The 4th Annual Bike to Work and School Week is a challenge that encourages and supports commuter cycling in Prince George and across the Province from May28th – June 3rd There are many events and contests planned throughout the week and beyond to make it fun, visible, safe and successful for everyone – from cycling pros to brand new riders!

The Prince George Brain Injured Group has partnered with the Prince George Cycling Club to provide Bike Rodeos to schools and youth groups across the city. If you are interested in hosting a Bike Rodeo prior to May 28th, 2012, please contact the PG Brain Injured Group to enroll in the Bike to Work and School Week Program.
As part of this program, the $38-$50/hr fee for hosting a Bike Rodeo will be waived if your group registers to participate in the 2012 Bike to Work and School Week challenge.

Book now as spots are filling up quickly:
Julia Koopmans
Julia.koopmans@pgbig.ca
250-564-2447

Bike Rodeo Brochure

BTWW_Grad_Class_Challenge_2012

This year we’ve added an extra challenge to Grade 12 highschool student. The Grad Class with highest proportion of students who cycle to school from May 28th – June 3rd will win $200  towards their Dry Grad celebrations

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/20120428/PRINCEGEORGE0101/304289987/-1/princegeorge/spring-break-broken

School District 57 trustees have approved the 2012-13 school calendar, which includes a two-week spring break.

That does not sit well with parent Melody Link.

She questions the validity of an online poll on the District Parent Advisory Council website, which contributed to the school board’s decision to approve a longer March break, saying the 100 or so respondents to the poll did not offer a true indication of what the majority of parents actually wanted.

“It wasn’t like they sent a piece of paper home with every child, it was just based on whoever visited that website,” said Link “It wasn’t put together well to ask the community what their opinion was. Anyone who is an educator could go on their computer and sign themselves on under an alias and say ‘yes’ to that. I just don’t think it was a fair and equitable way of doing any sort of survey.”

DPAC chair Don Sabo said parents were notified through media sources about the online poll well in advance of Tuesday’s school board meeting and that poll showed a majority of parents wanted the two-week break. He also said DPAC does not have access to include their information on school newsletters to parents. That form of communication is available only to school staff. He said DPAC was not alone in recommending the longer break. [note: DPAC did not formally recommend a longer break]

“DPAC is only one of the stakeholders sitting on the calendar committee,” said Sabo. “Teachers, CUPE [support staff], the principals and vice-principals are all in favour of a two-week spring break. It’s unfortunate, it will impact on some parents, single parents particularly that are working and will have to look at daycare. But over 50 per cent of the school districts in the province have the two-week spring break.”

Background on how the board makes decisions on the school calendar, and DPAC’s role in the process, can be found here:
http://sd57dpac.ca/2012/01/spring-break-in-2013/

The calendar committee did not meet again after January, but DPAC did report to the school district what the results were of both our request for comments and the Prince George Citizen poll were – to summarize:

• of those who commented, the majority were in favour of a two week break,
• there were a number of comments not in favour
• our request for comments and the Citizen poll would not have reached all parents.

http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/04/more-choice-flexibility-for-bcs-education-system.html

VICTORIA – Amendments to the School Act introduced today will support BC’s Education Plan by removing barriers to personalized learning and allowing greater flexibility and choice in terms of where, when and how students learn.
Bill 36, the School Amendment Act 2012, gives students and families increased choice in educational programs by extending the ability to take a mix of online and traditional school courses to students in kindergarten through Grade 9. Currently, only students in grades 10 to 12 have this option.

Other changes to the School Act will eliminate the Standard School Calendar to enable boards of education and education authorities to offer more creative scheduling options that better meet the needs of their students. The Ministry of Education will continue to set a minimum number of instructional hours.

Other revisions to the act will clarify that boards may charge fees relating to the direct costs of providing an international baccalaureate program if they exceed the costs of providing a standard education program. Any such fees are subject to financial hardship provisions. The School Act grants boards of education a limited capacity to charge fees so they may provide programs that reflect the unique needs of their communities.

Under BC’s Education Plan, government is committed to building an education system that is more flexible, dynamic and adaptable to better prepare students for a successful future. Personalized learning is an approach to education that puts every student at the centre of their own learning and makes them more accountable for their success.

Bringing more flexibility to the system will help to recognize that each student is unique and our education system can support each student’s interests, passions and individual ways of learning.

For PACs who are not sending a delegate to the BCCPAC AGM, DPAC will act as your proxy in order to cast your vote. In exchange, DPAC will pay your PAC 50% of the BCCPAC registration of $75.

