School Council Meeting -- September 29, 6:30 pm via Zoom


Hello Fern family and friends,

Please join us for our first School Council meeting Thursday September 29, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm. 

To keep the meeting accessible to the widest range of people (including our very own VP Steve Lefkos who commutes from far away) we are staying with a Zoom format. 

ZOOM Details? If your child is a registered Fern student, you will get the link the day of the meeting. If you are a caregiver/aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa etc., or Ferncliff parent, please RSVP to: fernaveschoolcouncil@gmail.com 

Gee, sounds interesting! What will we discuss? 

School Council Elections: Five positions on the executive will be vacant (or up for grabs if someone else wants one of these):
  • TDSB Ward rep x2
  • Secretary 
  • Treasurer
  • Co-chair (Bliss is changing roles) 
Please let us know if you are interested in any of these roles. An accounting or financial background is important for the Treasurer role. 

The Exec has asked me to stay for another year as Co-chair. I am sensitive to the fact I don't want to block other people from exercising their leadership skills or becoming involved because I'm still doing this. So, if you would like to be in the room where it happens and want to jump in on an exec role, reach out and we can talk about a position for you. We're open to creating roles where people identify a need.

For example, Bliss will take on the Spring Fling/Pub Night Chair role. Rita, formerly a TDSB Ward 7 Rep, will be our Volunteer Wrangler. While we will need folks to take on specific project lead roles throughout the year, we also have space and requirements for people who want to learn how the School Council runs, how decisions are made, and who are prepared to engage with a wide range of other people on a range of issues. 

While it may seem fairly simple from the outside, we have worked hard to build a collaborative group from various ages and stages of life in the School Council across many streams within Fern. We inhabit an incredibly complex school eco-system -- kids aged 4-14 in four educational streams and kids who join us only for grade 7 and 8. We have parents ranging in age from mid-20's to late-50's. Some of us moved here in the late 90's or 2000's -- some only last month. 

Add to this things like income disparity, the experience of BIPOC parents and/or BIPOC kids, the experience of LGBTQ2S parents and/or LGBTQ2S kids, parents or children with disabilities or learning difficulties, single parents, older parents, younger parents, grandparents or other family caregivers.... etc. We are an extremely diverse community with many different perspectives on pretty much everything. 

That means we have to work hard to ensure the school council is responsive to all along all possible different fault lines. It is fun, challenging and maddening, but ultimately extremely rewarding to take a hand in building a community. 

Reach out to Fernaveschoolcouncil@gmail.com if you would like to chat about how you can get involved.  
Best, 
Alison McLean (co-chair School Council Exec)

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