The Vancouver School District Parent Advisory Council (Vancouver DPAC)  would like to extend our sincere congratulations to the nine newly-elected school board trustees.  We admire your dedication to public service and look forward to working with you on the board as it continues its work on behalf of the students and families of the school district.

Allison Tredwell has been nominated to the DPAC executive by the Edith Cavell PAC. Her nomination was accepted at our executive meeting on October 11, 2018. In her own words:

We asked all 33 trustee candidates the same 19 questions. See who responded and what they said here …. and join us tonight at Charles Tupper Secondary for our school board candidate forum where you can ask them your questions.

Gord Lau has been nominated to the DPAC executive by the Trafalgar PAC. His nomination was accepted at our executive meeting on September 13, 2018. In his own words:

Message from Vancouver DPAC Chair

First, I'd like to extend a big thank you to everyone who participated in our PAC 101 meeting this past week.  About 65 parents from 45 different schools attended and engaged in excellent discussions ranging from the big-picture view of public education in BC, to the three levels of parent representation in the system (BCCPAC, DPACs, PACs), to discussions of the rights and responsibilities of PACs and examples of PAC best practices.  I'm pleased that two significant themes to emerge from these discussion were community and advocacy.  Some PAC leaders spoke very eloquently about changing the culture in their schools by making community building a cornerstone of their practice.  Others spoke very passionately about the need to advocate to simultaneously make the system better and to reduce inequities between school communities.

Here are the slides and handouts from our PAC 101 presentation, September 27, 2018:

Welcome back from Vancouver DPAC Chair

There's no more interesting time to be a parent volunteer in Vancouver public education than today: we have a school board election coming up in October (DPAC will be hosting a trustee candidate forum on October 4th); the deadline for teacher contract negotiations is coming up next June (wasn't the last strike fun?); the VSB is continuing its downtown and False Creek catchment review as well as its choice program review; and there are still reports of teacher shortages across the province.

New Executive Members

Congratulations to the following PAC nominees who are now members of DPAC's Executive:

• Sandra Bell, nominated by Queen Alexandra Elementary

• Michele Buckman, nominated by Xpey' Elementary

• Derek Palaschuk, nominated by Southlands Elementary*

• Chris Zhang, nominated by Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary*

We've made it to the last month of this school year and the final two DPAC meetings of 2017/18. Our Executive Meeting is on June 7th and our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is on Monday, June 18th (please note the date change ... this meeting has been moved to the Monday to avoid conflict with National Indigenous Peoples Day).

At our general meeting last night, two motions were tabled by the General Gordon PAC and passed by the PAC reps in attendance.  DPAC thanks the General Gordon PAC for its commitment to these issues and we will be bringing them forward both to the VSB senior management and the trustees for further discussion.

Following the announcement that Brock Elementary would be receiving a new playground as part of the provincial government's new Playground Equipment Program, DPAC asked the VSB to help clarify the criteria that are looked at when such decisions are made and to provide guidance on the question we have received from multiple PACs, "Should we stop fundraising for a new playground?"  Here's the answer we received.  Please forward us any questions and we will update this page with new information as it becomes available.

DPAC has two meetings this month. Our Executive Meeting on May 10th will be hosted by Xpey' Elementary PAC at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society (1607 E Hastings). Our General Meeting will be on May 24th with a focus on potential catchment boundary changes and the proposed BC Hydro substation under Lord Roberts Annex site in the West End. Both of these items will be decided at the June 25 Board Meeting.

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.

Great to see so many of you last month at our Executive and General meetings. If you were not able to make it, draft minutes are available on our website:  http://vancouverdpac.org/2017-2018-school-year/ and we hope you can join us soon. The recording of our workshop on the new curriculum presented by Jan Unwin and Suzanne Hoffman is now on our website.

DPAC General meeting this Thursday, February 22nd at 7pm in Room 180 of the School Board Office (1580 West Broadway). All parents and guardians of VSB students are welcome to attend. Please contact vicechair@vancouverdpac.org at least 48 hours ahead of time if you require on-site childcare.

Thank you to those who could make it out to our General Meeting last week with a special presentation by Suzanne Perreault on Navigating Inclusive Education/Triggering the Process. Her slideshow is now posted on our resource page.

DPAC General Meeting

This Thursday, January 25th at 7pm in Room 180 of the School Board Office (1580 West Broadway). All parents and guardians of VSB students are welcome to attend.

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.

Great to see so many of you last month at our Executive and General meetings. If you were not able to make it, draft minutes are available on our website:  http://vancouverdpac.org/2017-2018-school-year/ and we hope you can join us soon.

Yesterday DPAC sent the following letter to Rob Fleming, Minister of Education, Janet Fraser, Chair, Vancouver Board of Education, and Gregor Robertson, Mayor, City of Vancouver. (download pdf version)

Dear sirs and madam,

On Thursday, November 23rd, 2017 during a General Meeting of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC), the following motion was passed unanimously by the 23 PACs with official representation present. We call on each of you to do your utmost to expedite the Seismic Mitigation Program (SMP) with a return to the 2025 deadline following the prioritization in the motion.