DPAC provides this funding to give our school district, and the North, a larger voice at the  BCCPAC AGM.

DPAC is sending three delegates to the AGM: Sarah Holland, Gillian Burnett, and Darlene Campbell. Please enter two of these three names on the form - it’s not important which names you enter.

Once you have filled out the proxy form, it will need to be sent to both BCCPAC and DPAC. The form asks you to send it to BCCPAC only, but it is important that DPAC knows in order to followup with your repayment of your member dues.

Please either scan/email the form to info@bccpac.bc.ca and info@sd57dpac.ca, or fax it to 604-687-4488 and 250-614-1316 (attention Sarah Holland).

This document is the proxy form:

http://www.bccpac.bc.ca/UserFiles/File/2012AGM-Spring/Authorized%20Proxy%20Vote%20Form.pdf

This document gives instructions on how to fill out the proxy forms:

http://www.bccpac.bc.ca/UserFiles/File/2012AGM-Spring/AGM_Voting_Info_Proxy_Form.pdf

This document allows your PAC to give direction to your proxy holder on how to vote:

http://www.bccpac.bc.ca/UserFiles/File/2012AGM-Spring/2012_Resolution_Voting_Instructions.pdf

The following PACs are members of BCCPAC in SD57:

• Aboriginal Choice School
• Beaverly Elementary School
• Buckhorn Elementary
• College Heights Elementary
• College Heights Secondary
• D P Todd Secondary
• Ecole Lac des Bois
• Edgewood Elementary
• Giscome Elementary School
• Hart Highlands Elementary
• Heather Park Elementary
• Heritage Elementary
• Highglen Montessori Elementary
• Nukko Lake Elementary
• Pineview Elementary
• Prince George Secondary
• Spruceland Traditional Elementary
• Valemount Elementary
• Van Bien Elementary
• Vanway Elementary School

The Delegate Selection committee has reported that they received three applications to attend the BCCPAC conference and AGM in May, in Coquitlam, and one application to be a backup delegate should any delegates be unable to attend.

Darlene Campbell, Gillian Burnett, and Sarah Holland will be attending, with Dennis Fudge as the backup delegate.

More information on the delegate selection process is available here:

http://sd57dpac.ca/2012/03/looking-for-expressions-of-interest-for-bccpac-conference-delegates/

At the school board meeting held April 24th, the school board adopted a calendar for the 2012/13 year which includes a two week spring break

• Click here to see the calendar
• Click here to see more details about the calendar.
• Click here to see the recommendations that went to the Board regarding the calendar.

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According to the school district, all Primary, Intermediate and Secondary student report cards will be issued no later than May 8, 2012.

Some schools are adding report card writing days to their schedule, so parents may need to arrange childcare at short notice.

Update: According to Superintendent Pepper, most primary report writing days will be May 1st. Intermediate would be May 2, if the school holds an intermediate report card writing day. A number of schools will be adjusting the days assigned for this purpose, so check directly with your school for up to date information. As this news only came out mid-week, weekly newsletter would not have accurate information about report card writing days in them.

The BCSPEA has issued a FAQ about report cards and the LRB ruling:

http://www.bcpsea.bc.ca/Files/No%20201210KJLRB%20Order%20Report%20Cards%20Q%20and%20A.pdf

Please come out and support Beaverly Elementary – and enjoy a great show!

Shows at 5 pm and 8pm at the Playhouse, with 50/50 tix, raffle items, concession, souvenirs and a great Magic Show!!  Tickets can be purchased at the door, at the school or at Books & Company for $10 each.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/20120420/PRINCEGEORGE0101/304209998/-1/princegeorge/sd57-student-enrolment-still-declining

Student enrolment in School District 57 continues to fall, and school board officials anticipate that trend will continue every year until at least 2016.

While overall numbers are dropping, some schools in the Hart and College Heights areas are at or over capacity, according to a school board report produced by the District Parent Advisory Council.

Although the current student population of 12,767 is expected to drop by 266 students to 12,501 in the 2012-13 school year, superintendent Brian Pepper said there is no imminent threat of school closures.

“At this point, other than enrolment decline, we believe we’re quite stable with our school budgeting and the board has had no discussions with senior staff about school closure,” Pepper said.

One very important consideration is that while overall enrolment decline is continuing,  elementary school enrolment is projected to increase, according to both the school district and the Ministry of Education: