January 2021 Newsletter

Greetings Parents and Guardians

Happy New Year!

As we did not have a December PAC Meeting or newsletter, the gap since our last communication seems unusually long! The Hamber PAC executive team hopes that you and your family were able to take a break.

As we close in on the end of the 2nd quarter we hope you all are well and keeping safe in spite of the COVID-19 exposure events at the school and in our community. With the vaccine distribution now underway in the province, we look forward to better times ahead. In the meantime, the Hamber PAC continues to be focussed on communicating to the school’s administration team any concerns and feedback that we receive from the parent / guardian community.

Below you will see a short survey. Please take a moment to respond. As with our previous surveys, all information will be provided to the Hamber administration for information purposes only.

Should you have any questions about your child’s class, please first contact the subject teacher directly, before the administration team.

Gaming Fund Requests review and allocations

At the November 17, 2020 PAC meeting, the PAC executives presented the requests from the teachers’ for funding of various extracurricular activities for approval. The meeting attendees voted to grant almost all of the requests received that met the Provincial Gaming criteria. We have begun to distribute the funding for the 15 requests.

Hamber Seismic Project Update

The PAC had formally requested for a Seismic Advisory Group (SAG) meeting to take place before the end of 2020, however this did not take place.  The PAC SAG members have just received notice that there will be a SAG meeting to be held virtually on January 18, 2021.  

We believe it is important for parents / guardians to understand the design changes in response to the City's Conditional Approval resubmission requirements, as set out by the Director of Planning. We would also like an update on the timeline as the information we received from the City's Planning Department highlights that there is a 14 week review period before the development permit is issued. Will this result in a delay to the construction start date? How does the recent merger with Stuart Olson affect personnel on the project leadership team? 

Please email chair@hamberpac.ca if you have any additional questions you would like us to ask at the upcoming SAG meeting.    

You can see renderings and review the application information here: https://shapeyourcity.ca/5025-willow-st

Parent/Guardian Survey - Current Student Learning At Hamber

We would like to have an understanding of how parents/guardians are feeling about student learning as we approach Q3.
Please complete this 5 question survey. We will share the results at our next PAC meeting with Principal Jensen.

Student Learning During Covid 19 Survey for Parents/Guardians

You are invited our next Hamber Pac Zoom meeting
When: January 19, 2021 07:00 PM Vancouver

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lcu-ppjIsGtJINF-YZ7Q1rlI_8PQczlFF

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Should you have questions about the agenda or you wish to add items for discussion, you must email those to us in advance to chair@hamberpac.ca so that we can try to adjust the agenda to accommodate the requested changes within the scheduled meeting time. 

Minutes from November 17, 2020 (last meeting) virtual PAC meeting

Principal Jansen’s report/slide presentation November  17, 2020

Eric Hamber PAC Agenda, January 19, 2021

Virtual Meeting via Zoom

AGENDA ITEM

SPEAKER

Time Slot

Welcome

Approval of Agenda and Nov 19/20 minutes (last virtual Pac Meeting)

Peter Couch

7:00pm -7:05pm

Chair Report

-Seismic Update

-Fundraising Update

-Survey

Peter Couch

7:05pm -7:20pm

Treasurer Report

Peter Couch on behalf of Donna Chao

7:20pm -7:25pm

Teacher Rep Report

Nick Francis

7:25pm -7:35pm

Principal Report

Marea Jensen

7:35pm -8:05pm

Other Business

Peter Couch

8:05pm -8:15pm

Adjournment

Next meeting: Feb 16, 2021

Resources:

Mental Health Links - for Covid 19:  Supports for you and your child

Helpful resources from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC)
 

Thank you

This school year has been characterized by new challenges and evolving routines. We appreciate the work of the Hamber administration, educators, support workers, maintenance, custodial, and administrative staff in preparing a safe learning environment for our children as laid out by the Ministry of Education and the VSB. 

And we appreciate you, as parents and guardians in the Hamber PAC community, for your cooperation and patience to work together with the school to succeed in these unprecedented times.

Peter Couch: Chair

Anne Yu: Vice Chair

Leslie Louie: Secretary

Donna Chao: Treasurer

Link to our current PAC Bylaws: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51a77f4be4b07edcf51508f6/t/56ba8900e32140e862875e03/1455065344419/Hamber-PAC-Bylaws-20160203-signed.pdf

Our Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1305402419632328/members

Acknowledging that we live, work, and learn on the traditional territory of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Coast Salish Peoples.