At the VCPAC General Meeting in December, VCPAC membership voted in favour of a continued neutral position with respect to School Police Liaison Officers, given the diverse views of parents, guardians and students on this matter.
In early January, the VCPAC Executive issued this statement, along with the position that the VCPAC does not want the current and democratically elected board to be relieved of their duties.
At the VCPAC General Meeting on January 14, VCPAC membership passed the following resolution:
The VCPAC Executive took a position on the Minister's threat to dismiss the school board, as we understood that the Minister may have taken this action as early as January 10th, 2025. The VCPAC Executive chose to stand for the principles of democracy and democratically elected bodies, regardless of political view. Due to the timelines there was not adequate opportunity to consult with all PACs and this view may not be shared by all individual school PACs.
At 5:30 p.m. on January 14, VCPAC, along with all school PACs received a letter from the Minister of Education and Childcare. The letter indicated that she has directed Ministry staff to host dialogue sessions with the SD61 PACs over the next week as their analysis of the three draft safety plans continues.
The VCPAC Executive encourages all PACs to participate in this process.
However, in participating, we also ask that you remain cognizant that these dialogue sessions risk not being adequate, given the barriers to participating in these types of forums - related to work schedules, availability of childcare, language abilities, among others, and that you take steps to mitigate these risks.
Following your participation, the VCPAC Executive also asks that you send a PAC representative to a special VCPAC General Meeting on January 29th, where VCPAC will discuss and collate feedback provided to the Minister from individual PACs to ensure that VCPAC continues to meet its legislated responsibility.
