BLACK WALNUT PUBLIC SCHOOL – School Council Minutes
May 4, 2026
Meeting Format: In-Person
Attendees
In Attendance:
Parents: Stephanie Whittamore, Jennifer Reitsma, Anna Leung, Tiffany Gengelbach, Amy Chan, Shelby Chung, Lang Vu, Jennifer Wu
Administration: Vivienne Baines (Principal), Meaghan Harley (Vice Principal)
Regrets: Nasia Isaac, Christine Malik, Connie Hui
Agenda
Welcome
Land Acknowledgment:
• Jennifer Reitsma read the YRDSB Land Acknowledgement
Approval of agenda:
• Moved by Lang Vu and seconded by Shelby Chung
Approval of minutes of March 2, 2026 meeting:
• Moved by Amy Chan and seconded by Jennifer Reitsma
School Report – Vivienne Baines & Meaghan Harley
• School events that have occurred recently:
o Jr. Basketball teams attended Areas
o Kindergarten Concert was a big success
o Wolverine Games event held by Council was very well-attended
o Dance Team performed at CLAWS assembly
o Chess tournament
o SODA tournament (Students of Differing Abilities)
o Badminton Areas – mixed team placed third
• School Streets road closure project launching soon. Report from the team was that the response from parents has been very positive so far.
• A parent connected to say they would be interested in helping plan Iftar at our school next year. This should be raised to the general school population to see if there are families that would be interested in hosting various cultural events. This could be done with a survey to families to see who may be interested in facilitating a cultural event or meal (will include in opening survey sent by Council at beginning of next school year). All families would be invited to attend and participate as part of a learning about other cultures and their traditions and community building.
• Upcoming events:
o Speed Stacking next week
o Track and Field next week
o Primary Arts Café on May 21 (performances and displays – drop-in format)
o Run, Jump and Throw
o Jump Rope for Heart
• EQAO to be written by Gr 3 and Gr 6 students in first week of June
• P.A. Day June 5th
Council Chair / Treasurer Report – Stephanie Whittamore
• Raised $1,100 from the Wolverine Games event; 250 people attended – thank you to all volunteers involved!
• School Streets was a popular table (one Board rep and one City of Markham rep were in attendance)
• $520 raised from Terra Cotta Cookie Dough fundraiser
• Meaghan and Stephanie attended PEAC conference with a focus on AI in schools
• Forecasting around $6,500 in the account before the PRO Grant event. We should have approximately $6,000 available to start off the 2026/2027 calendar year.
PRO Grant – event June 4, 2026
• Event funding was approved via email – The Empower Project presentation on Raising Emotionally Intelligent Children in a Digital World
• Food will start at 6:30pm for the attendees and the presentation will be from 7-8:30pm
• Email will go out to parents to register and the invitation will also be sent to nearby schools
• We will ask staff to see if some can volunteer to assist with childcare for the evening
Staff Appreciation Lunch
• We will plan this for June 19 and a potluck sign up will go out to the parents
Next Meeting – Fall 2026