Minutes of the Hamilton-Wentworth Executive
Monday April 10, 2006

Members: Kaywana Gargarello, Frank Torelli, Rosalind Minaji, Dianne MacKenzie, Neena Monteiro, Ron English

Regrets: Susan McClure, Marie Patenaude, Myra Malley

The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

1. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES

The minutes of March 6, 2006 were approved.

2. CHAPTER UPDATES

Volunteer Hours: 47

Treasurer's Report:

Opening Balance: 4,324.55
March Revenue:
Champlain Bookstore 730.00
March Expenses:
None
Balance April 10: 5054.55

Membership:
Ron is leaving the Executive in order to run for school trustee in the November municipal elections. The Executive thanked Ron and wished him luck in this endeavor. Myra Malley will be taking over the responsibilities of Membership Secretary beginning in May 2006.

Action Items:
" Ron to forward all membership materials including form letters to Myra.
" Myra will mail all new members since September with welcome letter and Keys to French I
" Myra will mail all renewed members since September with thank you letter and Keys to French II

Communications:
The April newsletter was distributed for drop off at Immersion schools. Articles included: ARTFO, Summer Camp registration information, Esprit d'Ecole review, Concert Review, Cathedral trip to Paris, French Early Years Centre information and Join CPF appeal.

Members will be sent a special invitation to the AGM and St. Jean picnic the last week of May, as well as a registration form for the summer camp.

CPF Ontario has produced some new posters promoting French Immersion. Roz will look into ordering some.

Special FI Information nights are being held on April 19 in Dundas and April 27 in Waterdown to promote the program. Roz will attend on behalf of CPF. A small run of our brochures advertising the new meeting dates will be distributed to JK students in Dundas & Waterdown by the public Board.

Final June newsletter (Possible Contents): AGM announcement, summer activities, St. Jean picnic, concours results, summer camp, teacher profile, bussing update, trip to Paris review (public board), bussing update

Action Items:
" Roz to order additional CPF Ontario posters.
" Final newsletter articles to be written by May 19 and submitted to Dianne

3. UPCOMING CHAPTER EVENTS

Le Concours: (May 12)
The public board's Concours took place on Thursday March 2nd at Dalewood. The finalists are invited to take part in the provincial CPF Concours at Glendon College on May 13. The separate school competition will take place on May 12 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Josephs school. Kaywana will get an estimate of the number of competitors so we can provide prizes.

Action Items:
" Roz and Kaywana will arrange for book prizes and candy to be delivered to St. Josephs for the event.

Summer Camp:
Camp Dove has arranged to use Vanier school as a base for their camp for 8 weeks this summer. The camp will be aimed at 6 to 12 year olds (about 40 per week) and will cost approximately $145 per week, plus a one-time $60 registration fee ($30 for CPF members). Registration forms have recently been produced and can be downloaded from the Camp Dove website. The website also has a draft list of weekly themes and field trips for the camp.

The camp has been featured in our April newsletter. The organizer has indicated that she will be interested in hiring Westdale and Cathedral students for the camp, but needs to see how registration goes before deciding how many staff the camp requires. There was some confusion about how many weeks a child must join the camp for, so Roz will clarify on our web site. We will send additional registration forms home with parents in May.

Action Items:
" Roz will add the registration form to our website and clarify the duration of camp.
" Roz will prepare a registration form, camp poster to be sent to members in May

CPF Annual General Meeting: (June 8)
This year's event will be a wine and cheese evening held at the Staircase Café from 7 to 9 pm. Kaywana and Dianne will prepare a PowerPoint presentation highlighting CPF activities for the year. Suggested they draw on the web site and newsletters for content. Neena will prepare the year-end financial statement. Kaywana will prepare a written summary of activity and volunteer hours for CPF Ontario.

Other suggestions: French music, everyone to source door prizes (especially with a French theme), Ron will price US wine since he crosses the border for work. We will send out an invitation to all members in late May. Kaywana will contact Cathedral catering and Fortinos about food platter costs.

Action Items:
" Neena to prepare annual financial statement with March 31, 2006 year end
" Dianne and Kaywana to prepare a PowerPoint presentation to highlight our accomplishments for 2005/2006
" Everyone to send CPF photos to Dianne for inclusion in the presentation.
" Ron to price US wine.
" Kaywana will price food & find French music.
" Roz to prepare an AGM invitation to all members which will also include information about the St Jean picnic and the membership drive
" Everyone to find doorprizes

St. Jean Picnic (June 25):
CPF plans to participate in this years St. Jean picnic. We will host a booth again with cotton candy and will also look into hiring a French children's performer to play at the picnic. It was stressed that we should promote this great event as much as possible to the FI community as it is a chance to mingle with the francophone community.

Roz will be away the weekend of the picnic, so we need two volunteers to run the cotton candy booth. Gregg LeRock was determined to be too expensive to hire for this event. Dianne will ask Madam Demeray for suggestions for a performer. Roz will e-mail Etienne to see if he might be interested.

Action Items:
" Roz to ask Etienne what his cost would be for a performance
" Volunteers needed to run the cotton candy booth as Roz is away this year

4. PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD ISSUES

There is now a waiting list for French Immersion at Glen Echo for Grade One. This has been attributed to the successful introduction of bussing. The continuation of bussing will depend on funding levels from the Province. FI bussing has been included in the draft budget by the Board.

Three groups have now formed (Dundas, Ancaster and Waterdown) to try and get French Immersion schools open in their areas by September 2007. We have put their contact information in the newsletter and have added links to our web site. Additional FI information nights are being held by the Board in these locations.

5. SEPARATE SCHOOL BOARD ISSUES

May 18 is the date of the first French Advisory Committee meeting, which will be held at the Nicholas Mancini Centre. Parents have been invited to submit agenda items to their principals. Some suggestions made to Kaywana are: Celebrating French in Schools (signs, announcements), support for students, parents and teachers, and a communication policy regarding the availability of Immersion.

6. FRANCOPHONE COMMUNITY ISSUES

ARTFO takes place on April 23, 2006 at Académie catholique Mère-Teresa, on the mountain.

Action Items:
" Rosalind and Kaywana will continue to meet with Claudette Miklesons to discuss joint events and activities.

7. OTHER BUSINESS

Andrea Horvath (MPP), who has children at St. Joseph's school, has approached Kaywana to see if there are FI issues she would like raised at Queens Park. One suggestion was the issue of full funding for bussing, another was the development of a consistent model for the provision of immersion (more than a 50% model). Ron will pass these items along to Ms. Horvath.

Ron suggested the Executive explore the sponsorship of a ½ page insert into school agendas. This could promote CPF and also lower the cost of the agendas and encourage the purchase of French agendas rather than English language versions. It was agreed that this would be a great idea, provided our information was right at the front of the agenda where it would be easily seen. The cost (50 cents or $1 per agenda) would need to be looked at.

Action Items:
" Ron to relay CPF comments to Andrea Horvath.
" Roz & Kaywana to approach school boards regarding interest, rules, and timeframes for CPF sponsorship of agendas and bring back for further discussion next month.

Next Meeting Monday May 15, 2006
Staircase Café, 27 Dundurn Street North