DPAC Updates for April 2018 - Important Dates, Working Group Updates and Calls for Input

Hope everyone is well rested after Spring Break.

If you were unable to join us last month at our Executive meeting. draft minutes are available on our website  and we hope you can join us soon. Minutes and presentations from previous meetings are also on our site.

DPAC has two meetings this month, in a reversed order to accomodate VSB's budget timeline. The General Meeting will be on April 12 with the main focus on VSB's 2018/19 budget plus a discussion on the provincial K-12 funding formula review currently underway. Please bring your thoughts and ideas of what is missing in VSB and your funding priorities. This is our opportunity to get parent perspective in before the 2018/19 budget is created. Please also review the funding model review discussion paper so we can discuss and add parent voices to the process. The Executive Meeting will be on April 26 and will include a district update by VSB Superintendent Suzanne Hoffman and a presentation by Family Smart.

Note: all DPAC meetings are open to parents and guardians of VSB students. While only DPAC executives can vote at Executive meetings, and only official DPAC representatives (PACs to self-determine) can vote at General meetings, all parents and guardians of VSB students can participate.

Important Dates

• Monday, Apr 9, 10am – UBC Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre Official Opening. Registration has ended, but there will be a webcast and Facebook Live broadcast.
• Tuesday, Apr 10, 6:30pm – Parent Advocacy Network (PAN) Open Meeting, Tipper Restaurant 2066 Kingsway 
• Wednesday, Apr 11, 5pm – VSB Committee II - Planning & Facilities Meeting, Room 180, VSB Education Centre 1580 W. Broadway
• Wednesday, Apr 11, 6pm – VSB Committee III - Education & Student Services Meeting, Room 180, VSB Education Centre 1580 W. Broadway
• Thursday, Apr 12, 7pm – DPAC General Meeting *** includes VSB Budget Workshop and K-12 Provincial Funding Formula Review *** Room 180, VSB Education Centre
• Wednesday, Apr 18, 5pm – VSB Committee IV - Personnel & Staff Services Meeting, Room 180, VSB Education Centre 1580 W. Broadway
• Wednesday, Apr 18, 6pm – VSB Plenary Committee III / V - Education & Student Services / Finance & Legal, VSB Education Centre 1580 W. Broadway *** preliminary VSB Budget 2018/19 presented ***
• Tuesday, Apr 24, 12-1pm – Kelty Mental Health event "Eating Disorders & Substance Abuse" at BC Children's Hospital. More information and registration
• Tuesday, Apr 24, 5pm – Special Open Board / Committee of the Whole, VSB Education Centre 1580 W. Broadway *** opportunity for public to speak to board about the proposed budget ***
• Thursday, Apr 26, 7pm – DPAC Executive Meeting, Room 180, VSB Education Centre
• Monday, Apr 30, 7pm – VSB Board Meeting, VSB Education Centre 1580 W. Broadway
  

Upcoming:

• Wednesday, May 2 9am – ADHD Education Day for Parents by The Provincial ADHD Program. This a free education day, providing parents/caregivers with information on how ADHD is diagnosed, evidence based treatment for ADHD, tips on parenting a child with ADHD and how to help a child with ADHD at school.
  
• Friday, May 4 – BCCPAC Conference
• Saturday-Sunday, May 5-6 – BCCPAC AGM
• Thursday, May 10, 7pm – DPAC Executive Meeting, Note: this meeting will be hosted by Xpey' Elementary at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society, 1607 E Hastings St,
• Thursday, May 31, 6:30-8:30pm – SACY workshop "Adult Toolkit: Understanding Youth and Substance Use" in the SACY STEP Portable at Tupper Secondary. Seating limited. Please register.
• May 28-June 1 – Bike to School Week. Register your school now
  

DPACVSB Working Groups

• French Immersion Program Review Working Group. FI Update/Mandate. This month VSB will be conducting surveys and/or focus groups. Stay tuned for more details. 
  
• Catchment Review Working Group. Policy and Terms of Reference. Report given at March 14 Committee II. Discussion is on-going. We hope to have an update at our Executive meeting and there will be opportunities for discussion and input later this Spring.
  

Input for DPAC

• DPAC By-laws. Think there is room for improvement in DPAC's by-laws? We do! We updated some of them last year, but are looking for suggestions on areas to change/update this year in time to present them at our AGM on June 21st. Current by-laws here. Send input to Shaun Kalley ([email protected]).
  
• 2018/19 General Meeting topics. Tell us what you want to learn about.
  
• DPAC 2018/19. Succession. Our AGM is on June 21. Do you know someone, or are someone, who would make a great DPAC executive or DPAC table officer next year? Time to start thinking about it and getting your PAC to sign off the nomination form. More details to come.
  

Expand/Embrace Your Indigenous Knowledges

• Visit UBC Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre. Official opening on Monday, April 9th at 10am (Registration has ended, but there will be a webcast and Facebook Live broadcast: https://ceremonies.ubc.ca/IRSHDC-opening/). 
  
• Listen to "Think Indigenous - A Special Podcast Mini-Series on Indigenous Education" and other podcasts on Indian and Cowboy. Membership is not required to listen to the podcasts. http://indianandcowboy.ca/

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