Draft Minutes NVAPC General Meeting Nov 18, 2010

Guest Speaker: Darryl Davis from Wealthy School Revolution and Doug & Jewel Taylor, administrators for North Vancouver area. www.wealthyschoolrevolution.com

AGENDA

Moved by: Joanne McKee/Sutherland; Susan Corcoran / NVPAC - approved

MINUTES for Oct21’10

Moved David Whitehead, seconded Jane Lagden Holborne - approved

BCCPAC report – Lisa and Caroline Ramsey Report Attached.

C&B NVPAC – Jane

1. C&B on website is not valid as it wasn’t registered
2. 1st revision to Exec by mid-December
3. 2nd draft to General Meeting Jan/Feb’2011
4. 3rd draft to all PACs
5. Approval at AGM in May’2011
6. Register

District Community Forum Report – Sandra Bridgman

1. Not much notice
2. Roundtable, facilitators
3. Discussed Goals first then values
4. We need to watch next steps from district: Nov23rd Towards the Future for Schools standing committee
5. Survey November 10-16 went out through all schools (schoolsdirect emails) – possibly poor timing over the long weekend. Statements mostly motherhood and vague
6. RECURRING THEME: perhaps the District is still not getting this right with respect to communication and informing parents.
7. Community/connections – does this look like corporate involvement?? Some concern about this.
8. Disposal of land, etc. – this got some parents attention…what does this mean…what does this look like? Range of opinion on selling land vs hanging on to all public assets.

ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTRE PROJECT UPDATE – Mike McGraw

1. Advisory Board (Mike on this) representatives of BC Hydro, Cap U, Salmon Foundation, Squamish Nation, UBC, etc. – their job is to the stewards of the revitalization of the Outdoor School (ODS)
2. ELC Environmental Learning Centre has been in the works for a few years now, ready to break ground Jan15’11 - $5-6 million new ELC building as heart and soul of the new campus. $20million long term project.
3. The initial idea was for the School District to cash flow the first phase and then recoup the money by fundraising….but the advisory board said this was not the way to go – that the School District needed to ante up the investment in order to attract additional fundraising.
4. motions were put forward to the Board to fully fund the first $5.8 million project and a fundraisng position/function to run the campaign for the ELC/ODS project and the overall District Giving Campaign.
5. Has the potential to be a long-term income source in the future once its up and running. Between $250-400k annual operating deficit at this moment, particularly because of the maintenance of old facilities currently.
6. Eliminate the deficit and create a profit centre
7. See Mike for more information.

SCHOOL PLANNING COUNCILS – Mike McGraw

1. Have PACs elected SPC reps now

Mike Sexsmith:

2. Every PAC to make an annual plan, to review and measure results, report back, and those school results roll up to the District level for to the Superintendent
3. last year’s plans are currently being consolidated and distilled.
4. Bryn Roberts is responsible for the SPC Steering and will report to the Board.
5. Family of Schools meetings will be held in January to look for opportunities for continuity and common themes in each area.
6. Data will be feeding an action plan to be rolled out in January.
7. Collection, review, and revision of data and plans is a continuing cycle….develop, modify, and change
8. Final approval of plans in May and rolled up to District and to Province
9. Confirmation to parent query that BCTF has told the teachers not to participate, so principals and VP’s generally spend time to get input from the teachers, but this is not done directly through the SPC. We have a good environment in NorthVan and we do end up getting good data/feedback from teachers.
10. How do parents add more value to the process when the teachers have the professional expertise and credentials; parents are the customers….we have a valuable perspective that needs to be at the table.
11. Make sure language of the school plan is understandable and meaningful.
12. SPC Training schedule to be determined: principal/SPC training and Family of Schools Training – around February.
13. Concern at provincial level discussed: parents felt they were just rubber stamping plans…you need to ask questions to make sure this doesn’t happen….the training sessions are important
14. SPC’s have been in existence since 2002…
15. School plans are online (ministry) back to inception

TREASURER’s REPORT – Jane Lagden Holborne

1. We have received the $5,000
2. Have paid 27 BCCPAC membership to date and another one is pending
3. Grants still available:

1. 4 speaker @ $150
2. 17 Food Safe grants
3. 5 Family of Schools grants $200
4. Current balances: Gaming $983.48 Operating $18,872.40

OPEN FORUM DISCUSSION

1. WORKSHOPS

1. Constitution & Bylaws

1. Eg. Lynn Valley – had 2 people running for the Chair; 50 people voted 25 each! C&B had a run-off election
2. Can we collect a copy of all PAC C&B’s?
3. Question about member conduct/code of ethics, Code of Conduct

Eg. (family raffle at Larson with parents having learned code of conduct)

2. Running Effective Meetings – possibly John Noonan? Dealing with difficult situations.

Next meeting is January 20, 2011

Door prizes: Caroline Ramsey – Canyon Heights; Maria Lavis – Carson/Balmoral; Alex Best - Upper Lynn

Great Shot! Photo Contest - NV School District

"Great Shot!" Photo contest for North Van School District begins Monday Jan 17th. Open to all students, parents, teachers and staff. A great chance to share some of the wonderful experiences in our classes, on field trips, in our District. You'll have a chance to win prizes so check out all the details on the school district web site at www.nvsd44.bc.ca

