Have your say on the direction of the PAC, what we concentrate our efforts on, issues you would like us to address and other insights.
Join the next PAC meeting Tuesday, Nov 23rd 2021.
If you have any topics that you would like to discuss at the next PAC meeting or if you have concerns in general, please submit them by clicking below.
Start the new year involved and informed. We welcome you to join us for our first Ridgeway Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting of the year to help shape this year’s activities and priorities.
September PAC Meeting / Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Monday, September 21
7pm – 8:30pm
Join the Zoom Meeting HERE or dial 778 907 2071. Alternative dial-in numbers available here.
Meeting ID: 916 8767 4081
Passcode: 358097
The virtual meeting will open at 6:45pm to allow for some socializing / working out of any technical difficulties people have logging on. We will share a PAC Meeting Primer on Monday with all the relevant documents, voting procedures, etc.
The Ridgeway Elementary Parent Advisory Council (PAC) was created by and for parents to have a voice in matters at the school and to enrich the school experience for students and parents. COVID-19 does change what we can do (no in-person events or fun lunch, more info on this to come), but we also have a chance to decide on new ways to create and support our community.
This meeting will also include our deferred Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the election of new volunteers (see below for roles that need filling).
The Ridgeway Elementary Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is a registered non-profit society. As an independent organization, it is required that we operate with at least 5 executives including President and Vice President and 3 Directors. Our organization includes the following volunteer positions:
All positions can be shared. We are currently looking for candidates to hold the President and Vice President positions.
Whichever position you choose, or whether you can only attend meetings or volunteer for tasks, being a part of the PAC can be an amazing experience – to meet friends, to connect within the community, and to model involvement for your kids. Most PAC ‘work’ is behind a computer and can be done at any time of day (even for those of us who work full-time!).
President / Vice President Openings
The President and Vice President positions typically oversee various volunteers / committees, manage the finances with the Treasurer, co-ordinate with school admin / teachers, host the meetings, and either do or delegate administrative tasks (email database work, newsletters, etc). The PAC is always whatever the core group of volunteers decide to make it.
The President / Vice President positions must be filled to continue to provide financial support to the teachers and students at this school.
Our bylaws dictate President and Vice president positions are held for a maximum of 2 years per volunteer. The outgoing President will be there to support both roles throughout the years ahead.
If you would like to nominate yourself for any open position, please email president@ridgewaypac.org before the meeting (ideally!). Thank you!!
My fellow parents,
It is with great reluctance that we have made the decision to cancel, rather than defer, our Spring Fair. Originally scheduled for May 9, this event is beloved by our students, staff, parents, and our wider community. I want to personally thank our Spring Fair Committee for working hard on the event this year, bringing many new ideas and enthusiasm to our planning! We look forward to bringing these ideas to you for next year’s Spring Fair. Similarly, all Bike to School Week activities (traditionally held across BC at the end of May) have been postponed until the Fall – once again, I thank our Bike to School Week committee for all the ideas generated so far to bring the love of biking to our school.
The PAC Board of Directors held a virtual meeting this week to review our finances, to decide on the rest of the year’s events, and to discuss options for what the PAC’s role should be now during this stage of remote learning. Many of us volunteer with the PAC out of a desire to create and support a strong community at Ridgeway and in our neighbourhood. We will do our best to continue this support now. If you don’t already, please follow our PAC Facebook page for community resources and community news.
At this time in the year, we usually have two PAC meetings left in our calendar – one in April and our annual general meeting (AGM) in May. We do not have plans to hold a virtual PAC meeting at this time and our preference would be to have our AGM and to vote in new PAC executives in September, if our bylaws and reporting requirements allow for it.
It has been my true privilege to be your PAC President for the past two years – to get to know so many parents and to help bring together our community. Whoever decides to step into the PAC roles next year, I’ll be there to help!
Although we may be physically apart, together our community is strong. To this end, I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to all the amazing teachers and staff at Ridgeway for the work they have done to help bring some ‘normal’ back into our children’s lives with the remote learning we’ve had so far. This has been a huge undertaking – but so hugely appreciated.
