SD 78 DPAC (District Parent Advisory Council)

DPAC MEETING TONIGHT!
6:30pm at Coquihalla Elementary!!

Please come out and support change and community.

Please join us on Tuesday for dinner and information.

STUDY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED: Our survey for parents about impact of on for their K-12 children w/ disabilities:

https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2moQFIwdZe5oRU1

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COVID Relief Funds for First Nation Students ⁣
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Funding to support students whose studies have been impacted by the ongoing pandemic.
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Up to $1,500 will be given to select students as a one-time payment. ⁣
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Eligible expenses fall under one of the following three categories:⁣
• Counselling, mental health and wellness⁣
• Technology needs for online schooling⁣
• Additional tuition and/or living allowances ⁣
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Eligible students: ⁣
• Are registered Status Indians⁣
• Do not have band membership ⁣
• Are BC residents⁣
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For more information and to apply, please visit: https://bcaafc.com/education/covid-relief/⁣
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Application deadline: October 30, 2020 ⁣

ATTENTION DPACS AND PACS - Zoom Licenses

(email will be sent to DPACs on Sept 15 with details)

As part of our ongoing efforts to support district and school PACs and their parent communities, and with grateful acknowledgement to the Ministry of Education, BCCPAC has secured Zoom licenses for DPACs/PACs across the province to be able to host virtual meetings during the pandemic.

While PACs are not restricted from entering the school – and there are many good reasons to do so such as picking up mail including banking statements through to a meeting with the admin team – having less parents in the schools less often is advisable.
By enabling PACs to have the ability to hold their meetings virtually, at no cost to them, this reduces the need to use the school building and reduces the parent footprint into the school.

We were able to secure a sub-group license with 100 Zoom licenses as part of the Ministry’s enterprise license agreement. This means BCCPAC is the owner of the licenses but on Sept 15 we will release them to DPACs; the administration and management of these licenses is the DPACs responsibility as is the communication to their local PACs.

Key Points:
• Every DPAC will receive a minimum of 1 license. Those DPACs with more school PACs will of course receive more.
• Each shared license can host a meeting, with no time limits, for up to 300 attendees
• Available Zoom services include: Polls, Q&A, Chat, Muting, Reactions, Feedback
• DPAC will designate individual(s) to manage/schedule the use of their licenses (at no cost), to ensure fair and equitable shared use for all PACs in their district
• At this time, the licenses are available for use until the end of June 2021 at no cost to the DPAC or the PAC for their use.
• There will be help documents and other materials shared with DPACs and PACS.

Our email to DPACs on Sept 15 will outline next steps to receive and activate these shared licenses so that local PACs can use them.

We are aware of a few districts where the DPAC is non-operational at this time. We will be connecting directly with the PACs in those districts and will administer and manage the use of the licenses in those unique areas. IF your District does not have an active DPAC currently, encourage a parent to volunteer for this Zoom Administrator role for all the PACs in your district by contacting our office ([email protected])

We have not restricted these licenses to our paid members but have made them freely available to all PACs via our DPACs.
We do hope however, that both the DPAC and the local PACs will find their way to support BCCPAC by retaining membership with us going forward to support the work we do on behalf of all public school families.

COVID-19 Update for K-12 Education - July 1

Min of Ed Parent/Guardian Survey - IMPORTANT
The Ministry of Education is interested in learning more about parents'/guardians' experiences during the COVID-19 in-class learning disruption between March and June 2020.
Please take 10 minutes to complete this survey to help inform policy development and planning for schools.The Ministry and BCCPAC will provide updates throughout the summer and an announcement is scheduled in August, in time to prepare for the start of school in September.
Survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Parent_Survey_EDU

K-12 Sector Education Restart Steering Committee
As parents are aware, the Ministry of Education has a five-stage approach for resuming in-class instruction in a measured way to align with BC Restart Plan. Each stage is guided by health and safety guidelines, measures, protocols and orders as well as the principles developed for continuity of learning during the pandemic. Regardless of what Stage is in place when the 2020/21 school year begins in September, the education sector needs to ensure an equitable, effective education system is in place that supports learning while also maintaining robust health and safety measures.
In preparation for the start of the 2020/21 school year, the Minister of Education will continue to virtually meet regularly with the Presidents of all education sector partners and rights holders throughout June, July and August 2020. President Sinclair will continue to attend and bring forward the parent perspectives.

To support this work, the Ministry has now also established a K-12 Education Restart Steering Committee and as we represent parents/families provincially, BCCPAC is of course participating. The first meeting was held June 19, and our CEO John Gaiptman attended and will continue to represent BCCPAC in these meetings.

There is a lot of work to be done in the next 50+ days in readiness for September and BCCPAC will be at the table working on your behalf.

Survey for Gr10-12 Families - Please Share
Do you know any families with Grade 10-12 students? The Ministry wants to hear from Gr10-12 students about the impact of COVID-19 on their learning. Please share this student survey link so we can get more input from more students about their perspectives on the educational impact of COVID-19. The survey will be open throughout July and we encourage you to provide feedback.
Survey is here: https://www.awinfosys.com/surveyfull3/minofed/main/Covid.asp

NOTE: All documents and updates from the Ministry and relevant information for families are posted to our resource page: https://bccpac.bc.ca/index.php/resources/21-advocacy/861-c19-updates

John Koopman will be remembered fondly in our school district. Our condolences to his family at this difficult time.

Hope educator, school board trustee John Koopman passes away suddenly - Hope Standard Koopman’s death was sudden, says a friend. He dedicated his life to education in Fraser Cascade.

ATTENTION PARENTS/GUARDIANS
Tomorrow, Tuesday April 28 at 12nn, Minister Rob Fleming and Stephanie Higginson, president of the British Columbia School Trustees Association will provide an update on the many activities underway in the education system while in-class learning is suspended for most students. Min Fleming and President Higginson will make brief statements before answering questions from reporters.

Livestream with a sign language interpreter will be available:
On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BCProvincialGovernment/
On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BCGovNews?s=
20
On YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProvinceofBC

Remote Session for Parents - Raising Responsible Digital Learners: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 Parent Session - Remote - Wednesday, April 29, 2020 9:00am – 10:30am PST   Raising Responsible Digital Learners (90-minute session) The parent

Its !
We THANK all the incredible parent/guardian volunteers who work tirelessly for all our children, for BCCPAC, w/in DPACs, on PACs and in the school community. Remember YOUR contributions are invaluable & YOU make a difference! This week is for YOU!