Month: June 2013

Join us this coming Friday June 21st for our end of year BBQ. Bring your picnic blanket and get ready to enjoy the many items on sale such as hamburgers, halal hot dogs, pizza, popcorn and the ever popular south asian buffet (halal). Don’t forget the bake sale items which will satisfy your sweet tooth!

Lots of activities such as a Juggling display, hula hoop display, Face Painting, Mehndi, Story Circle, button making and much more. There will be a silent auction and prize draw that includes a teacher/staff skills/service auction, plus many other items like a round of golf at Angus Glen Golf Club, Winner’s gift certificate, Blue Jay tickets, Rowe Farm Gift certificates, gift baskets from Shoppers Drug Mart plus many more items being auctioned. Please note that some activities are free and some will have a fee. All funds raised through this and other School Council activities help to fund various activities, events and resources at the school. Visit the School Council table to find out more about how the Council works and how we support the school.

So join us to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer.

If you would like to volunteer at this event please contact rodenvolunteers@yahoo.ca.

A late addition to this year’s roster of activities supported by the School Council is a concert and workshop by DRUMhand. All students at the school will be treated to a concert by DRUMhand, a world music percussion band. Earlier in the week the Grades 2, 3 and 6 will have a workshop with the group. Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 had tabla music workshops already presented to them.

It might seem a little late to thank you for your support of our Winter Magazine Subscription Promotion, but did you know that we are able to continue to support Roden School through magazine subscriptions year round? By going to www.QSP.ca – click on “just shopping” – you can access our account by searching by account number 9210, or by school name “Roden”. Magazine subscriptions for titles such as People Magazine, Chickadee, Today’s Parent, and Canadian House and Home (and many more) are available at significant discount, and an average of 30%!!! of your subscription fee is gifted back to Roden Public School. We have raised a record $1114.00 this year. When you are considering your gift purchases we hope that you keep magazine subscriptions and Roden fresh in your mind through the Spring, Summer and Fall months. A belated thanks for your support over the holidays, and for your continued support in the year.

Doah Wilson
Roden School Council Fundraising Chair.

The Healthy Building Committee (a joint Equinox and Roden committee) recently met to discuss our current situation with the flooring at the school. The meeting started with a brief history of Indoor Air Quality at the school since 2009. There have been two air quality tests (neither of which adequately tested areas of concern, particularly the carpets themselves) and a survey (2011) that went out to students/families (Equinox & daycare) and building staff. There were approximately 150 respondents and plenty of anecdotal evidence regarding exacerbation of eczema, asthma, general illnesses, headaches while at school/during the school year.

At present, there is essentially no Board budget for any expenditures. Therefore the ‘Emergency Facilities Budget’ is covering the hallway flooring. The TDSB current standard is vinyl composite tiling (“Excelon”). These are touted as environmentally responsible, being composed of 85% limestone. However, the remaining 15% is PVC and phthalates. Our position is that there is no acceptable level of PVC and phthalates in this school (or anywhere). Vinyl flooring has a shorter lifespan than linoleum/Marmoleum, requires more maintenance (waxing, etc), and is not recyclable/does not break down at the end of its ‘life’.

The Healthy Building Committee is in the process of talking to companies that manufacture Marmoleum to see if we can get either a donation or if they can match the cost of the vinyl flooring (as the installation costs are the same for either one).

Help support the Healthy Building Committee by having your child (or you) write a thank you card to the folks who helped to get our old carpet pulled out. We are hoping that by expressing our thanks and at the same time our concern over replacing the carpet with vinyl, they will see our high level of concern over this matter. Please see attached samples of thank you card 1 and thank you card 2.

For more information on the carpet replacement issues please read the IAQ flooring PDF.

To become involved or find out more please contact, Pascaline Phillips, Chair of the Healthy Building Committee, at pascaline@naturalpanacea.ca.

Thank you to all who supported our last movie night of the year, we were able to raise over $800!