NVPAC General Meeting Minutes - Nov. 25, 2013 (Draft)

NVPAC General Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, November 25, 2013
7:00 pm Mountainview Room, ESC, 2121 Lonsdale Avenue

Chair: Jane Lagden Holborne (Sutherland)
NVPAC Attendance: Jane Lagden Holborne, Karen Nordquist, Debra Dennehy, David Whitehead, Joanna Woronchak, Mike Sexsmith, Amanda Nichol
Regrets: Debrah Johnstone, Alex Best,
Attendance: 28
DPAC Reps & PAC Chairs: 16
Guests:
Schools Represented: Argyle, Braemar, Boundary, Brooksbank, Canyon Heights, Carson Graham, Cove Cliff, Handsworth, Larson, Lynn Valley, Queensbury, Seycove, Seymour Heights, Sutherland, Upper Lynn

Minutes

1. Welcome & Introductions: Jane Lagden Holborne called the meeting to order at 7:06pm

2. Approval of Minutes: Kelly Angell (Boundary), Seconded by Amanda Nichol (Braemar), moved that the minutes of the Oct 2013 General Meeting minutes be accepted as written. All in favour; carried.

3. PAC registration Update: Debra Dennehy reported that 20 PACs have registered for BCCPAC with 12 to go. Registration by December 15 is needed to have voting rights at the AGM. Only 4 pacs have not updated NVPAC with their contact info: Argyle, Brooksbank, Cove Cliff, Sherwood Park

4. Registrar/BCCPAC Matters – Debra Dennehy: The May 23-25 BCCPAC spring conference is in Richmond. Please contact our BCCPAC Liaison Debra Dennehy for more information registrar@northvanpac.org

5. Treasurers Report: Joanna Woronchak: We have 20 BCCPAC registrations but have only 8 receipts for membership dues. PACs, should please submit their receipts so we can reimburse them. All speaker grants are spoken for at this time, 1 food safe left, 1 safety grant left, 5 FOS grants left – 2 spoken for.

6. BCCPAC fall conference report

Kelly & Bobby Lynn from Boundary

• Attendance at 15 conference events was divided between 5 attendees  
• Kelly attended “the force” kids mental health program – providing resources for families with children with mental health issues. Help to find resources in local areas or the families. One of many societies doing so.  PAC 101 session – new PAC info, very basic, helpful to those wanting to understand PAC bylaws and constitutions.
• Functioning district keynote – Revelstoke presented on their use of the neighbourhood learning centre approach when schools are being created. 
• Bobby-Lynn attended a Barbara Coloroso presentation on bullying, how they create targets by dehumanizing them. Best prevention is to teach and reinforce caring. 
• Talking to teens, best approach is to be honest with teens – tell teens why they can’t do things so they can relate to it 
• Treasurer 101 – very informative – know what kind of PAC you are, make sure all money has a purpose, fundraise for specific things, have a plan for funds disbursement, keep receipts , counter-sign by 2 people 
• Pac 202 – use policies and procedures not bylaws, use committees to keep pac meetings short, take meetings out of school, job share for busy people, meet with staff, attend student meetings, have a pot luck

Julie from Ross Road

• Communicating with the principal – what levels of communication are best suited to different topics, always try to build trust with admin. 
• Gaming grants – any funds from raffles should go into gaming grant funds 
• Parents in the district hiring process for school and district administrators 
• Self Regulation interventionist – neuro-diversity. Hadn’t been to north van 
• How to run effective meetings – a lot of social media, stay on time 
• Social Volunteer – how to involve extended family and fathers in the PAC, use of social media.

Teri Henderson – Brooksbank.

• Fabulous conference, left energized, highly recommended event. 
• BC curriculum – Rod Allan BC superintendent of learning and reading presented on the new BC curriculum. State of the Art based on core-competencies and personalized learning. 3 pillars of education literacy and numeracy, creative and critical thinking, collaboration. On the bc ed plan page now for feedback.

7. NVPAC Spring 2013 Survey Report – David Whitehead: David Whitehead discussed area of concern from the results of the Spring 2013 North Van PAC parent survey that PACs may be able to contribute to and help make improvements.

• Teacher (to parent) Communication 
• Extra Support 
• Process for Communicating Parent Concerns 
• Extra-Curricular Participation 
• Creating more inviting PACs

8. Appreciative inquiry – Mike Sexsmith: Mike Sexsmith led an appreciative inquiry session looking at ways parents could contribute to addressing the main issues for parents identified in the survey results. Mike will report the findings separately.

9. Meeting adjourned at 9.28 pm.

Next Meeting: January 22, 2014, 7:00 pm
Education Services Centre,
2121 Lonsdale Avenue