January 2018 Update

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Welcome back. DPAC has two meetings this month: an Executive meeting on January 11th with 2 delegations (SACY & PIE) and a General Meeting on January 25th with a special presentation geared for parents/guardians of children with special needs by Suzanne Perreault.

Draft and final minutes of our previous meetings are available on our website: http://vancouverdpac.org/2017-2018-school-year/ and agendas should be posted a few days beforehand.

Note: all DPAC meetings are open to parents and guardians of VSB students. Though only DPAC executives can vote at Executive meetings, and only official DPAC representatives (PACs to self determine) can vote at General meetings, all parents and guardians of VSB students can participate.

Important Dates:

Upcoming SACY workshops:

  • Thursday, Feb 1, 7-9pm – SACY workshop "Building Bridges with Your Teen" at Britannia Secondary. Seating limited. Please register: www.SACY.eventbrite.ca

  • Tuesday, Feb 20, 7-9pm – SACY workshop "Building Bridges with Your Teen" at King George Secondary. Seating limited. Please register: www.SACY.eventbrite.ca

PAC / Parent Advocacy

Petition For Out-of-School Care

Petition To Accelerate Seismic Upgrades

Email Tool to Write to Premier Horgan re: Prioritizing Education in BC Budget 2018

  • This is a FACE/PAN (Families Against Cuts to Education / Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education) initiative requesting the government implement the funding recommendations for public education made by the Select Standing Committee for Finance and Government Services in the 2018 budget. Simple email tool http://facebc.ca/newyear/

DPAC News:

Welcome

  • Welcome to DPAC's newest executive, Erin Bartlett (erin.bartlett@vancouverdpac.org). Erin is now the DPAC liaision for:

    • Bayview Elementary School

    • Ecole Jules Quesnel

    • Lord Byng Secondary

    • Lord Kitchener Elementary School

    • Queen Elizabeth Annex

    • Queen Elizabeth Elementary School

    • Queen Mary Elementary School

    • Southlands Elementary School

    • University Hill Secondary School

Parent/Guardian Input Opportunities:

  • Emergency Management Committee: We are looking for a DPAC representative to join this VSB committee. First meeting of the year will be on Tuesday, January 23rd from 1-2:30pm.

  • VSB Audit Committee: DPAC has been invited to send comments and feedback on the proposed terms of reference for the new VSB Audit Committee. Background and draft terms of references found here: http://www.vsb.bc.ca/sites/default/files/17_11Nov15_op_commV_agenda_item%201_0.pdf. Please forward any comments or suggests by January 9th.

  • Call out for more executives: Currently we have three openings in our executive for Members-at-large. In addition to voting at executive meetings, members-at-large are PAC liaisons, represent DPAC at VSB standing committees, and help ensure DPAC runs effectively. The term would only be until June 30th, 2018. If you are interested in joining our executive, please ask your PAC to nominate you and submit your application (link).

Reminder

  • An electronic ballot to ratify the nomination for a new DPAC executive, Roy Park, was sent to every PAC's general email account (PAC chair's email for PACs with no general account). Please ensure your PAC responds before our Executive meeting on January 11th.

Updates at VSB:

  • New Senior Staff starting this month:

  • Actions:

    • On December 18, the board passed a motion which will replace the term 'Aboriginal' with 'Indigenous' for district programs, committees, and job titles. Part of their reasoning included DPAC's October 26 motion requesting the same.

    • On December 1st, DPAC sent two representatives (Erin Arnold and Roy Park) to a special VSB focus group looking at current hiring and retention issues at VSB and in BC. From this meeting, a letter was crafted and sent to Rob Fleming, Minister of Education on December 8th.