DALHOUSIE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Parent Society
OFFICIAL SITE
We are volunteer parents working together to support the school, teachers and, of course,
our kids to ensure everyone has the best possible experience at Dalhousie School.
ABOUT THE PARENT SOCIETY
You can reach any of us at any time via this one email:
The Dalhousie School Parent Society is a volunteer committee.
We meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:00pm.
These days we meet virtually via Microsoft Teams. The meetings only run for an hour and in that time we get a lot done and have some fun, share some laughs.
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We are pretty casual, just a bunch of, at this point, Moms, who want to help out and raise funds to cover the things the school budget cannot.
Money is raised through the casino dates, Fun Lunch, CoCo Brooks pizza orders, apple orders and other initiatives through the year.
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Join us for our next virtual meeting and leave your mic and camera off to just listen or turn them both on and get involved. We can use your quiet support or your noisy input ;-)
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Link to Microsoft Team meetings
Every two years the Dalhousie School parents have volunteered to cover 21 positions over two days at the Casino.
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Casinos are the number one way we raise funds and they generate an average of $67,000 which must be spent within 24 months so your children will definitely benefit from your volunteer hours.
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Our next Casino will be in the fall of 2025.
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Funds raised cover the costs of things like ...
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Residencies:
Photography, art, puppets, print making, STEM Learning Labs
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Physical Education enhancements:
Alien inline skating, yoga, SoundCreations, Rocks'n'Rings Curling
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Music program enhancements:
One world drumming, instrument purchases
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Curriculum resources:
Books, Spanish resources, Maker Space materials, RAZkids yearly subscription.
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To read about the various roles on the society, click here
Current Team
Corrine Kinzell
Secretary & Fun Lunch Coordinator
I’m Corrine, aka Fun Lunch.
I have two daughters at Dalhousie in grades 3 and 4. I’m passionate about fun lunch because not only does a portion of every order go towards funding exciting school activities, but the kids and parents love it! The students are excited to have a special day of the week for lunch and parents get a day off from making lunches.

If you want to get involved with fun lunch, or have any questions please email me through the parent society email.

I’m also co-treasurer with Charleen. Making sure our students’ funds are allocated the way we plan and hope them to be.
Charleen Nickel
Co-Chair
The year was 2014 – I was wide eyed and nervous walking into my first parent council. Who are these parents? What is parent council really about? What can little old me do to help? Well let me tell you – it takes a village to raise our students together! It takes many parents/guardians who are willing to work hard to raise funds for our children to have many enhancements and extra residencies in our school that many other schools aren’t fortunate enough to participate in.
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I have been with Dalhousie Parent Council since that very evening! I have been in a few roles – Casino Lead, AGLC Director, and Treasurer. I love working with individuals like you who want to make a difference! Alas, this will be my final year with Dalhousie Elementary and I want to ensure that I do my absolute best as your new Co-Chair! I want to let you know that in my past 10 years with this school, I have seen our Parent Council able to provide so many wonderful opportunities for our students! And we want to keep doing just that!
Parent council is consisted of many parents in different roles that help us tick like clockwork. How can little old you get involved? LOTS OF WAYS! From volunteering in various fundraising events, volunteering at Fun Lunch, helping with the playground committee to becoming a member or director of our parent council.
I would love to train someone to take over my position as co-chair for the 2024-2025 school year, if this sounds like something you would be interested in, please reach out by emailing us and I would love to meet with you!
Lori Walker Krause
Co-Chair
Hola, Dalhousie Parents!
My name is Lori Walker Krause and I will be filling the role of co-chair for the 2023-2024 year. I have three daughters, 17, 10, and 8, who have all attended/attend Dalhousie Elementary School which means I have been a part of this amazing community since 2011 (crazy!).
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The school has changed dramatically since that time but remains an amazing place of learning and fun. As those of us with older children witnessed, many things had to be removed from the school experience as a result of COVID. It was so great to see many of these things resume last year, such as field trips and the Family Fiesta, and I look forward to being part of the team that will try and bring an even greater number of opportunities for fun and community building to your children and families.
On that note, we will need many awesome parents and two leads in particular, willing to spearhead this year’s Family Fiesta so drop me a line if you are interested! Here’s to an amazing year ahead!
