October 2022

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October 2022 Message from the Chair Dear Parents, Caregivers and VSB families, It's October, and school board elections are upon us!  Please save the date for the DPAC All VSB Trustee Candidates Forum taking place at 7pm on Thursday, October 6, 2002. The format will definitely provide the opportunity for greater learning and engagement: We have sent 37 DPAC Questions to all VSB Trustee Candidates. We are asking that the Candidates have their replies and answers back to DPAC by Oct 5th at 6am. We will assemble the replies and answers, as is, and create the Replies to DPAC Package. We will send the Replies to DPAC Package to our neutral moderator, education reporter and journalism instructor, Tracy Sherlock. The Moderator will ask Candidates a follow up question to one of their answers. The Candidate that is asked the question, will then get to question another Candidate. Repeat as many times as we can (likely 2 rounds).   We sent a few clarifications to the Candidates and one is on the volume of our questions; it's worth sharing here. Q: Are you sure that DPAC is doing the right thing by asking so many questions? Absolutely! We thank you for your desire to co-govern a very complex school system and, if elected, you will face much greater challenges than answering 37 questions. The audience here is the, necessarily, fully invested parents and caregivers and we do know that the way that we have broken down the questions into categories will make it easy for parents and caregivers to get deep insights into issues that they care about and inform their vote. A vibrant democracy that engages in discussion, gives voice to all, takes the best hunch or idea no matter where it comes from, and is able to constructively build on these hunches or ideas to implement policies that improve student outcomes is what we are reflecting in our process. It is what we want to see in our public inclusive school system. Please vote. It matters. All the best, Vik Khanna 2022/23 DPAC Chair   Upcoming DPAC Meetings Thursday, October 6, 7pm — DPAC Special: All Trustee Candidates Meeting Thursday, October 13, 7pm — October Executive Meeting Thursday, October 20, 7pm — DPAC Special Meeting: PAC 101 Thursday, October 27, 7pm — October General Meeting Thursday, November 3, 7 pm — DPAC Special Meeting: Treasury 101   Subscribe to our meeting calendar DPAC Committees and Working Groups PACS - we encourage you to promote these committees and groups to your parents in your regular communications. Active Transportation Safe Routes (ATSR) Working Group Are you interested in Active Transportation and Safe Routes to VSB schools? The DPAC has formed an Active Transportation Safe Routes (ATSR) Working Group. If you are interested in being part of the conversation, email Mike Lang and join our Slack Group. Childcare Committee The committee is focused on encouraging increased access and wider options for school-age care.  Interested parents please contact committee lead, Alan Patola Moosmann Facilities Planning Committee The committee works on Long Range Facilities Planning, Seismic Planning and shadows the VSB Facilities Planning Committee, providing feedback to the DPAC Executive. Read the year end report for facilities. For more information and to join, contact DPAC Chair Vik Khanna Anti-Racism Collective and Working Group Vancouver DPAC has created and is holding space for Black (of African Descent) and Indigenous Parents to gather and discuss issues pertinent to them that happen within the context of Vancouver Public Schools (VSB). Meetings are scheduled for every first Thursday of the month from 5:30 pm until 7 pm. Parents of Indigenous and African Descent can contact the Black and Indigenous Working Group to learn more.    DPAC hosts a Slack Group for all who are interested in furthering the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression. Please contact Karen Tsang for an invite to the group.  Music Working Group This working group has been struck to focus on ensuring music is a part of every student's school experience. Interested parents please contact working group lead, Robert Ford  Food Framework Working Group Vancouver DPAC has a seat on the VSB Food Framework Ad-hoc Committee which will advise the VSB on developing a vision for topics including school food programs, food growing and food education. We are looking for parents interested in providing a broader perspective to inform our feedback to that committee. Contact our rep on the committee, Celena Benndorf. New Committees / Working Groups Vancouver DPAC is expanding the tent! If you are interested in specific work at DPAC, we want to hear from you! This year we are adding the following groups, which will be working groups until structure is in place and a committee is struck: Sustainability Working Group (Skye Richards) Important Dates 2022 - 2032 — International Decade of Indigenous Languages In February 2022, proclaimed the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, to draw global attention on the critical situation of many Indigenous languages and to mobilize stakeholders and resources for their preservation, revitalization and promotion. 