School Council Minutes - September 29, 2025

Staff in Attendance: P. Miller (Principal), F. Liu (Vice Principal)

COUNCIL NORMS

ATTENTIVE LISTENING

- one person is speaking at a time

- face the speaker

- listen to the ideas of others

- eye contact, nodding

- acknowledge and appreciate each other's efforts

- supportive language

MUTUAL RESPECT

- begin and end on time

- focus on the task at hand

- people speak honestly and openly and their ideas are respected

-comfortable environment

-appreciating diversity

RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE/ RIGHT TO PASS

-sharing ideas

-no pressure to speak in community circle

-everyone participating

-freedom to add input

-include all members

-feeling safe to give ideas

Items:	Notes	Follow Up
Opening of School Council Meeting	Welcome & Introductions Admin introduced themselves and invited those around the table to introduce themselves, sharing who their children are and any wishes for the new school year Nominations Shared brief description of council positions (co-chair, secretary, treasurer, voting members) Questions asked about time commitment and expectations for the roles Paused for reflection as meeting continued Results: Cynthia (co-chair), Percy (co-chair), Sarib (secretary), OPEN (treasurer)
Principal’s Report	Reorganization Update This year, there was a small re-organization of Kindergarten YRDSB Planning Department expected 60 kindergarten students but only 39 registered One JK/SK class (Manocha & Santos) became one SK class (Manocha) Currently Beckett is on overflow for grades 4-8 and open for grades K-3 If a family has 2 children who fit in each category would like for the children to attend the same school, both children will be overflowed to Castlemore Hot Lunches This year’s vendors: Pizza (BFPS), Japanese Lunch (School Council), Lunch Lady/Kids Kitchen (outside vendor), Mealbets (outside vendor) East School Council Forum Monday, November 17th - Middlefield Collegiate Institute 5:30-8:30pm 2 Co-chairs and Admin are invited to attend Speakers, Workshops, Networking opportunity to learn more about School Councils in other schools School Organization Currently enrollment is at 802 students (largest in Markham) Shared school organization If families would like to contact staff, use: firstname.lastname@yrdsb.ca Staff Requests (amounts are approximate) ACF License $1500 ($ per child) Books $5000 Technology $7000 Indoor Recess Kits (Games, Puzzles, etc.) $2000 Grade 8 Graduation (offset dinner for grads) $700 Ultimate Frisbees $500 Question asked about board vendors.
Overview, Review & Feedback of 2024-2025 School Council Activities Initiatives Account Balance: $17532.13	Fundraising Goals Do not want students to sell items Donation Drive (families asked to donate $ directly) Japanese Lunch (runs Tuesdays and Thursdays) Fun Fair (in the Spring) Wednesday Family Night Movie Night Badminton Paint Night Public Speaking Other? Fun Fair
Other Business	What initiatives began last year that you would like to be supported this year? bullying online safety hate/racialized language how to bring in families to family info nights outreach Is it possible to have an info night focusing on Community Awareness, bringing in YRP? to share community info / safety tips (re: increase in burglaries in neighbourhood) Discussed Guest Speaker Policy vetting process
Goal Setting	To be addressed at next meeting
Next Meeting	October 22
2025-2026 School Council Meeting Dates	November 26, January 28 (virtual?), February 25 (tentative), April 22, May 20