2013-09-30 DPAC General meeting Notes
D.P.A.C.MEETING NOTES
Schou Education Centre
4041 Canada Way
Burnaby, B.C.
DATE: September 30, 2013
TIME: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Schools Attending:
Burnaby South, Clinton, Maywood, Nelson, Taylor Park, Moscrop, Cascade Heights, Inman, Marlborough, Burnaby Central, Buckingham, Douglas Road, Gilpin, Lakeview, Burnaby Mountain, Cameron, Lyndhurst, Seaforth, Stoney Creek, Armstrong, Second Street, Burnaby North, Capitol Hill, Lochdale, Montecito, Westridge, Kitchener and Rosser.
District Staff:
Kevin Kaardal, Superintendent of Schools; Gina Niccoli-Moen, Deputy Superintendent; Heather Hart, Assistant Superintendent; Roberto Bombelli, Assistant Superintendent
Board of Education Trustees and their zones:
Ron Burton, Vice Chair (Brentwood North), James Wang (Central West Zone), Meiling Chia (Kingsway South), Larry Hayes (Cariboo Lougheed), Gary Wong (Brentwood North), Harman Pandher (Central West Zone)
DPAC Executive:
Katherine Robertson, Chair (Central West) , Jen Mezei, Past and Vice Chair (Cariboo Lougheed), Jocelyn Schonekess, Treasurer (Brentwood North), Gjoa Andrichuk, Secretary (Central West), Kristin Schnider, Secretary (Cariboo Lougheed), Members at Large Dave Dye (Cariboo Lougheed), Victoria Brenden (Brentwood North), Herman Louie (Central West)
Representation is still welcomed from Burnaby South Zone
1. Board Message – Ron Burton, Vice Chair, Burnaby School Board
Ron Burton welcomed the parents in Burnaby School District.
Before introducing the Trustees, he asked “what is the role of a trustee?” Officially the Board of Education’s purpose is to “support and promote effective, systematic two-way communication with the school district…and provide consultation with and input by the parents in regard to the program and general operation of the school.”
Exciting things have already been happening this school year in Burnaby:
- Announcements – Second Street and Rosser Elementary have had birthday celebrations.
- Resolutions were made with CUPE staff.
- The district has been selected as 1 of only 5 schools in the country for an AP Capstone program starting at Burnaby North.
- LGBTQ team joined the Pride parade.
The parents were thanked for our commitment to public education in Burnaby.
2. Superintendent’s Report – Kevin Kaardal, District Superintendent
Kevin presented a PowerPoint slideshow entitled “Parents as Partners” and what’s happening in Burnaby and the Province. He stated, “Your advice matters.” Parents are involved in decision making.
As a district, we are invited to report to a variety of venues around the province and give our input; for example, the Assistant Deputy Minister in the spring came to meet us. The Minister praised us for being “the most well informed parents he’s met” in the province.
Burnaby is connected to what the Ministry is doing in Education. The BC Education Plan covers personalizing learning, quality teaching, flexibility of choice, and learning empowered by technology. Burnaby works hard to make sure we have inclusive environments for our learners. To date, the Ministry has the first draft of the Grade 9 curriculum for feedback from the stakeholders. The Ministry is still looking at how we report learning to parents with their Advisory Group on Provincial Assessment.
Kevin reported that other groups that engage parents are as follows: Graduation, Special Education, Trades and Transitions.
Burnaby is transforming; work is being done to improve student learning: “a bottom-up approach.” How can we support students? We help students who are not yet meeting expectations in a system called, “Response to Intervention.” A tiered support framework exists for students on a needs-identified basis. Burnaby has a clear stepping stone approach from the beginning learner to the end-learner in Burnaby Schools. Finally, Burnaby has a sustainability network that helps save money to put it back into the school system.
For the full outline of what’s going on in Burnaby School District, please go to the new Burnaby DPAC website (dpac.burnabyschools.ca) to see Kevin’s Power Point presentation.
Q&A with Kevin Kaardal
Q1. What’s happening with high school graduation changes?
A. The district is waiting to get the feedback from the stakeholders, and then work back with the partner groups. There will not be a new graduation requirement by Spring 2014, but there will be a draft by then for us to look at.
Q2. How is technology being supported?
A: We have teacher groups, admin groups, and technicians who help support the increase in technology that exists in the district.
Q3 What’s being done for crosswalk safety?
A: This topic is better addressed in a one-on-one discussion, so direct your questions to Superintendent Kaardal and letters to the Traffic and Safety committee.
Q4. How many students are in the district?
A: Approximately 24,000.
Q5: Who will be eligible for the AP Capstone program at North?
A: They are still meeting with partner groups to finalize details on this program.
3. Chair Report – Katherine Robertson
Katherine reminded us on developments of past motions, and reported on updates. At the May meeting there was a motion to spend $1,000 on a new website. That motion passed, however over the summer one of our DPAC Executive members, Dave Dye, used WordPress to create a new website at no charge.
We also had a motion to purchase an Emergency Preparedness Binder based on the session with Bernadette Woit– we are still contacting people to get a copy and when it arrives, we will make it available to PACs.
Katherine stated we are so proud of the DPAC team in the province and the relationship we have with the District and the province. We look forward to creating new opportunities for parents with the District this 2013/2014 school year.