Amanda Tomlinson
Treasurer
Hi I'm Amanda,
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My Kiddo started at Dalhousie in 2021 there wasn't much in the way of parent volunteer opportunities which was something I really wanted to do.
When my kiddo was in Grade 1 the society put out a call to get more parents to attend the AGM to help ensure we had approval for yearly tasks. Swimming lessons and skiing were coming up. We needed volunteers and the parent group at the time also asked if anyone would be willing to join the team.
I got involved as a director with the Parent Society to help out right away. This year I have stepped into the role of Treasurer. I am so looking forward to seeing this Parent Society team and all of our amazing Dalhousie families achieve the goal of getting this playground built.
I love that I get to be in a role and apart of a team that brings FUN to our school, the students, faculty and families.
If numbers are your thing, I would love to see someone join me as a co-treasurer so I can get you trained to take over when my tenure ends!
Melissa Kurtz
Secretary 2024-2025
My name is Melissa Kurtz and I am supporting the parent’s' society as secretary.
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My oldest of two kids started kindergarten at Dalhousie School in 2023. I am excited to be involved with our school in order to stay current with events, information and opportunities for our kids, parents and teachers.
I think is so important to support our kids, obviously, but also our community school.
Lacey Brown
Fundraising Lead
My name is Lacey Brown. We have two kids at Dalhousie. One in grade 2 and one in grade 4. I can't believe this is our 5th year at Dalhousie!
It feels like just yesterday when we attended the Kindergarten Open House in January of 2017. We entered the school feeling like new students ourselves and we immediately felt like we wanted our children to attend this school. It had a welcoming vibe that we were excited about.
Once our son started kindergarten, we felt we belonged to a community, not just our son's school. I remember feeling like I couldn't wait to help out where we could. I started as Secretary last year and this year, I've taken over Fundraising full swing!
I've enjoyed my role on Parent Council and hope to pass along my passion and love of our school and what it means to be part of Dalhousie School to other parents.
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Parent Council / School Council Responsibilities
School Council Chair / Co-Chairs:
The school council chair/cochair needs to be a parent of a student in the school. The chair/co-chair actively encourages others to become involved in meaningful ways and organizes both programs and people.
Typical Duties include;
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Ensuring school council is represented at Community of School Council (COSC) meetings;
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Chairing and organizing meetings;
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Ensuring responsibilities for council members are clearly defined;
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Striving to ensure the diversity of the school community is represented;
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Communication regularly with the school principal;
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Ensuring regular communication with the school community;
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Ensuring an annual report is submitted to the board of trustees, reviewing the annual financial reports filed with the Alberta Societies and AGLC reporting;
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Staying informed about policies that impact school councils
School Council Key Communicator:
The key communicator works to build and enhance a connection between parents / school communities and the Calgary Board of Education. Key communicators liaise with school councils, enable more informed citizen input and share information, ideas and concerns as part of a system wide network of involved parents.
Typical Duties include;
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Attending Community of School Councils (COSC) meetings which are held several times throughout the year; and
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Attending school council and executive meetings
School Council Secretary:
The secretary acts as a recorder at each meeting and ensures that meeting minutes are accurate.
Typical Duties include;
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Acting as a recorder at meetings and ensuring the meeting minutes accurately reflects discussion;
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Keeping minutes, correspondence, and records (Including copy of school council annual reports) Filed in an orderly, publicly accessible fashion in accordance with the personal information protection act;
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Possessing working knowledge of the School Council Bylaws, Operating Procedures and;
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Distributing meeting and event notices and sending such to our website programmer.
Treasurer:
The school council treasurer needs to be a parent of a student in the school. They are responsible for the financial recordings of the school council.
Typical Duties include;
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Creating and updating a Parent Council Budget;
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Ensuring all cheques for Parent Council and EFT’s are accounted and properly recorded;
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Creating a monthly financial report;
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Completing the yearly AGLC Financial Report;
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Completing the yearly Alberta Societies Financial Report;
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Ensuring all balances are accurately recorded on a monthly basis
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Keeping accurate records of all financial transactions
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Ensuring records are available upon the request of the school district