2015 - 2024 -- International Decade for People of African Descent In December 2014, the UN General Assembly, in its Resolution 68/237, proclaimed the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). Under the theme "Recognition, Justice and Development”, the Decade provides an operational framework to encourage States to eradicate social injustices inherited from history and to fight against racism, prejudice and racial discrimination to which people of African descent are still subjected. October is: ADHD Awareness Month; Dyslexia Awareness Month Tuesday, Oct 4 - Oct 5 — Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement Wednesday, Oct 5 — International Walk to School Day Wednesday, Oct 5  — World Teacher's Day Wednesday, Oct 5, 5pm — VSB Facilites Planning Committee Meeting Wednesday, Oct 5, 6:30pm — VSB Student Learning and Wellbeing Committee Meeting Thursday, Oct 6  — World Cerebral Palsy Day: Millions of Reasons Thursday, Oct. 6 — DPAC Special: All Trustee Candidates Meeting Sunday, Oct 9 — Sharad Purnima Oct. 9 - Oct. 15 — Sukkot Harvest Festival Monday, Oct 10 — Thanksgiving (no school) Monday, Oct 10 — World Mental Health Day Tuesday, Oct 11 — National Coming Out Day Wednesday, Oct 12, 5pm – VSB Policy and Governance Committee (canceled) Thursday, Oct 13, 7pm — DPAC Executive Meeting Saturday, Oct 15 — Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day Monday, Oct 17 — World Food Day: Leave NO ONE Behind Monday, Oct 17 — International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Monday, Oct 17, 5pm — VSB Public Delegation Board Meeting Thursday, Oct 20, 7pm — DPAC Special Meeting: PAC 101 Friday, Oct 21 — Province wide Pro-D day (no school) Monday, Oct. 24 — Kali Puja and Divali (Events start a week previous) Monday, Oct 24, 7pm — VSB Board Meeting  Thursday, Oct 27, 7pm — DPAC October General Meeting Sunday, Oct 31 — Hallowe'en Wednesday, Nov. 2 — Take Our Kid to Word Day 2022 Thursday, Nov 3 — DPAC Special Meeting: Treasurer 101 News and Information Check out our resource page for presentation slide decks Main Focus: Trustee Elections Vancouver DPAC's All Trustee Candidates Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 6th, and moderated by freelance journalist and journalism instructor, Tracy Sherlock.   Below is the list of candidates, sorted by party. We have included their names and pronouns, to reflect the City's official trustee candidate listings page, which is useful to review party platforms and individuals' goals for potential trusteeships.   ABC Party — Alfred Chien (he/him) — Preeti Faridkot (she/her) — Victoria Jung (she/her) — Christopher Richardson (he/him) — Josh Zhang (he/him) Cope — Suzie Mah (she/her/hers) — Rocco Triggeros (he/him) Green — Lois Chan-Pedley (she/her) — Janet Fraser (she/her) — Nick Poppell (he/him) Independent — Heming Hopkins (he/him) — Karen Litzcke — Amanda Tengco — Zelda Levine NPA — Rahul Aggarwal — Aaron Fedora — Nadine Goodine (she/her) — Milan Kljajic — Ashley Vaughan (she/her) One City — Rory Brown (he/his) — Kyla Epstein (she/her) — Jennifer Reddy (she/her) — Krista Sigurdson (she/her) — Gavin Somers (they/them/theirs) Socialist — Karina Zeidler (she/her) Team — Matiul Alam Vision Vancouver — Steve Cardwell (he/him) — Aaron Leung (he/him) — Kera McArthur (she/her) — Hilary Thomson (she/her) — Alan Wong (he/him)   A Children's Rights Framework for Asking School Board Trustee Candidates Important Questions by website Antihate.ca   Over the summer, the Hamber student-run newspaper, The Griffins' Nest published a series of questions and responses, as coverage of the election for new VSB trustees. Check out what candidates said in response the the questions asked.   Britannia Community Services Centre is holding a School and Park Board Candidates Meeting on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 6 pm.   How Much Power Does A School Trustee Have? — Tyee Education Writer, Katie Hysop breaks down BC's current school board system.   From The Griffins' Nest archives, dated March 6, 2022, Take Notes, Trustee Candidates is a primer list of student demands we all can benefit from reading, representing the voices of students, the reason schools exist.    The School Trustee Election Procedures in British Columbia guide is intended to highlight relevant features of the acts and regulations governing Board of Education elections, making them more accessible to the lay-person and Board of Education officials.   Read the BCSTA's guide for school trustee candidates.   Here are the various ways you can vote, according to the City of Vancouver, the organization responsible to run civic elections.   And finally, there are some parties who are talking about reinstating the Student Resource Officer (SLO) SLO programs in schools. John Oliver, of Last Week Tonight, discusses SLO programs In the United States, but hits on some salient points that are also relevant in BC. Here is the VSB-contracted Argyle report School Liaison Officer: Student and Stakeholder Engagement Program that was published in March of 2021 and led to the closure of the program, and this is a local organization, Cops out of Schools, that supported the end of the SLO program, to protect radicalized youth too often the targets of undeserved police attention and criminalization. Mini School Programs Families of grade 7 students considering mini schools as a way to attend high school should be aware that open houses take place in October and November, and applications are due before Winter Break. Find more details about programs and evening events on the VSB website. Update: Music in Schools The DPAC Music Working Group launched the DPAC Extra Curricular Choral Program the week of September 26. The response was enthusiastic!  