April 2018 Update

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Hope everyone is well rested after Spring Break.

If you were unable to join us last month at our Executive meeting. draft minutes are available on our website and we hope you can join us soon. Minutes and presentations from previous meetings are also on our site.

DPAC has two meetings this month, in a reversed order to accomodate VSB's budget timeline. The General Meeting will be on April 12 with the main focus on VSB's 2018/19 budget plus a discussion on the provincial K-12 funding formula review currently underway. Please bring your thoughts and ideas of what is missing in VSB and your funding priorities. This is our opportunity to get parent perspective in before the 2018/19 budget is created. Please also review the funding model review discussion paper so we can discuss and add parent voices to the process. The Executive Meeting will be on April 26 and will include a district update by VSB Superintendent Suzanne Hoffman and a presentation by Family Smart.

Note: all DPAC meetings are open to parents and guardians of VSB students. While 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:

  • Wednesday, May 2 9am – ADHD Education Day for Parents by The Provincial ADHD Program. This a free education day, providing parents/caregivers with information on how ADHD is diagnosed, evidence based treatment for ADHD, tips on parenting a child with ADHD and how to help a child with ADHD at school.

  • Friday, May 4 – BCCPAC Conference

  • Saturday-Sunday, May 5-6 – BCCPAC AGM

  • Thursday, May 10, 7pm – DPAC Executive Meeting, Note: this meeting will be hosted by Xpey' Elementary at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society, 1607 E Hastings St,

  • Thursday, May 31, 6:30-8:30pm – SACY workshop "Adult Toolkit: Understanding Youth and Substance Use" in the SACY STEP Portable at Tupper Secondary. Seating limited. Please register.

  • May 28-June 1 – Bike to School Week. Register your school now!

DPAC

VSB Working Groups

  • French Immersion Program Review Working Group. FI Update/Mandate. This month VSB will be conducting surveys and/or focus groups. Stay tuned for more details.

  • Catchment Review Working Group. Policy and Terms of Reference. Report given at March 14 Committee II. Discussion is on-going. We hope to have an update at our Executive meeting and there will be opportunities for discussion and input later this Spring.

Input for DPAC

  • DPAC By-laws. Think there is room for improvement in DPAC's by-laws? We do! We updated some of them last year, but are looking for suggestions on areas to change/update this year in time to present them at our AGM on June 21st. Current by-laws here. Send input to Shaun Kalley (vicechair@vancouverdpac.org).

  • 2018/19 General Meeting topics. Tell us what you want to learn about.

  • DPAC 2018/19. Succession. Our AGM is on June 21. Do you know someone, or are someone, who would make a great DPAC executive or DPAC table officer next year? Time to start thinking about it and getting your PAC to sign off the nomination form. More details to come.

Expand/Embrace Your Indigenous Knowledges

  • Visit UBC Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre. Official opening on Monday, April 9th at 10am (Registration has ended, but there will be a webcast and Facebook Live broadcast: https://ceremonies.ubc.ca/IRSHDC-opening/).

  • Listen to "Think Indigenous - A Special Podcast Mini-Series on Indigenous Education" and other podcasts on Indian and Cowboy. Membership is not required to listen to the podcasts. http://indianandcowboy.ca/

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VSB

Budget 2018/19

  • On March 8 during our DPAC Executive Meeting, VSB Secretary Treasurer, David Green, gave a brief VSB Budget update.

  • On March 15, the Ministry of Education (MoE) announced district Operating Grants for 2018/19. Unlike previous years, there were slight increases in per student and unique student needs funding and no deduction for 'Administrative Savings.' With a projected enrolment decline of ~600 students and the slight increases, VSB will be getting slightly more than last year ... basically status quo.

  • On April 12 following our DPAC General Meeting, David Green will lead a Workshop to inform and gather feedback from parents and guardians before presenting VSB's 2018/19 preliminary budget onApril 17.

  • Public survey from April 18 - May 9

  • Public consultation on April 24

  • In the new timeline, the trustees will not be voting on the budget until the June 25 board meeting.

