Chair's Annual Report for the 2013-14 School Year

NVPAC has several purposes - providing support to PACs, providing information and a forum for discussion about educational matters to all parents, and representing the perspective of North Van parents to the School District - are three of the most important.

 The NVPAC Executive spent a significant amount of time over the past year revising the old “Communications Protocol”.  Now called the “Communications Guidelines”, this document, currently at the final draft stage, provides information for School PAC Executives with regard to privacy and anti-spam legislation, best practices for electronic communication and the development of class lists and school directories.  The NVPAC Executive reviewed and polished our Policies and Procedures, which were approved at the AGM.  Both of these documents are posted on the NVPAC website.  NVPAC further supported PACs by providing grants for speakers at PAC meetings, for parent volunteers to take FoodSafe training, and to encourage communication and collaboration within Families of Schools.  NVPAC provided financial support to a number of individuals who attended the BCCPAC Fall Conference in Kelowna and the BCCPAC AGM in Richmond in May.

Following up on our spring 2013 parent survey, at our November General Meeting, areas of concern identified from the survey results – teacher-parent communication, extra support for students, and the process for communicating concerns -  were explored using the Appreciative Inquiry method.  In January, we heard about the “Parent Services” role developed by Mel Montgomery, Co-chair of Cleveland PAC.  In February, we departed from our typical General Meeting format and devoted the full two-hour session to a panel discussion on “Advocating for your child”.  Panel members included a secondary student, a parent, a secondary counsellor as well as elementary and secondary teachers and administrators.  Our April meeting featured a presentation by the “Safe Routes Advocates”, parents from the Handsworth Family of Schools.  This group developed detailed safe routes plans for each school, and lobbied the North Vancouver District Council for changes to help provide students with safe routes to walk to school.  They encourage other Families of Schools to create their own “Safe Routes” groups.

 NVPAC hosted two special events.  In March, we heard Tad Milmine’s powerful and inspiring presentation “Bullying Ends Here”.  In May, together with Vancouver Coastal Health and the support of the School District we hosted the “Foods that Fit” workshop, primarily aimed at PAC Hot Lunch Coordinators and volunteers, but open to all interested parents.  The workshop included food sampling and presentations on food safety, the updated food and beverage guidelines, recycling, and an opportunity for participants to share challenges and successes.

 Members of the NVPAC Executive served on all District committees to which we were invited to send a representative.  I attended meetings of the Presidents Council and the Finance and Facilities Standing Committee as NVPAC’s representative, as well as all school board meetings.  In addition, I served on the Inclusion, Policy Review, Communications and Education Week Planning (now “Class Acts”) committees.  I continued to serve on the Outdoor Learning Spaces committee which developed Administrative Procedures to support Policy 806 – Outdoor Learning Spaces, which was adopted by the school board in May 2013.

 In May, NVPAC conducted the parent survey for a second year.  The results of the survey will be presented to the school board and published on the NVPAC blog once the analysis and interpretation is complete.