Thanks,
Arieanna
My fellow parents,
With K-12 classes suspended until further notice, I know you have many questions and concerns. Many of you are facing hardship, isolation, or anxiety. Many have questions about what we will do in the coming weeks when our children cannot resume school. I have spoken with our Principal, Dean Yeo, about some of those concerns and am assured the School District is working on a response.
Given the uncertainty of the situation we are all facing, the PAC has done the following:
We will try to share more educational and social resources on our Facebook page.
I also want to take a moment to thank the many parents working the front lines today in hospitals, grocery stores, and childcare services. I also want to thank all those families who are taking the advice to self-isolate and maintain social distance. I know it is not easy to do – and even harder to explain to our children.
In this time, our children will look to us for leadership, guidance, and support. We must look to each other for the same. I encourage you to reach out to others in our community who you suspect may not have very much support. Reach out to parents in your class or parents you know from the playground. Extend a hand in friendship and support. Perhaps relax media rules for children, allowing them to call, FaceTime, or text their friends.
We’re all in this together.
Thanks,
Arieanna
We invite you to join us to the first 2018-2019 Ridgeway Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting following the SOGI presentation (6:30-7pm) in the school library.
Monday September 16th, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Ridgeway Library
(Free child minding provided)
We will discuss the latest school news with school administrators & share the outline of school events & PAC projects for the year – including updates about the proposed outdoor play space improvements! Please join us for a hands-on brainstorming activity to help determine Ridgeway community priorities.
We will be looking to fill the following open positions:
The PAC functions primarily with committees! Come hear more about some of the fun ways to be a part of the school, including:
BONUS: the PAC will now supply a social stipend to support committees to get together for planning sessions!
Everyone has a sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Ridgeway is a SOGI-inclusive school, but what does that mean? At Ridgeway, we try to teach that every student will understand and express their gender differently and that every choice is embraced – never a cause for discrimination.
SOGI-inclusive education simply means speaking about SOGI in a way that ensures every student feels like they belong.
Join us on September 16th before our first PAC meeting for an information presentation by one of our primary teachers, Anne Watt, to learn about Ridgeway’s SOGI initiatives and the opportunity to bring a rainbow crosswalk to our school.
SOGI-Inclusive Education
September 16, 2019
6:30pm
Ridgeway School Library
The Ridgeway PAC Meeting will follow the presentation at 7pm.
In September of this year, we began the year by looking back to the true purpose of a PAC: to support community. We worked as a group to brainstorm on the following topics:
In the course of the year, we have incorporated some of these ideas, by relaunching our website with a new multi-lingual welcome page, adding translation to our newsletters, and hosting our first-ever multicultural fair. With the feedback in mind, we have focused on more concise information, encouraging volunteerism, working via committee, and engaging more community partners to support our school.
This has been an amazing year at Ridgeway. We have:
Did we meet our mandate for the year? How can we build on our momentum? And lastly, how should we celebrate all we’ve done? (Because we DO deserve a party!)
The PAC is a non-profit charity that runs on volunteerism. None of this is possible without YOUR help. I can say that being a part of the PAC has been incredibly fulfilling, creating lasting friendships, connections in the community, & being able to be a strong role-model for my kids.
We will continue to try to transform the PAC toward a committee-based system, distributing events & fundraisers into teams. We will review those at this meeting and also again in September as we plan the year.
We will be voting on the following positions for 2019 / 2020:
Thank you for helping to make this school community great!
We welcome you to attend our upcoming PAC Meeting to hear the latest news & share your ideas.
Monday February 25th, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Ridgeway Library
(Free child minding provided)
MEETING AGENDA:
Monday January 14th, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Ridgeway Library
(Free child minding provided)
This is set to be an exciting year, with many great projects in the works & events in the coming months. We welcome you to attend to hear the latest news.
MEETING AGENDA:
Ridgeway Parent Advisory Council 