Lord Tennyson PAC Meeting
General Meetings – Jan 18, 2021
AGENDA
 

• Call to Order – Acknowledgement of meeting recording – please mute your mic
• Land Acknowledgement
• Approval of Agenda and New Business Requests
• Previous Minutes Approval (Nov 16, 2020)
• Kits House presentation on covid protocols
• Principal’s Report 
• Vice-Principal’s Report
• Treasurer’s Report
• Key Updates 
  • MOVE! – Howl supplies THANK YOU everyone who took items, deficiency list (kindergarten cubbies, climbing wall, library open, but needs new shelves – 
  • Parking and Traffic (311) 
  • Holiday Hampers + staff gifts – Thank you!
  • Water fountains/bottle refill stations 
  • Lost and Found
  • Kickstart: goal is $10,850. Current balance at end of Dec was $10,319.15
  • Quebec 2021, 2022 any up-dates? Quebec Futures need members
  • Events (Spring Fling, A-Thon, others, Halloween Howl)
  • Parent Speakers (current + future) 
  • Outdoor play space
    • Big playground up-date
    • Additional Structures can only be added after demolition is complete. Survey of options will come in the spring
    • Issues to be addressed: park visits, big kids playground visits (need volunteers), plinths at entrance points, mud, boulders, temporary fencing for ball games
    • Covered spaces: Doug looking at picnic tables and old tent, other options being discussed with grounds around what is possible. 
  • Diversity & Inclusion Committee (ELL, anti-racism, anti-bullying) – call for parents
  • DPAC update from Ishi – issues around TOC staffing issues + Counsellors, DPAC a great place for raising these
  • Budget discussion in prep for Feb PAC meeting budget vote
• New Business Items / Volunteer Opportunities – Quebec Futures, park and playground access, 311 for parking

 
IMPORTANT DATES
Wednesday, Jan 20: Parent Speaker: Saving for your Child(ren)'s Education
Monday, Jan 25: Pro-D Day
Friday, Feb 12: Pro-D Day
Monday, Feb 15: Family Day (no school)
Monday, Feb 22: PAC Meeting


PLEASE ENTER INTO THE COMMENTS ANY ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA YOU WOULD LIKE CONSIDERED

Saving for your Child's/Children's Education

Who: Tyler Mann, Robert MacKinnon, Kouros Ghanavizchian
What: Saving for your Child's/Children's Education
When: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 7:00-8:30 pm
Where: Virtual (In your own home)

Getting tailored financial advice has become increasingly important for Canadians as they navigate a world full of uncertainties. As licensed financial planners at RBC on Vancouver’s Westside- Tyler, Kory, and Robert are on a mission to bring investment and retirement planning to as many British Columbians as possible, focusing on those who have an appetite to grow and protect their wealth. They are committed to delivering well rounded financial advice through their trusted network of professionals who can support your real estate and mortgage needs, banking, tax planning, and estate planning.
 
In their upcoming presentation on Wednesday January 20th, they will be providing advice on saving and investing for important goals like education and retirement.

From a Tennyson parent re: Funderland after school care.

"The after school care program [my daughter] has been going to at Funderland has been so great. She has such a fun time and often doesn’t want to leave when I pick her up. Unfortunately, enrollment is very low from Tennyson kids and only 1-2 kids attend on Mondays & Tuesday’s. Because of this they may to consider cancelling the pickup service. It would be great to support this small female-run business. I can’t speak highly enough about Azi and her team."

Details & video below:

***After School Games & Arts Club***
***Free Pick-up***   

Try a FREE Drop In !!!

Fee: $23/day
Time: 2:50-5:20 pm
Also
Winter Camp
Pro D day
Spring Camp

Visit www.Funderland.ca

Due to low submission numbers, the Winterfest Virtual Talent Show was cancelled.

Thank you to all the students who submitted their talent videos! We appreciate all the hard work and creativity that has gone into your individual and group submissions.

Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you for supporting the Grad 2022 class!