By the numbers, we have 7 schools with 12 choirs and 438 registrations. We have been able to financially assist 48 children due to the incredible generosity of families. Let the beautiful sounds begin! COVID Letter to VSB: Good Air Means Everything — Vancouver DPAC recently penned a letter to VSB to continue to urge the district to ensure all kids and staff alike are breathing air that is clean and fresh. Read a story written in the Tyee about the letter and our expectations of schools to keep kids safe.   Listen to President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) as he discusses the acceleration and amplification of serious problems in the children's health care system due to COVID19.   Doctors, scientists and others discuss long COVID in kids in the UK — including a classroom that is operational in a hospital. There is no information in BC about kids and long COVID, but there are kids who are left unwell post COVID19 infections.   The BC School COVID Tracker continues to take reports about COVID cases and schools.You can report a positive at home test, or check to see if exposures have been reported from your child's school.   Engineer and Vancouver parent Tracy Casavant Oh, BASc (CHML), MES, has mounted a lawsuit against VSB, looking for better reassurances that schools are safe, using the Engineering and Geoscience BC (EGBC) Ethics Code. Read about it on the CBC website — Former engineer files regulatory complaint against Vancouver school district over classroom ventilation or listen to Saskatchewan teacher tiktoker "Boots on the Ground" discuss the case.   Long Covid and other post-COVID conditions continue to challenge health care workers. Last week an Australian immunologist whose thinking was aligned with the BC PHO came out as having changed his mind. He gave a candid radio interview on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) about living with COVID, and wrote a column that lays out three myths and current challenges we face with COVID19. Family doctors and other health practitioners are continuing to sound alarms. Expand your Indigenous Understanding Vancouver International Film Festival's Opening Film is Bones of Crows, directed by Vancouver-born, Metis and Dene storyteller / filmmaker (writer/director) Marie Clements, on the topic of residential school survival. While opening night will have already taken place, the film will also be screened and a Q&A hosted on Tuesday, October 4th at 9 pm. See website to book tickets.   From 2021, but still relevant is this article, originally published in The Guardian: Native children didn’t ‘lose’ their lives at residential schools, written by Erica Violet Lee is nêhiyaw from Saskatoon and a member of Thunderchild First Nation. Active Transportation Applications are now open for the City of Vancouver’s Walk Bike Roll Mini Grants, as part of the School Active Travel Program. VSB elementary and secondary schools are invited to apply for up to $500 for projects and activities that encourage and promote students walking, cycling and rolling to school. The deadline to apply is October 28, 2022.   Is your school PAC interested in the City of Vancouver’s School Streets program? A School Street is a car-free block beside a school to facilitate safer walking, biking, and rolling during pick-up/drop-off times. Participating schools have witnessed improved safety and an increase in students using active travel to get to and from school. Interested schools can apply to participate next spring.November 4, 2022 is the deadline to complete this Expression of Interest Form. Good luck! Opportunities for Youth YWCA Indigenous Mentorship program: Circle of Sisters: Fun, Sisterhood, Self-Discovery is an opportunity for mentor and mentee women and girls. Check flyer for details. https://www.forourkids.ca/our_stories Sustainability and Schools Electric buses will be part of BC's future school bus fleet, and For Our Kids Canada is encouraging people to send a letter to the Province to encourage an increase in electric buses within the fleet. Electrification of school bus fleets across the country, particularly in places where we use hydro electrical dams already in place, benefits us by putting less diesel into the air, but also would keep kids being transported from being as exposed to the effects of diesel, more directly. See this report from the Pembina Institute, which highlights the health and climate benefits of electric school buses, and shows that switching over our fleets is both economically feasible and advantageous. Mental Health Supports FamilySmart's free, virtual, monthly drop in group events for the fall are now open for registration!  The same topic is offered 4-5 times per month to give options to fit schedules. October's topic is Building Connection with Our Kids When It Feels Impossible. Please check online for dates and times.   The Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC presents Self Care for Mental Health, a  70- to 90-minute classroom workshop, delivered online or in-person, in which youth are encouraged tp consider different strategies for managing life’s ups and downs, and create their own self-care kits. The course includes interactive discussions, videos, games, and resources. Other courses also on offer through the centre. Apply online. SOGI History Lesson Learn about James Chamberlain, the person who took the Surrey School Board to court. His million-dollar lawsuit culminated in what we know today as SOGI (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity) education, which all kids in BC receive.  