Students Invited to Tour CBC

CBC Vancouver invites your students to tour our state-of-the-art integrated newsroom. This is your chance to see the studio where Tony Parsons, Gloria Macarenko, Shane Foxman and Claire Martin broadcast CBC News Vancouver at 5, 5:30, 6 every weeknight. You can also tour the studio where CBC Radio One’s The Early Edition, BC Almanac, and On the Coast air every week.
Newsroom tours are guided and available every Thursdays and Fridays at 10am and 11:30am. The duration of the tour is approximately one hour.
If you would like to reserve a tour of our newsroom, please make your reservations athttp://www.cbc.ca/bc/communityspaces/newsroom-tours.html
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lien Yeung at lien.yeung@cbc.ca .
We hope you take this opportunity to learn and experience the vibrancy of your public broadcaster!

CBC Vancouver – Communications

Funds Available to North Van PACs

Reminder of the grants that NVPAC has for school PACs:

- the $200 Family of Schools Grant, to be used jointly by a Family of Schools to facilitate a joint function in which all schools in the Family participate. 5 grants available.

- the $150 Speaker Grant to enable PACs to bring in a speaker for parent education. 10 available, on a first-come, first-served basis.

- the $50 FoodSafe Grant to help PACs ensure that the individuals responsible for distribution of food have the required FoodSafe certification. 20 grants available, maximum 2 grants per school per year, on first-come, first-served basis.

If you need have questions or would like to apply, PAC Chair or DPAC rep should apply for the grants by email to treasurer@northvanpac.org.

Updating Your PAC Constitution

Are you ready for a show-down? If you're not sure, take a look at your PAC Constitution. Many challenges for PACs are about improving meetings and processes that will inform and involve parents. NVPAC is often asked:

· In what ways can parents give input at PAC meetings and to the Executive?

· Do SPC elections have to be by secret ballot?

· Can a school’s code of conduct be enforced on parents at our PAC meetings?

· How do we update a Secretary to a Communication’s role on the executive?

Many answers should be found in your Constitution and By-laws. Join NVPAC on Thursday January 20th (6:30-9pm) for an interactive workshop on PAC constitutions. We'll review, clarify and reform to get your constitution ready for the next few years!

Please be sure to bring a copy of your PAC's own Constitution & Bylaws and your queries to NVPAC’s Constitutional Reform Workshop on January 20 to the Leo Marshall Curriculum Centre. More details to come in the new year.

For planning please pre-register at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1130594639

Public board meeting Dec 14th

A reminder that there is a public board meeting this evening at 7pm, in the boardroom of the school board office. Details, location, and the agenda are available at:

http://www.nvsd44.bc.ca/sitecore/content/Updates/PublicBoardMeeting.aspx

Letter to Parents About North Van District's Official Community Plan

Hello friends of NVPAC,

I am a Learning Support Teacher in the district as well as the parent of a kindergarten student at Braemar. For the past 18 months I have been sitting as a volunteer on a community committee overseeing the development of the District of North Vancouver's Official Community Plan (OCP). The OCP looks at goals and targets for our communities in the areas of land use, economic development, housing, transportation, recreation, social supports and environmental issues. The plan currently under development has a 20 year outlook. What do we want our community to look like in 2030? I joined the committee because I was concerned that at District of NV meetings and events, I wasn't seeing many people who look like me - the parent of a young child, and the member of a family who would like to raise the children in the District. For me, like many other families, this plan will inform the District's directions and choices for the duration of my child's childhood.

During the process of developing the OCP draft to date, there have been numerous public events to engage the community. So far, about 3000 of the District 80,000 residents have participated in some form. I have been at most of these events, Despite the District's efforts at advertising and creative engagements strategies, I have still not seen significant representation from families in the development of this plan. A draft of the new OCP is now available for public review http://identity.dnv.org/ and in January there will be public open houses where residents can meet with planners and District staff to ask questions and provide feedback. There will also be an online feedback form in January.

During this same time, period, I like many of you, have attended countless NVSD meeting around issues of school closures, program changes and budget challenges. The parent turnout at many of those meetings has been strong. NV parents are passionate about what they want for their children and have been strong voices for the needs of the community. This OCP will have a significant impact on many issues that relate to schools - development of new housing areas, transportation hubs, jobs closer to home, etc.

I am writing to ask NVPAC to encourage every PAC to share this information with individual school PACs and to encourage every school to find three or four parents who will attend upcoming OCP meetings and speak on behalf of families. The plan is currently a draft; public feedback will inform the final document. District staff need to hear clear voices from the community about our vision for our neighbourhood. Please help get the message out so those voices can be heard.

I am happy to speak with anyone from NVPAC or any school PAC about this process and how the plan relates to our school. I have one page summary sheets that could be posted in schools for parents to view. Please let me know the best way to get these to individual PACs. I can be reached at ktulloch@nvsd44.bc.ca

Sincerely,
Krista Tulloch
Learning Support Teacher, Boundary Elementary