Behind Closed Doors

Behind closed doors at the Langley DPAC week 4…

How we could make the Langley DPAC a better place to be

Tonight, I met with a fellow executive and we sat outside on a beautiful night and we talked about how we could make the Langley DPAC a better place to be.

We talked about opening up the website for a day to have a school trustee candidate become a guest blogger on the website answering to a question that we posted and we thought that would be a good idea. We could moderate the comments and invite absolutely every candidate to answer to the questions that we posed and they could answer them or not. It was up to them.

If there is a school trustee candidate out there that wants to answer to us here, to a question posted by us, get in touch with us. We want to have all of the information here for the parents in the district to see.

We are going to have an election 2014 menu on the page if everyone agrees and this will allow the candidates to answer our questions, present their platforms and we thought of even allowing THREE links to articles they deemed fit for our consumption as parents about to vote in the elections.

As the DPAC, I think it prudent to give them all their 15 minutes of fame and hey, as the parents of kids in the district, we should invite them here to say what they need to the questions that we ask.

I am sure that a lot of you are wondering just what the heck we are doing here as the Langley DPAC and rightly so.

This year is a new year one for the Langley DPAC and with all of the new faces come new ideas to help us become a stronger voice for the parents in this district.

When we speak about the kids in the district, we all seem to come together and that really is why we are each elected to our positions in the first place. You all put us here to make the best decisions based on your beliefs.

The Langley DPAC is also looking at officially sponsoring a charity involving children and we want your input on this.

The education of our children involves more than math and science. We need to show them that giving and kindness and compassion also contribute to their life skills that will make them better people. This is a fact and this should also make you smile as it makes us smile too.

We are here to answer your questions and talk about the things that we want to do to make a difference in the lives of the kids that enter our schools and we look forward to your input.

On a final note, what do you all think about the Langley DPAC offering babysitting services at our General meetings? I know a lot of you have younger children in elementary schools and we could look into renting the adjacent room to the main meeting room for this purpose if there is enough interest.

Beatrice

 

NCA Helping Kids

Behind DPAC Doors this week….

Behind Langley DPAC doors – Week ending Oct 13/2014….

Firstly, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

This is the second week that I’ve written about what really goes on at a DPAC level and this is week two of our mission of ‘transparency’ for being the voice of the parents in our district.

This week, we sent out the BCCPAC and DPAC membership forms. These are very important to us as we use this contact information to keep in touch with you about things that matter in your schools.

We are hosting an open forum soon for the school trustee candidates and I hope that you will take the time to send us some questions that you would like answered at the forum. Maybe you would like to even attend?

The next Langley DPAC general meeting is Oct 23, 2014,. School Board Office at 7pm. We will post the agenda for this meeting seven days in advance of it’s occurrence.

On a positive note, we have recruited new members to the Langley DPAC and we now have quorum at our executive meetings. New blood is a wonderful thing sometimes to a new organization. We will announce new positions at the next general meeting.

The Ubuntu computer program is proving to be a HUGE success and we are already struggling just to keep up. I will be speaking of this at the next Langley DPAC General meeting as well.

The Rivermen are going into the first school next week and I’m also meeting with them as well next week to pursue other involvement with them helping the schools in various ways.

I’ve asked the Rivermen organization to come and speak at our General meeting. The players reading to our kids or playing hockey with them is going to be a wonderful thing.

This week, we are meeting with Ms. Hoffman, school superintendent and I still feel sometimes like it’s going into the principal’s office. (Not that I was ever there).

Over the last while, I have chatted with many of the DPAC reps as well as PAC presidents as well as parents of kids in this district. To all of you that sent us emails and chatted with us, I have to say a big THANK YOU for all of your comments and recommendations. This allows us to become better at what we are supposed to be doing and that is to be a voice for all of you.

We also have to say thanks to the PAC’s who invited us to speak at their General meetings in the next few months. Can we have a shameless invitation to come and sit and listen and offer advice if required at one of yours?

Over the last month or so, the Langley DPAC has put more effort into reaching out and the response has been amazing and humbling at the very same time.

Maybe this is a sign that we need to evolve and we have. I would hope so anyways.

‘The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things’….

If you have a recommendation, we want to hear it. If you want to help us out in our endeavors, contact any of us. Please feel free.

The Langley DPAC is the voice of the parents and the executive behind closed doors is instructed to act in the best interests of the parents and that is one amazing decision to be a part of.

BeatriceIntegrity

Behind the scenes of Langley DPAC this week……

Behind closed doors this week at Langley DPAC….

It has been almost one week since the Langley DPAC increased our online presence and started reaching out more to parents and PAC executives within our school district.

We have offered and solicited advice from members as well as transparently sharing stories that we think matter to you, our members.

This past week, we have seen our page views on our FB page increase by 38000% and no that is not a typo. We started off the week with less than 30 people being reached by our posts and we are over 2200 people being reached less than a week later. Page likes have increased by 5400% and that tells all of us that we are on the right path with what we need to do.

On that note, we now will be doing weekly posts updating our members on what is going on right now and what all of you can expect in the upcoming weeks from us at the Langley DPAC.

In no particular order, please note the following:

1. We are planning a public forum where we will be hosting the candidates for the school trustee positions and we will ask them questions. An email will be going out asking you for questions you would like asked and we will do our best to get them all answered if time permits. This is your chance to see and hear what the candidates are all about. More information to follow on this.
2. This week upcoming, we will be sending out the new DPAC membership registration forms to all PAC’s for our records. This information is vital to us being able to contact you in a timely manner. The BCCPAC membership forms will also be sent out if your PAC wants to be a part of BCCPAC. Please note that DPAC pays for the membership fees for your BCCPAC registration.
3. The Langley DPAC is revamping it’s website. We are going to be going from langleydpac.wordpress.com to langleydpac.ca. More details to follow on this.
4. Langley DPAC is also setting up a new email system with processes in place that will prevent the deletion of emails by any of the executive members. All emails sent to any member of the Langley DPAC will soon be sent to EVERY other member of the executive including president, secretary, VP1,VP2 and treasurer. This is being done to ensure total transparency of the executive members as well as ensuring that all correspondence is delivered and dealt with in a timely manner. All emails will also be archived in a central location so we are never in a position with missing correspondence whether intentional or accidental.
5. Langley DPAC is still looking for great photos of kids in our schools or at home for our website. Please take a few moments and send us your pictures. 
6. As stated in an earlier post, information was sent out about the literacy/physical education program with the Langley Rivermen. Important details are with the email as an attachment. If you are interested, please contact me directly at treasurer@langleydpac.ca so that we can figure out a schedule.

Finally, thank you all once again for all of your input and if you’d like a member of DPAC to attend your monthly meetings or you have a question, please contact us directly.

Have a great night!

Beatrice

Total Transparency