Inclusive Education BCED Access Conference happens from Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23, with workshops, panels, and presentations for parents, guardians, educators, self-advocates, and supporters of students with disabilities and complex learners. ASL interpretation and CART captioning for all sessions.   B.C. schools now allowed to administer life-saving medication — CityNews Vancouver Food Security In October, an Indigenous School Food event series will launch virtually.    October 12 - The Indigenous School Food Circle is hosting a webinar about school food programs that serve traditional Indigenous foods. Speakers will share how they have brought traditional foods into schools, including the incorporation of wild game and seafood. They will also offer further tips to school communities interested in doing the same. This is a 1.5 hour facilitated conversation among the panelists, with time for questions from participants at the end. The conversation will be recorded and publicly shared afterwards. Register here.   October 16 (link not live till that day) – First Comes Food: A Podcast by Canadian Feed the Children explores the surprising ways communities are feeding children and families in the face of a global food crisis. Join Canadian Feed the Children on a journey through Indigenous food forests in Saskatchewan, farming communities in African countries and early childhood community programs in Bolivia and meet the people who are growing food security for everyone. The site goes live on October 16th.   This event series has been developed through a partnership among: Canadian Feed the Children Coalition for Healthy School Food Farm to Cafeteria Canada University of Saskatchewan Higher Education For parents, caregivers and high school students who are considering further education, many universities and colleges hold open houses in the fall time so that kids as young as grade 10 can start imagining a future place to study. Keep an eye on these institutions for open house announcements. BCIT Capilano University Douglas College Emily Carr University of Art and Design Kwantlen University Langara SFU: Admissions information Book an in-person campus tours Visit SFU virtually UBC: Admissions information and Dates and Deadlines October 13 — 15, 2022 — UBC Engineering Open House (Online) November 5 — UBC Engineering Open House (In Person) Vancouver Community College Experience VCC Open House Day   Students and parents can find a comprehensive overview of post-secondary education options in BC on MyEducationPlanner, including programs, admission requirements, registration processes and dates, fees, financial assistance.   BCCPAC In the News President Schultz-Lorentzen spoke to Global TV about the new $60M Student and Family Affordability Fund President Schultz-Lorentzen spoke with CBC's The Early Edition about volunteering with the PAC and supporting classrooms and students. (Chris joins the conversation at 6:55.) Workshops and Events Check out the many workshops BCCPAC is offering free of charge, including Section 11 and the Appeals Process, PAC elections and Working Togetner: PACs, DPACs and BCCPAC. Events BCCPAC CEO, John Gaiptman, will be presenting at the BCEd Access Convention 2022 in October. VSB  News Students of Norquay try out voting with Kids Vote David Delorme reflects on his teaching career and being a first-time principal at Xpey̓ Elementary First days as an SSA: “It is never too late to start a new career” ​Making memories that last: First day of Grade 12 and final year of high school ​First day of Grade 8: Back to school in a whole new building Braving the first day of Kindergarten Updates from September Committee & Board Meetings Highlights: Board meeting of September 26, 2022 ​Highlights: Student Learning and Well-being Committee – September 14, 2022 Highlights: Finance Committee September 12, 2022   Upcoming Committee Meetings (see all) Ministry of Education News Minister’s, K-12 education partners’ statement on support for SOGI Education by the numbers More support to help people with rising cost of living News from other Ministries MLA Melanie Mark resigns Cabinet Portfolio Province invests in research infrastructure, innovation at post-secondary institutions B.C. creating safe post-secondary communities free of sexualized violence More on-campus housing for Vancouver Island University Eleven people selected to join B.C.’s new anti-racism data committee Public input wanted on improving access to legal services More support to help people with rising cost of living Youth from care benefit from new life-changing supports Free transit for kids rolls on for B.C. families Resources Check out our resource page for presentation slide decks, and our Family Resources page for the various ways students and their families can find support during the years they are in schools. Topics include Indigenous Family Support and TRC information, antiracism materials, SOGI resources, further education (including college, university and scholarship links) info, youth mental health resources and community-supported free-of-charge tutoring services. Photo credit: Karen Tsang

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