1st prize - Jeanette Frost
2nd prize - Elmer V
3rd prize - Tim Dow
4th prize - Joanne Fink
5th prize - Etienne B
6th prize - Augustine T
7th prize - Voy Wong
8th prize - Elmer V

Introducing the first ever Winterfest Virtual talent show! Brought to you by the families of Grad 2022🥳️☃️
We will host the talent show starting  at 6:30pm  on the night of Thursday December 17th.

Singers, musicians, dancers, actors, gymnasts, circus stars,  and all other performers we are looking for you!

We have a short window of submission for your acts, and we need them to conform to the following specifics:
*Appropriate for a family audience.
*Maximum 2 minutes in length.
*Say your name/s & what your performance is. 
*Submitted as a recorded file by Sunday  December 6th,  using this  free file upload tool to get files to us 
https://wetransfer.com
*For technical advice, email Lisa Bergman at  hereislisa@gmail.com

*Please include an email to hereislisa@gmail.com  &  j.crummey@icloud.com  giving permission/consent for us to run the file online for the Tennyson community on the evening of Thursday December 17th.  at approx.  6:30pm. Also, to keep it the performance on the PAC website, for our school community to view if they are not able to watch during the initial evening.

*Include in the email the name of the performer/s, their age/es, division/s.
*Limited spaces due to time constraints (approx 30-40)

Any questions, please contact Jacqueline Crummey.

Passive volunteer opportunity! If you have any room to store a storage bin or Halloween Howl prop for a few months, we would be very grateful. Please see the link below for specific info on the items that need storing and sign-up if you can commit. You are also welcome to swing by tomorrow and take a look at what would fit in your space. 

Howl Storage Sign Up

Pick up: Friday, Nov 27th from 9:15-10:30am
Back of the school - SW side of the gym

Please email the Howl Team if you would like to arrange an alternate time to pick-up: howlcoordinators@lordtennyson.ca  

There are TWO SURVEYS circulating regarding school planning for the 2021/2022 school year. 

ALL GRADES
DPAC Survey closes Dec 15th and is for students across grades. Fill it out once per child. You may need to close your browser and reopen for reach entry.

HIGH SCHOOL SPECIFIC
If you have another child in high school, the VSB Survey is specific to secondary schools and closes Dec 6th (Fill it out once per child. You may need to close your browser and reopen for reach entry). There is a separate VSB Survey for high school students themselves (not parents). If you are interested in increased face-to-face learning time at VSB high schools, please read the original blog post below as well as the petition.

This may be your only opportunity to provide feedback on planning for next year. Make sure your voice is heard!




Kids, Schools, COVID and Safety - originally posted Nov 22, 2020

On Monday, Nov 16th Dr. Mary Kestler, Infectious Disease Specialist, presented to the PAC a 15 minute talk on Kids, Schools, COVID and Safety. In it she shared current data on the harms and benefits of keeping kids in school full time. We hope this info session was helpful to parents for navigate some of the risk factors (mental and physical) as well as terminology (exposure & outbreak vs transmission). If you didn't have a chance participate in the PAC meeting, you can view the recording HERE. The talk starts at the  27 minute mark and can only be view via a VSB Teams account. The presentation was also given at the VSB Board Meeting on November 18th and a youtube recording of that session can be viewed HERE, starting at 6:30.

Parents can learn more about the impact of school closures on the BC CDC's website. as well as look up current data that is released weekly. 

Currently, Vancouver elementary schools are in session full time, however, secondary schools remain operating at 105 minutes of face-to-face (F2F) instruction per day (remote learning is roughly 60 - 300 minutes per week at the discretion of the teacher). If you, or anyone you know, has a child in high school, or starting high school next year (grade 7) and would like to learn more about the efforts to increase F2F learning time, please see the petition HERE. There will also be a VSB survey circulating before the winter break where parents can share their perspectives.  VSB begins planning for next school year in January.

For more details, contact CEEV NOW: citizensforequitableeducation@gmail.com