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.
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.
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.
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.
Do not attend if you sick or have symptoms or any kind (even if it just a cold or sniffles)
You must be wearing a mask when attending any indoor in person events, including DPAC and PAC meetings
Social distancing is on personal preference – it is no longer mandated
You must sanitize or wash your hands upon arrival
You must sign in and provide your contact information upon arrival, should PH and SD57 need to follow up for case and contact tracing purposes.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you to all who joined us for our March DPAC Meeting. We had 25 participants representing 18 different schools in our District. Yay! If you missed it, check out the Minutes below.
See below for the minutes from our DPAC Meeting on Feb. 1. Thank you to all the PACs and parents who attend and contribute to these meetings. We appreciate all the engagement from our schools.
We are pleased that the DPAC Executive and Bylaw Review Committee have proposed changes that were amended and approved during our January General Meeting. There will be a formatting review and then the updated copy will be posted on our website. See documents below.
Three items have been referred back to the Committee: 1) Bylaw 1: Terms – clarify definitions for stakeholders and rightsholders (formerly Partner Groups) 2) Bylaw 6: Term of Office – research and recommend the pros/cons of Executive Members sharing positions 3) Bylaw 8: Duties of Officers – list roles and responsibilities that will be assigned to Directors
If you have any questions or further input for our Constitution and Bylaws, please contact us at exec@sd57dpac.ca.
