Why should you come to the APA meeting? For your kids, of course!
As most of you may know, the APA holds monthly meetings on the last Wednesday of every month from 7-9 during the school year with the exception of December. It is at these meetings where together, we get to make important fundraising, spending, policy and programming decisions – all to support our children’s learning and social experiences at Allenby. Jennie Ucar, our Principal, regularly attends our meetings, answering questions and giving updates on important Allenby/TDSB issues.
Unfortunately, the attendance at the past two APA meetings has been less than usual and we very much want to reverse this trend! While the APA Executive Board tries extremely hard to take into account as many perspectives as possible, there is simply no substitute for both the energy and brain-power of our great parent body.
As a parent of an Allenby student, you are an automatic APA member! Every APA member who attends the meeting where a motion is presented gets a vote. Your vote is important. Meetings are currently our only forum to hold a vote. So if you are not there, you unfortunately, have others making decisions for you. Sometimes that is o.k. Sometimes it is not. We know you are busy. So are we. However, it is our children who benefit from having more voices at the table. So please come and be heard!
And … it has never been easier to come to a meeting (did you know that we offer free childcare and snacks, thanks to the fabulous Irenke Payne?) and we truly make our best attempt to keep each meeting brief, purposeful, informative and yes, sometimes even fun 🙂
The next few meetings are particularly crucial. We will be given an opportunity to provide our input on next year’s school-staffing model and will decide how best to deploy parent-funded technology in the classrooms. Decisions will be made. Be part of the process, don’t choose to have others make choices for you.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March 30th at 7:00pm. Mark it on your calendar and attend. Together, we can make our children’s Allenby years the best possible!
As always, if you have any ideas regarding our meetings or any other topic, we would love to hear them and discuss. Feel free to give me a call at 647.200.2093 or send me an email lori.miller@rogers.com or catch me in the playground.