year. 

CO-CHAIR’S REPORT

On behalf of the families of Signal Hill Elementary a big thank-you goes out to the 2010 – 2011 Executive and volunteers for all the hard work that they have done.

This year’s executive represents a big turnover from last year with everyone taking on new positions.  We started the year with lots of enthusiasm and set a few goals for the year to help give us some direction. 

Communication and participation was the theme with goals around improving attendance at PAC meetings, increasing participation levels among parents, educating parents about how they can participate in their child’s education and doing a few things well rather that trying to spread ourselves too thin.  For the most part, we were able to stick to this direction.

Some of the key things that we accomplished include:

• Re-introduction of child minding at PAC meetings
• Ensuring that meetings don’t go over 1 hour long
• Producing a monthly newsletter to keep parents informed
• Launched an e-mail distribution system to get messages direct to parents in-boxes
• Executive positions were co-chaired in many cases to make it easier for busy parents to volunteer
• Introduced new executive positions to better distribute the work load
• Added a new “Fundraising Committee”
• Introduced a Hot Lunch program
• Hosted Carole Fullerton to speak to parents about the new math curriculum
• Successfully represented parent's interests with the Sea to Sky School District 48 Board, with respect to the introduction of Late French Immersion in Grades 5 - 7 at SHE.
• Sent 2 delegates to the British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Council's Spring Conference to learn how to better serve our school's families through PAC.
• Continued work on the purchase and installation of a marquee sign for the front of the school

Please take a look at the reports below for more details.

TREASURER’S REPORT

SHE PAC is in a strong financial position as we near the end of 2010 – 2011.  Strong fundraising efforts continue to boost our accounts and ongoing projects such as the milk program are running smoothly and funding themselves.  We are now in a position to identify school projects that need attention AND maintain some funds in our account to generate interest.  Great news!

Here’s a snapshot of how we are looking as of May 31st, 2011:

Regular Account                                   $22,811

Capital Project Account                         $ 510

Marquee Sign Account                          $7,531

Missoula US Fund Account                    $2,192

PAC is also responsible for the management and control of Gaming Grant funds received from the Province of British Columbia.  PAC allocates these funds annually to benefit students by enhancing their extra-curricular opportunities. This year, Signal Hill was awarded over $10,000 in Gaming Grant funds. Some the extra-curricular activities supported by these funds include:

• Year-end class trips for kindergarten and grade 1 classes
• Primary skating program transportation
• Grade 2 trip to the Mining Museum
• Grade 3 trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery
• Grade 4 excursion to the Maritime Museum or the UBC Cultural Centre
• Grade 5 trip to Fort Langley, the Zoo and Burnaby Museum
• Intermediate ski program transportation
• Grade 7 ski program transportation
• Grade 7 Eco Challenge
• Uniforms for Girls Volleyball Team
• Transportation for Girls & Boys Volleyball Teams
• Transportation for Track & Field meets
• Uniforms for the Boys Volleyball Team
• The purchase of outdoor equipment for use during recess and lunch
• The purchase of music equipment

For full details on PAC’s financial position, please visit the PAC Wiki section of www.SignalHillElementary.ca.

FUNDRAISING REPORT

The Winter Orange Sale was a huge success, earning $2,700.   Thank you to Nicole Ronayne for bringing this to SHE.  We look forward to more juicy oranges next January!

The Hot Lunch Days were a fun addition for the students.  Thank you to the parents who came to sort and deliver!  A big thank you to Kaori Kawano for helping get the Sushi Days organized, the ordering and the delivery.  Thank you to Patty Peters (and her crew) for creating forms and helping the Pizza Days start-up.    We had three classes participate to earn money for their classrooms, Mrs. McFadden/Mrs. Stutt, Mrs. Beaton, and Ms. Hanbury. Thank you to the grade 3’s.  A big thank you to the grade 7 students who were always there to lend a hand in sorting, counting, serving and being excellent role models whether or not their class was scheduled to help.  Thank you grade 7 students! 

The hot lunch program raised $3,277.21.  The grade 3 classes are purchasing a drying rack for their classroom, $350.00. Grade 7 classes received $1,025 for their Echo Challenge. We have $1902.21 for future use. 

A BIG thank-you to Heather Prohaska for spearheading this massive project!

The annual Father Daughter Dance took place this past Saturday June 4^th.  61 Dads and 84 Daughters attended the event and report that everyone had a great time.  Congratulations to event co-chairs Victoria Downes and Sammy Losee for all their hard work to deliver a fabulous Disco Dance for all the Dad’s and Daughters!

PAC also participated in this year’s Sports / Fun Day with pizza for the primary grades and a concession for both the primary and intermediate grades.   $490 was raised – way to go!

There are many opportunities to raise money.  If you have an idea for a project that you would like to do for our school, please gather your friends and ideas and come to a PAC meeting. 

MILK / FRUIT & VEGGIE PROGRAMS

The Milk Program this year and saw 137 students receive milk every week.  This program is run at cost to enable as many students as possible to benefit from having milk with their lunch a few times per week.  Any profits from this program are donated back to the school to support the lunch program to feed students who come to school without a lunch.  Thank you to Joanne Molinaro and all the Milk Program Volunteers who make this program happen on a weekly basis! 

Milk Volunteers this year:  Barb Mares, Yuka Feuz, Karen Vinnedge, Sunny Rankin, Sue Murphy, Kaori Kawano, Anni Kolbe, Dianna Fitzgerald, Katrina Ahern, Derek Bell and Danielle Pilbeam.

The Fruit and Veggie Program was offered at SHE again this year.  This program provided for fresh fruits and vegetables to be provided for all students at least once per week.  Thank you Jenna Markovick and Kim Green-Evenson for making this happen!

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2011 – 2012…

With a year under our belts this executive has set our sights on next year and ways that PAC can be an even more positive contributor to our school community.  We have a few ideas!

Building on the themes from this year, we feel that communication, parent participation and education continue to be areas worth focusing on.  A few specific things that we are thinking about include:

• Developing a 5 year plan for PAC to define our capital project plans and fundraising targets
• Improving communication with the implementation of a new website and an online ordering system for the Hot Lunch program
• Updating the SHE PAC Constitution to ensure it meets the needs of today’s parents
• Continuing with successful fundraising initiatives including the Hot Lunch and Orange Sale programs
• Hosting a Welcome BBQ in September to welcome all families to the school for 2011 – 2012
• Introducing a Christmas Concert Fundraiser
• Introducing a family event in April

To ensure that we keep the momentum gained this year, we have already set the calendar for meetings and events for the 2011 – 2012 school year.  This can be accessed via the PAC Wiki section of www.SighalHillElementary.ca

Elections for the 2011 – 2012 Executive will take place at the AGM on October 11^th.  Mark the date in your calendar and plan to attend!  Participation on the PAC is a very rewarding experience. 

THANK YOU TO THE 2010 – 2011 PAC EXECUTIVE!

NEXT PAC MEETING

Tuesday June 14th

7:00pm - Regular Meeting

SHE Library

Click HERE for the Agenda Package

Childminding available.  Please RSVP to SignalHillPAC@gmail.com to ensure we have enough sitters.

See you on the playground!

Betsy and Sheena

PAC Co-Chairs