Sunday, January 11, 2015

General Meeting Minutes - Nov. 26, 2014



NVPAC General Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
7:00 pm Mountainview Room, ESC, 2121 Lonsdale Avenue

Chair:  Jane Lagden Holborne (Sutherland)
NVPAC Attendance: Jane Lagden Holborne, Karen Nordquist, Homa Sorooshi, Debra Dennehy, David Whitehead, Amanda Nichol, Debra Johnstone, Suzanne Till, Heather Skuse
Attendance: 25
Guests:  Mike McGraw, Cyndi Gerlach, Carmen Farrell, Wendy Holtan, Kathy Jenkins, Connor McMullan.
Schools Represented:  Argyle, Braemar, Brooksbank, Boundary, Carson Graham, Cleveland, Handsworth, Highlands, Larson, Lynn Valley, Montroyal, Norgate, Ridgeway, Seycove, Seymour Heights,  Sutherland.
Regrets: Carisbrooke


7:06 Call to order:


7:10 Approval of Minutes of Oct 22nd, 2014 General Meeting: Moved by Amanda Nichol, seconded by Homa.  All in favour – unanimous, motion carried


7:15 Guest Speaker: friendship groups. Carmen Farrell and Wendy Holtan presented the Club G story video (watch it at: seedsociety.ca/clubg.html) as an introduction to friendship groups in schools and then discussed their experience introducing friendship groups to North Vancouver Schools.

Key topics included the advantages of Special needs support through student inclusion in activities and the resulting student growth that comes through special needs inclusion. With special needs reporting, media focus is often on the needs of the child, but not the character benefits to the others around them in terms of emotional learning and empathy. Learning to enjoy rather than fear inclusion of others

Club G was a program to help one child. Friendship groups operate at all levels, elementary and secondary. Resources are available to help schools create collaborations to build student led friendship groups.

Friendship groups work because:
Kids get that it is ok to have differences
Adults are too old to teach kids how to have/be friends. Only kids can teach each other that.
They demystify special needs conditions for the kids.

Please contact Carmen or Wendy (info@seedsociety.ca)  if you would like to know more about friendship groups at your school.


7:45 Guest Speaker: Kathy Jenkins, Connor McMillan from the Cheakamus Centre (Outdoor School)


The name has changed but the mandate of the centre hasn't. 45 yrs supporting student learning through outdoor education.
Change to the name "Cheakamus Centre" from North Vancouver Outdoor School helps respect the heritage, helps people understand where it is, and makes it a resource available to a wider community, not just North Van schools.

Listel now provide the operational management with the District providing the educational expertise and resources. But It's still "Outdoor School"

Vision is to be a center of excellence for environmental learning, leadership and sustainability.

Mission is to create a hub for innovative authentic educational experiences to inspire learners to make informed, sustainable decisions through a deeper understanding and connection to the natural world.

Environmental education is best when infused across the curriculum rather than as a separate subject.

Lots to be done to teach teachers how best to teach outdoor and environmental learning. Cheakamus Centre is a way to gather this knowledge, test it and redistribute it.

50% of program used by SD44. Doing more to bring schools from other districts. District gets first choice of times.

Student counsellors are key to outdoor school success. Alumni Society helps fundraise and train new counsellors.

Developing single day and secondary school programming

Also, professional development, leadership and team-building efforts.

Funded through cost-recovery. NVSD subsidized by revenue from other districts and corporate efforts.

Counsellors are recruited from high schools grade 10 on.  Secondary School PACs could help promote volunteering.

The Centre would love to have parents help to promote the school.

“Please feel free to let your members know to contact me anytime if they have any questions at all about the Outdoor School, or if they are interested in getting more involved with the Cheakamus Centre.
For more information contact:  
CATHY JENKINS Project Manager
Cheakamus Centre • Brackendale BC


8:35 Treasurer Report: Homa Sorooshi
Healthy budget, $8000 surplus.
42 grants available for PACs .. Info on the website
Food Safe, Conference Fees, speakers
Only 2 schools have applied so far for 3 grants
20 schools have registered out of 33 for BCCPAC. Please register and we will reimburse


8:40 BCCPAC: Debra Dennehy
Can no longer pay directly for registration. We will still reimburse PACs that register.
Register by Dec 15 to vote at AGM

8:45 Registrar Report: Debra Dennehy
Please update your contact info if you have not done so already. 7 schools still outstanding.
Argyle, Mountainside, Boundary, Braemar, Cove Cliff.

8:50 NVPAC Parent Survey: Due to a technical difficulty the presentation was unable to be made. David Whitehead spoke briefly on the survey results instead and will present a fuller report at the January NVPAC meeting.

9:00 Speaker Discussion: Invited suggestions for potential speakers or topics for our NVPAC general meetings and possibly a district wide speaker event. Several attendees made good suggestions related to self-regulation.

Suggestions included: Dr Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, Dr Gordon Neufeld; Colleen Drobot, Mark Landry, Sir Ken Robinson.


9:11 Motion to adjourn

Next Meeting:    General Meeting
Jan 28, 2015
7:00 pm
Education Services Centre,
2121 Lonsdale Avenue

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