Prince George District Parent Advisory Council
Thank you to the 15 parents representing 13 schools at our DPAC Monthly Meeting last Monday Nov 7. We had a lively discussion about Budgets and Finances and an important bussing update from the district. Please review the minutes below and share at your PAC meetings.
Contact us anytime at exec@sd57dpac.ca.
Thank you to all who attended our PAC Cafe at the PG Civic Centre today. We had 14 people representing 11 schools (out of 40) in our district. We had a fabulous Greek buffet lunch, coffee/tea, and dessert.
There were lively, open discussions! Here is an attempt to capture the main themes. See Minutes below.
We hope to have another Virtual PAC Cafe event for our remote communities soon. There is also talk about a Bylaws Workshop in the near future.
Please plan to attend (or send a Rep) to our DPAC meetings on the first Monday of each month. We will be at Van Bien and MS Teams at 6:30 on Nov 7.
Reach out anytime to our DPAC Executive exec@sd57.bc.ca.
We had 15 parents representing 14 schools at our October DPAC Meeting. A total of 7 partners joined us from the Office of the Superintendent, School Trustees, Prince George District Teachers Association, Principals and Vice Principals Association, and CUPE Local 3742 (inside workers).
We had a great discussion on inclusion and equality ensuring all students receive a full day of education and individual education planning. The appeals process has been rolled out to support families resolve conflicts or difficult circumstances for students from K-Grade 12.
You’ll also notice the announcement of our FoodSafe course on Oct 29 with pricing details. Online course reimbursement is available as well.
Save the date! PAC Cafe is Sat November 5 from 11-2pm at the Civic Centre.
Reach out anytime at exec@sd57dpac.ca.
Welcome back to school everyone! We held our first monthly DPAC meeting of the year on Monday September 12 on Microsoft Teams. It was great to see some new and familiar faces. We got a great update on school start up from Superintendent Heitman. Please review the minutes below.
We have an amazing executive team:
At our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday October 3, we will be electing the executive for the 2022-23 school year and approving our budget. All the positions are open with up to 5 Directors. We need more support to do the important work of representing parents and PACs in our district. If you are interested in getting involved and contributing in any way, talk to us!
DPAC is working alongside our SD57 District partners to host an All Candidates Forum for School Board Trustees. This will be a hybrid event in person at Vanier Hall (PGSS) and virtual. Please plan to attend, gather information, and vote! October 15 means more change in our district but also an opportunity for growth. Have your say in public education.
Please follow us on Facebook, find the event info, and share with other parents. More details will be posted in the coming days.
Contact us anytime at exec@sd57dpac.ca.
Our DPAC Meeting on November 1 had a lively discussion about Safety in and around our schools. Much is being done to ensure students feel safe and have a sense of belonging in our schools.
Check out our Safety Quiz on SurveyMonkey to learn more about our theme this month. Safety Matters Survey (surveymonkey.com)
We had a Presentation from Acting Superintendent Cindy Heitman.
Please also take some time to review the presentation regarding Facility Services. Some great data and information on how our buildings are heated and ventilated to high standards. Big thanks to Barry Bepple and Brett Apolczer for putting this together.
Reach out to us anytime at info@sd57dpac.ca. Thanks!
Our theme this month is Inclusion which includes equality and sexual orientation and gender identity topics. We had a great discussion with PACs at the beginning of the meeting about what parents can do to support inclusion and identity at home. We had presentations from various stakeholders and partners from the District on how values, policy, and curriculum drive the organization to create welcoming spaces for all.
Please take a minute to do our Inclusion Quiz on SurveyMonkey. It will give you insights into our District.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SD57DPACInclusionQuiz
Take a look at the minutes from our October 4th meeting below. Plan to attend our November 1 meeting on MS Teams with the theme of Safety.