4. DPAC Executive Report
Website: Dave Dye and Herman Louie – The new website was presented by Dave Dye – please visit our new website; it’s a friendly change and we encourage your PACs to have a website for your executives and schools. You’re welcome to put your own PACs business announcements on the DPAC website, and wait for the moderator to post it for you. DPAC can link your school PAC page on our website. We also have a page on our website called “Resources” that lists useful information answering questions you may have about the district and education.
Herman Louie announced that we are using EventBrite to register parents who want to attend Parent Information Evenings (PIEs) and DPAC can help PACs with their event registrations as well. If you have a question, please email info@burnabydpac.com to help you find answers to your questions. Links to the sessions are found in the calendar section of the DPAC website.
Q/A – is there a way for parents to ask questions and begin discussion on a “forum.” We can find out if there is a need, but opening up the site to anyone has had had problems in the past, so please contact the DPAC if you’d like to begin dialogues and we’ll find ways to make it happen.
Communication: Gjoa Andrichuk and Kristin Schnider –DPAC General meeting minutes are being prepared after each meeting and will be distributed via listserv and posted to the website in a timely manner.
Facebook: Jocelyn Schonekess – DPAC Facebook page is available, and if you have business related to DPAC, please post on the wall, and your notification will be posted once approved by the DPAC. There was discussion that if anyone has privacy concerns with our posted events, know that our settings do not show attendees and we keep the strictest privacy settings for parent confidentiality.
PIEs: Jen Mezei and Katherine Robertson –discussed the upcoming PIEs; our first is Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 7pm, workshops on topics of PAC 101, Treasurers’ Workshop, SPC Training; at 6:00 pm refreshments and a vendor fair shall be available before the workshops;
Future PIEs:
- Curriculum Changes: Core Competencies
- Social/Emotional Learning
- Response to Intervention and Response to Universal Design to Learning
- Transitions – Special Education Committee
- Parents as Career Coaches (Spring)
There is a DPAC grant available to help fund your school’s PIES at 50% of your speaker cost. Apply to Burnaby DPAC for financial assistance and advice. Grants are awarded at the discretion of the DPAC Executive.
DPAC Executive Vacancy: Victoria –We currently have a vacancy on the Exec from the Kingsway-South region, please let us know if you are interested.
BCCPAC: Jen and Jocelyn –BCCPAC is the official parent voice for the province and can influence decisions made in government. All PACs are invited to become members and have a vote at the BCCPAC AGM meeting in the Spring. Schools pay $75, and conference fees are half covered by DPAC.
The fall conference is hoping to reach out to more schools by using an Okanagan Venue: Kelowna, Coast Capri Hotel, November 15-17, 2013. For more details, please see the website: www.bccpac.bc.ca. If you’re interested, there are travel subsidies available for one parent per member fourteen schools. DPAC will pay 50% of the conference fees; consider attending and learning about education and issues in the province.
5. Correspondence and Committee Reports
District Technology Advisory Committee (DTAC): Herman Louie reports that the committee met to find out what’s happened this summer. Phase II has been completed. 75 projectors were set up, and now the School Board has opened up orders for new projectors that can be mounted on carts instead of walls creating more opportunities for more classrooms. Hopefully all elementary schools will be completed before the end of the school year. The committee is doing research on the efficacy on use of the listserv. Wifi installation has been done around the district (hotspots for teachers). Some more are still being looked at to keep Bring your own Device (BYOD) away from the district.
Food Waste Committee: Dave Dye reports that managing waste within the school is being addressed. How do we as parents teach our children to manage waste? We are not sure yet how to find best practices.
Education Committee: Jen Mezei reports a pilot for multi-age cluster groups for advanced or high ability learners will be starting in the Spring.
LGBTQ: Jocelyn Schonekess: Burnaby SD41 attended the Pride Parade on August 3rd and had a fantastic turnout including all trustees and many District staff and students. The committee is still looking for parent reps. Let us know if you want to sit on the District committee.
6. New Business/Q & A/ Show & Tell
Stoney Creek Community School is offering “Making Sense of Anxiety” on October 9 at 7:30pm
Burnaby Mountain Secondary is offering “unlock your future” – how to apply for scholarships. October 10, 7pm.
Gilpin Elementary: Therapeutic Music Intervention workshop: October 14 at 7pm.
Armstrong is celebrating their 100 years this week.
Second Street just had their 100 celebration last week.
The Seaforth executive had a welcome booth-style start instead of a PAC meeting. Great way to meet parents.
Armstrong youth competed at the World’s Destination Imagination
Alpha Secondary sponsored Cops for Cancer raising $1500
7. Next Meeting – Monday, October 28, 2013
8. Meeting Adjourned 9:00pm
Thank you all for participating.
NOTES FROM THE CHAIR:
- Connect! – dpac.burnabyschools.ca – email your events to be published.
- Communicate! – Email info@burnabydpac.com or chair@burnabydpac.com
- Follow us on
o Facebook : Burnaby District Parent Advisory Council
o Twitter : Burnaby DPAC
- Please bring your coffee mug or water cup.
DPAC Objectives:
- To serve as an advisory group to the School Board.
- To assist in decision-making with regard to school district programs, policies and practices through information, input and recommendations.
- To provide a formal process for the Superintendent and district staff to receive input and feedback regarding district programs and operations.
- To act as a liaison between the School Board and the community.
- To provide parent representatives with information on educational programs, operations and issues.
- To provide a mechanism for local parent/school groups to share and discuss educational issues and communicate with other parent groups.
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