Lastly, regarding tax receipts… Due to newly communicated guidelines regarding Vancouver School Board policy, we are not able to issue tax receipts for PAC donations. This information was communicated to us after we had already sent home requests for donations. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Our Principal, Liz Hayes-Brown, has collected requests from the teachers and staff and these include:

– lamps

– projector

– portable bluetooth speaker

– sports equipment

– Kindergarten centres

– Library funds

– iPads

Liz also informed the PAC that the VSB will no longer be offering support for Mac products and we will need to replace our Mac computers in the computer lab (and possibly some in the library) with PCs.

At the October PAC Meeting, we discussed how to help the school with these requests and made the following determinations (see Budget section below for more details):

– For sports equipment, Liz and several teachers will go through what we currently have and specifically identify what is needed, then we can determine what the school can provide and what the PAC can provide (see Sports in Budget section below).

– For iPads, since the VSB is no longer supporting Mac products, Liz and the teachers will determine in iPads are needed or if non-Mac tablets will work, then we can determine what the school can provide and what the PAC can provide (see below re: computers).

– For Library funds, the PAC will continue to fund the library ($1500) as they have in the past.

– For Kindergarten centres, the PAC will continue to fund the Kindergarten centres ($900 – $300 per Kindergarten classroom) as they have in the past and Liz and the Kindergarten teachers will determine how best to divide the total funds (some of the Kindergarten classrooms need more than others).

– For other items (lamps, projector, speaker), the PAC will begin by clearing out the PAC storage closet (see PAC Storage section below for more details) and donate any unused items to the teachers, then we can determine what the school can provide and what the PAC can provide.

– For the computers, we will determine how much, if anything, the VSB will fund to replace the computers, and the school will take responsibility for some items the PAC had originally agreed to fund (Guided Reading and art supplies) so that those funds can be diverted to technology to help cover the cost of computers (and iPads/tablets, see above re: iPads). We will also look into trading/selling the Mac computers to recoup some of the costs for new computers/iPads/tablets.

 Budget

At the October PAC Meeting, we voted on our 2018-2019 budget. The approved items are as follows:

– Technology: $6,600 (Originally $1,500, increased by $3,600 diverted from Guided Reading and $1,500 diverted from art supplies, both to be covered by the school)

– Classroom funds: $5,750 ($250 per classroom, matching what is provided by the school, same as last year)

– Music: $500 (same as last year)

– Fieldtrips: $4050 ($10 per student, dispersed from Community Gaming Grant, same as last year)

– Compass cards: $180 (30 cards x $6/card, for fieldtrips)

– Performances: $2,000 (same as last year)

– Library: $1,500 (same as last year)

– Academy of Math: $500 (teachers often end up getting a grant to cover this, but if not, the PAC will fund it, same as last year)

– Cultural Events: $400

– Kindergarten centres: $900 ($300 per classroom, this year to be split as determined by teachers, same as last year)

– Science Alive: $600 (same as last year)

– Sports: $2,000 (some of this may be used to cover the sports equipment requested by teachers)

– Staff appreciation: $500 (raised from $100 last year, because it never seems like enough to provide a nice end-of-year event for the teachers and staff)

We are also looking into getting more lunch tables and repainting the emergency storage bin and will add these items to the budget if needed.

We are going to be offering school spirit t-shirts and sweatshirts. Nancy is organizing this program. This is not a fundraiser, but simply a way for students, teachers, staff, family and friends to show their Nootka pride. T-shirts will cost about $10 and sweatshirts will cost about $25-30 for child and adult sizes and there will be several styles to choose from.

We decided to host a Holiday Dance instead of a Halloween Dance because the school has received a request to film in the gym over the Halloween weekend and because we did not have any volunteers to organize the dance. Bonnie is going to organize this dance and any other volunteers are greatly appreciated. Please contact nootkapac@gmail.com if you would like to help with this dance.

The PAC storage closet was cleared out by Amelia & Bonnie and all unused items were donated to the school. A lot of prizes went to the We Care program and lots of arts and craft supplies, some lamps, a large box of books and a few soccer balls were distributed to the school and teachers as well. We also donated 3 industrial size pots, a coffee maker and some expired juice boxes to the Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House and Vancouver Food Bank.

At the September PAC Meeting we voted to hold meetings on the first Monday of every month from 9:15 am to 10:00 am.