Come and join us Monday October 4th @6:30 either in person or virtually via Microsoft Teams (join on your computer or mobile app): Click here to join the meeting
If you are attending virtually and are new to using MS Teams, we suggest downloading the app and creating a free Microsoft account. Alternately you can click on the meeting link and attend the meeting via the your browser of choice as a guest either on a computer or mobile device. When you join the DPAC meeting MS Teams will ask for your name – please fill in your full name and school or organization you are representing.
As in the past, our DPAC meetings start at 6:30 for PACs and parents and our Partner Groups, Rights & Stakeholders will join us at 7:30 at the Van Bien Training Center. However, given that we are still in a pandemic and the availability of new technologies we are also moving to a hybrid meeting model this year so there will also be a MS Teams meeting link for anyone who prefers to attend virtually.
For those attending in person, the following communicable disease guidelines requirements must be adhered to:
This year we are trying something new – we have decided to focus on certain themes for each month of the school year and have lined them up with other events and district work happening throughout the year. We have asked that each of our Partner Groups, Rights & Stakeholders present to our PACs & parents related to or focused on the monthly themed topic for 5 minutes and then we have planned for 5 minutes of Q&A for each partner group as well.
| Month | Theme |
| September | Advocacy |
| October | SOGI; Inclusivity & Equality |
| November | Safety – Emotional, Psychological & Physical in our School Communities |
| December | Where’s Waldo? Where are things at? PACs to provide updates to Partner Groups, Rights & Stakeholders |
| January | District Innovation & Strategic Plan |
| February | Catchment & Capacity in SD57 |
| March | Financial & Budgets |
| April | Mental Health & Wellness |
| May | Extracurricular Activities |
| June | Truth & Reconciliation |
In addition to our monthly focused themes, DPAC has identified three key overarching priorities that we will be focusing our work on this 2021-2022 school year:
| Community Safety | Safety in and around our school community Emotionally & psychologically Physically – in the school, on the school grounds & around the school grounds Virtually |
| PAC & Parent Education & Empowerment | Advocacy Education |
| Getting Excited About Education Again | Curriculum changes, core competencies, life skills Indigenous content integrated in curriculum How special education programs support learners. District Learner Support (DLS) Integrating physical activity and outdoor class times into learning |
We look forward to seeing everyone again and continuing the work to improve education for the children and families in our district!
Our theme this month is Advocacy. We had a great discussion with PACs at the beginning of the meeting about what issues parents are advocating for on behalf of their children and what PACs advocate for at their school. We presentations from various stakeholders and partners from the District on what Advocacy means to them and how they work to support students and families.
Please take a minute to give us feedback on this SurveyMonkey. It will help DPAC gather information to continue our work advocating for all parents in our District.
Advocacy Quiz Survey (surveymonkey.com)
Our first meeting of the year was on September 13, a successful “hybrid” meeting with attendees at Van Bien Training Centre and virtually on Microsoft Teams. Take a look at the minutes below.
Contact us anytime at info@sd57dpa.ca.
We had great attendance at our June DPAC Meeting with a total of 45 people participating the the SD57 Traffic Town Hall. See minutes below.
Parrish Child, Principal at Heather Park Elementary, shared a resource that was created by Admin and PAC at that school to help educate parents and students on traffic safety around their school zone. Feel free to use this in the safety discussions at your school.
This Monday June 7th we are holding our Traffic Town Hall as part of our monthly DPAC meeting SD57 Traffic Town Hall. The monthly DPAC meeting will start at 6:30 as per our usual time, with Community and Partner group representatives joining us to start the Traffic Town Hall at 7pm.
Zoom Meeting Link: https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/65674887171?pwd=NmxKbGtYb2ZvU2c0VW53MFFISlZEdz09
Meeting ID: 656 7488 7171
Passcode: Kd5t*1cv
June 7th Meeting Agenda:
May Minutes are posted here.
Chair/Vice-Chair Report:
June 2021 Treasurer’s Report:
Education Programs & Planning Committee Report:
Expanded Committee of the Whole (ECOW – budget) Report:
Education Services Committee Report: