DPACs fall under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA); they do not fall under FOIPPA.
Part 3 - Provincial Parent Advisory Council (BCCPAC)
The BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC) is a non-partisan, registered non-profit charity, since 1922. We are governed by a volunteer Board of directors elected annually by our membership (annual fee) which consists of District Parent Advisory Councils (DPAC) and Parent Advisory Councils (PAC) through which we represent the parents/guardians/caregivers of >565,000 children in provincial public schools. As the provincially mandated voice of parents in public schools, we have the authority to get involved and to share concerns directly with the Minister and Ministry staff.
BCCPAC is the provincial voice of parents on K-12 public education and related issues and we directly support DPAC and PAC members and individual parents. We promote, support and advance meaningful parent participation throughout the public education system in order to advocate for the success of all students; and through our membership, to promote leadership, communication, cooperation, and representation in British Columbia at the school, school district and provincial level.
We advocate for systemic changes at the provincial table. BCCPAC sits at that table with the education partners—School Trustees Association, Superintendents Association, School Business Officials Association, Principals and Vice Principals Association, Teachers Federation, CUPEBC and the First Nations Education Steering Committee—and the provincial government. BCCPAC has a credible and respected voice, and is uniquely positioned to ensure the parent perspective is heard loudly and clearly. We communicate and meet regularly with the Ministry of Education and education partners.
BCCPAC is invited to every meeting, asked to participate in every working group, sought for input which is often confidential, and we provide feedback directly whenever we believed it is needed.
We educate and inform parents and we help parents advocate for themselves and their child. We use the School Act, district policies and district bylaws to guide parents/guardians in advocating for their child’s educational program. Whether it's talking to parents about advocacy, spending 10mos pursuing a Section 11 to bring about equity for a child, meeting with a Superintendent regarding issues relating to children not receiving the supports they should, answering questions via email or social media or presenting at a DPAC meeting to ensure parents understand their role and responsibilities, the current Board and staff of BCCPAC are doing this and so very much more. During the pandemic our work has continued and the need for parent education and representation has increased.
This year, and for the coming year, parent advocacy and advocacy for school-aged children has never been more important. The parent/guardian/caregiver perspective at the provincial table with the education partners has been critical during the pandemic and the return to school. We are the only provincial group 100% dedicated to parents and their children in public school. All other education partners represent their members who are employees in the system – that is their primary mandate.
Since March 2020 we have been representing parents in all K-12 provincial discussions regarding education in our pandemic environment – we continue to regularly provide parent feedback directly with the Minister, the Deputy Minister and the other education stakeholders. We have emailed our members and posted to our social media channels and our website the important details parents need to understand and know in real-time as it’s released. We have provided guidance, clarity and answers to DPACs, PACs and individual parents via email, phone and social media channels.
We fought hard in provincial discussions for flexibility and remote/online options for parents while ensuring children have the opportunity to remain connected to their school community. We have brought forward district specific issues directly to the Deputy Minister and his team who have raised those issues with Superintendents. We secured shared Zoom licenses for all PACs across the province to enable PACs to continue meeting, hold their elections and annual meetings and serve their parent communities.
During the last 16months we have represented parents in provincial discussions and advisory groups such as curriculum and graduation assessments, the early learning framework for birth to age eight, child/youth mental well-being, framework for enhanced student learning, kindergarten transition resources and the inclusive education parent handbook. In June we once again made a submission and presentation to the Select Standing Committee regarding education funding specifically to safeguard stable funding and to increase both capital and operational funding. We continue to liaise directly with the Community Gaming branch to ensure PACs know of changes and updates which will affect their applications and reports and to try to influence the annual guidelines.
BCCPAC falls under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA); we do not fall under FOIPPA.
Communications
We email DPACs and PACs directly as they are members and have provided their contact details to us; we do not share this list. DPACs communicate directly with their PAC community and PACs communicate directly with their parent community.
In all cases – communication with individual parents/PAC members/DPAC members can only occur when individuals/groups have provided their contact information or opted in to receive information. There is no master provincial list of parent contacts.
We endeavor to post as much as possible for parents to our website and to this public page. Depending on the issue and many other factors, we may seek input directly via a survey or other means; we just completed a survey with our DPAC leaders.
It’s to the advantage of parents/guardians to be connected with their local PACs.
It’s to the advantage of the local PACs and their parent communities to be connected with their DPAC.
It’s similarly to the advantage of DPACs and their PAC parent communities to be connected with BCCPAC.
In all cases, parents who are engaged in their school, district or provincial PAC are volunteers giving of their time for their community and who do not receive any remuneration.
We encourage parents/guardians/caregivers with children in K-12 to ensure they provide current contact information to their child’s school PAC, sign up for PAC blogs, newsletters etc., and sign up to receive information from your local DPAC. All the information can be easily found online.
If you believe you can do more and give some of your time to public education, then please consider joining or volunteering to help your PAC. They are parents just like you and they need your help; everyone in the community benefits from parent engagement. Our strength is in our collective voice.