  • draft timeline

Long Range Facilities Plan Update 

  • Update given at March 14 Committee II

  • Current (2016) LRFP

New Curriculum series

  1. What does the new curriculum look like: An overview of BC's redesigned learning

  2. New curriculum fosters life-long learning for Walter Moberly Elementary's kindergarten class

  3. New curriculum begins next year for Grade 10s, meaning new options for this year's Grade 9s in course selection

  4. By creating podcasts with seniors, Tecumseh students learn about communication, a core competency of BC's new curriculum

  5. Indigenous focus in the new curriculum helps students develop 'mastery'

Parental Access to Student Records and Student Information Policy

  • Passed at the April 3 board meeting after discussion at March 7 Committee I (minutes)

  • Purpose: The Vancouver Board of Education SD #39 recognizes that positive communications between home and school contribute to student success and that parents/guardians are entitled to student records pursuant to the School Act. Students have rights of access to their own records under the School Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). Parents or guardians may exercise these rights on behalf of children, in accordance with the Family Law Act, who are too young to exercise them for themselves. The School Act also recognizes a “joint” right of students and parents to inspect student records, as defined in the School Act.

  • Policy: The Board will allow access to student records to parents and guardians to the extent legally permissible. In making decisions regarding the disclosure of student records to a student's parents/guardians, the Board will be guided by the School Act, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, other relevant legal considerations, and the best interests of the student.

Staffing

  • Teacher and Teacher Support Staffing Update Report presented at March 14 Committee IV meeting

  • Superintendent Suzanne Hoffman and Director of Instruction Adrian Keough are traveling to Europe with the Ministry of Education and BCTF to recruit French-language teachers (announcement)

  • Finance department has been reorganized with 2 assistant secretary treasurers and 2 new managers replacing the previous director of finance and supervisor positions. Lisa Landry has been promoted to Assistant Secretary Treasurer - District Services. Shehzad Somji was hired as Assistant Secretary Treasurer - Financial Services (announcement)

  • On April 2 Rob Fleming, Minister of Education, rescinded his executive order making Dianne Turner VBE's special advisor.

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BCCPAC

Conference May 4 & AGM May 5-6

  • Registration open now for BCCPAC members (Early bird deal until April 9; non-members can register as of April 10)

  • Conference theme is Human Rights with keynote address by Ivan Coyote and feature speaker, Rick Hansen.

  • Resolutions and nominations

  • If your PAC is a current member of BCCPAC (see below) and is unable to send a representative, DPAC can bring your proxy votes (authorized proxy vote rules & form)

  • Vancouver PACs with current BCCPAC membership

    • Charles Dickens Elementary

    • David Thompson Secondary

    • Edith Cavell Elementary

    • Elsie Roy Elementary

    • Henry Hudson Elementary

    • Laura Secord Elementary

    • Lord Beaconsfield Elementary

    • Lord Byng Secondary

    • Lord Tennyson Elementary

    • Magee Secondary

    • Maple Grove Elementary

    • Point Grey Secondary

    • Prince of Wales Secondary

    • Queen Alexandra Elementary

    • Queen Elizabeth Annex

    • Queen Elizabeth Elementary

    • Queen Mary Elementary

    • Shaughnessy Elementary

    • Simon Fraser Elementary

    • Sir Charles Tupper Secondary

    • Sir John Franklin Elementary

    • Trafalgar Elementary

    • Tyee Elementary

    • University Hill Elementary

    • Vancouver Technical Secondary

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Ministry of Education

Operating Grants 2018/19

  • On March 14, the Ministry of Education (MoE) announced district Operating Grants for 2018/19.

  • From the March 14 Committee V report:

    • For the September 2018 enrolment intake, the Ministry has projected 3,000 more students in the province as compared to the current school year.

    • Vancouver is one of 10 school districts in the province that is projected to have declining enrolment, as mentioned previously.

    • The provincial block grant has increased by $130 million of which $105 million relates to collective agreement wage lifts for teachers and support staff and increase enrolment in the province. There is a $25 million add back for administrative savings.

  • On March 5, VSB wrote to the Ministers of Finance and Education to lay out concerns about the Employer Health Tax.

Capital Funding

  • On March 27, the MoE announced some of the funding approved from district Capital Plan funding requests submitted last June including $65 million for School Enhancement Program (SEP), $5 million for Carbon Neutral Capital Program (CNCP) and $12.5 million for School Bus Replacement Program (SBRP).

  • VSB's request (pages 44 & 45)

  • VSB will receive $981,000 from the School Enhancement Program for:

    • Washroom upgrades at Champlain Heights Elementary, Thunderbird Elementary and Lord Byng Secondary

    • Fire alarm upgrades at Magee Secondary

    • PA system upgrades at ten schools

    • Roofing upgrades at five schools

K-12 Public Education Funding Review