Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Upcoming RES Council Annual General Meeting (AGM)

This is to notify all parents of RES students or the RES Council Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will be held on Thursday, June11 at 7:00 pm in the gathering area at the school.  At this meeting we will propose and vote on changes to the RES Council by-laws, and elect the Executive Members for the 2015-2016 school year Council.  Any parent of RES students present at the meeting may volunteer/be nominated for executive positions and other parent-volunteer positions. Parents must be present at the meeting to vote on by-law changes and executive positions.
The following changes to the RES Council by-laws will be proposed at the meeting:
1.       We propose that the Volunteer Coordinator executive position on the Council be changed to two positions.
2.       We propose that the Communications Director executive position be changed to two positions.

Following is a list of the Council positions that need to be filled for the 2015-16 school year and a description of the duties and time commitment for each position.  If you are interested in volunteering for any of these positions please attend our meeting on Thursday, June 11 at 7:00 PM at the elementary school. Those interested can be nominated by others or can nominate themselves at this meeting. Only those in attendance may vote for members of the executive. So if you want to have a voice in the formation of the school council for the next school year please attend the meeting. We appreciate parental involvement and interest and we encourage you as parents to attend school council meetings in order to stay informed about events at the school, how the administration makes decisions, and about current issues in education and specific to our school.
1.      Council Chair
This position does require someone with leadership, organization and communication skills. The Chair is responsible for making sure the Council runs smoothly and functions as a group including coordinating with the principal, preparing meeting agendas, calling regular council meetings, being the official spokesperson for the School Council, attending training and Divisional School Council meetings etc. Previous experience on the Council is not a requirement but would be a great asset. We have been making changes over the last couple of year in increasing the Council’s involvement in the school community and an understanding of what we have been doing would be helpful.
The number of hour per month varies depending on what activities and meetings are held but four to eight hour a month is a reasonable estimate.

2.       Communications Director(s)
The communications director is responsible for regular communication between the school council and the parents of the school's students including announcing School Council meetings and activities and reporting on Council activities. This is done through newsletters, posts on Facebook, emails, and posts on the school council section of the RES website. This past year the communications director has also been responsible for computer related activities such as surveys and other digital communications. This position requires some experience with computers using webpages and other forms of digital communication. We also hope to make more use of photographs as a means of communicating with parents about activities at the school so coordinating the taking and/or collection of photographs is another potential responsibility. 
3.       Volunteer Coordinator(s)
This has been one position and hopefully will be changed into two positions because it can become very busy at times. The responsibilities involved arranging for volunteers for special events such as the book fair and school council sponsored activities. The volunteer coordinator also communicates with room moms to help arranging for volunteers. If this changes to two positions the proposal is that one person would be responsible for the more a day today volunteering at the school and the other would be responsible for coordinating volunteers for special events. The volunteer coordinators attend monthly school council meetings and then spend time as needed when arranging for volunteers for the things mentioned above.
4.       Pre-school Rep
Preschool representative is a position open to any parent who has a child in preschool at RES. Responsibilities involved representing the preschool at the school council meetings and communicating with the preschool as necessary to act as a liaison between The preschool and the school council.
5.       Members-at-large (2 to 3)
This is for two or three people. The members at large attend monthly meetings. They are voting members of the Council and are available to help with special events and volunteering as needed and as they are available to.
The following parent-volunteer positions need to be filled for the 2015-2016 school year:
1.       Pizza Day
Pizza day volunteer is a position requiring two people. The responsibilities include sorting out pizzas juice and chips on pizza day once a month. One person is responsible for Division I and the other is responsible for Division II. This usually takes about 45 minutes each pizza day. These volunteers also usually attend our monthly school council meetings although they are not voting members of the council. 
2.       Room parent
The responsibilities include coordinating parent volunteers for classroom needs such as preparing treats for party days.  We hope these responsibilities may expand to include helping to coordinate volunteers for more day to day help in the classrooms as the teacher needs/asks for.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Next Meeting

Our next RES Council meeting will be on Monday, May 11 at 10:00 am in the gathering area at the school. As usual all parents of RES students are invited to attend. I strongly encourage all who are able to come to be there. Here are the topics we will be discussing:
- How the new provincial budget affects our school specifically in relation to staffing and class sizes
- Long term goals and plans for the RES Council
- Ways that you can become more involved in the school (School Council and volunteering in your child’s classroom)
- Elections for the 2015-2016 School Council – what positions are available and what you need to do if you want to run for a position
Attending School Council meetings does not commit you to volunteer for anything, but it will help you to be more informed on what is going on in the school day to day, how decisions are made by the administration, what the long term goals and plans are for the school and what you can do as a parent, if you choose to, to be more involved and positively affect the culture of the school. 
Again I invite and encourage parents to attend the meeting. Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday, June 11 at 7:00 pm in the gathering area at the school. At this meeting elections will be held to fill available positions for the 2015-2016 School Council. More information regarding what positions are empty and how to tell us of your intent to run for a position will be sent out soon.
Jenn Smith
RES Council Chair

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