Bubbles of Love Day

Bubbles of Love Day was celebrated in countries around the world on April 25th. The movement is growing and we see schools and cities across Canada joining in on Pink Shirt Day, Bubbles of Love Day, Gay-Straight Alliances, Bell’s Let’s Talk about Mental Illness Campaign and Clara’s Big Ride for Addiction and Mental Health Awareness Campaign. These are serious issues that schools sometimes like to avoid. Including schools in these school safety initiatives makes sense because children spend at least 6 hours/day at school, especially since the creation of before and after school day care centers. As more schools and healthcare centers get involved in parental alienation awareness, we will be able to build community and relationships, changes laws and promote overall health. The choice is ours. Together we can end parental alienation.

My Election – BC Provincial

I live in an electoral riding called Abbotsford-Mission. Here are my four big party candidates.

Aird Flavelle is very active in Abbotsford politics, and is running as a Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly (MLA) with the BC-Green party. Both the Federal leader, Elizabeth May, and BC Green party leader, Jane Sterk, are beloved, cherished, and often called hard-working and ethical.

The Fraser Valley ends in a box canyon, and air pollution gets trapped in the canyon and backs up over Abbotsford. Worse the city of Vancouver would like to burn its’ waste and re-claim whatever energy it can from the fire. These smoke stacks would probably choke us, just like the SE2 smoke stacks did years ago.

Abbotsford, like other large cities, has water worries. It has been proposed that we spend $65 Million to build a water pump to transport water from the mountains to our city. Water conservation has helped some.

Aird may not be the only one worried about our environment or oil spills, but like others, he’s calling for environmental assessments. Even better, the Greens have a very strong track record of fighting against parental alienation and supporting equal parenting.

Aird posted this list of all BC Candidates on Facebook.

Preet Rai is an Abbotsford school board trustee, who has taken a month-long leave of absence from the board to run as a Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly (MLA) with the BC-NDP party for our riding. I have often seen Preet working at school board meetings and he seems like a kind man, who cares about students, children, and families. He doesn’t seem like a “No Dads” kinda guy, but with no stated policy supporting equal parenting, what are we to think? This story leads me to suggest two rules of Abbotsford politics: first which ever parent was the last DPAC Chairperson stands some chance of becoming a school trustee, when a municipal election comes up in 2015.

My second suggested rule: whoever is elected to our school board, stands some chance of becoming a city councillor or more. There are two school trustees running in this BC election to become provincial legislators.

Simon Gibson is an Abbotsford city councillor, who has taken a month-long leave of absence from the council to run to replace Randy Hawes as an MLA with the BC-Liberal party for our riding. Simon is a marathon runner, who gave the opening address at Sunday’s MS WALK at Upper Sumas Elementary School. He’s also a marathon politician, having been a councillor for some 30 years.

I am disappointed that the Liberals did not bring in a new family law that helped children deal with the problem of being forced to choose which parent they love more during divorce. Still the BC Liberals did bring in a new family court form that allows you to check a box saying you would like to enforce your parenting time order. It will probably take you years to use this form without a lawyer, but it’s more than any other politicians have done for children across Canada in decades and we need to acknowledge that. Some say parents will look for excuses to get divorced in British Columbia, where they stand the best chance of being allowed parenting time. I believe Canada’s ridiculous Divorce Act is going to quickly collapse because taxpayers no longer want to fund our scandalous family courts. There is also the issue of so many American states – ten so far – that have already brought in a strong presumption of equal parenting or, as in the case of the state of Arkansas, “a presumption IN FAVOUR of equal parenting.”

This story leads to suggested rule number three: whoever is elected to our city council stands some chance of becoming a provincial legislator and 16 city servants around our province are running in this general election.

I was not able to speak with Don Stahl, before the all candidates meeting on May 7, but I was able to find him online by searching for a conservative candidate. There are 60 conservatives in this election. Don commented that there are 4 more independents who will immediately cross the floor to the conservatives as soon as they are elected. If you type the name of your riding and the word candidate into Google hopefully that will find all your candidates.

Abbotsford-Mission Independent Candidates

On May 7, I went to our All Candidates Meeting at Christian Life Assembly Church and met three new candidates:
Marcus Halliday, said the Excalibur Party believes in truth, honour and justice and at 18 years old, clearly advocated for youth, saying students need buses. Liberal Simon Gibson thanked Marcus for all his work with the Abbotsford-Mission Transportation Committee, but said lite rail and bus systems are big ticket capital expenses. Simon hopes our next transportation development will be bus service to Chilliwack. Presently Greyhound costs $17.64 return on a weekday. Don Stahl added to this conversation stating that 87% of Abbotsford residents use their car, and 5000 of us commute over the new Port Mann toll bridge to Vancouver at a price of $9,000/year. The toll is $7 or $14 return. If a commuter works five days/week, the bill should be $3,640/year – still a crazy price as part of our new user-pays philosophy.

Roman Bojczuk stated that as an independent he would only be one of 85 Members of our Provincial Legislature but he valued integrity and was committed to democracy. He said he would listen to the concerns of the people of Mission-Abbotsford and would work to resolve them.

Wendy Bales explained her activities on boards and committees and apparently has sat as a Director on the Fraser Valley Regional District Electoral Area C which includes the Hemlock Valley area. She spoke eloquently about the Gravel issue. She lamented that there was no process for resolving the conflicts between stakeholders, or between the BC Mines Act and Local Bylaws. She said there have been overlapping interests and cumulative impacts from land-based gravel extraction in our area. Conservative Don Stahl added that water-based extraction from the gravel bars of the Fraser River disrupts salmon habitat.

My Election – Abbotsford District Parent Council

It looks like our Abbotsford School District #34 Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) elections are actually going to go ahead as they are written in our DPAC Constitution. There has been some discussion among parents as to how to interpret the constitution’s instructions to hold nominations in April and an election in May. I suspect that after years of no elections, there is some resistance to holding a vote at all. But elections are healthy. If any Abbotsford parent of a current K-12 student would like to run for office, I heartily encourage you to get involved in education. Just email your name to the Abbotsford DPAC [dpac.sd34(at)gmail.com] and then show up for the vote on May 23rd. All jobs are open. It would be wise for you to read our Constitution first, so you know what kind of organization you are joining. Copies are only available at the school board office.

Bullying: Parental Silence and School Choice

You don’t ignore things to make them go away, you face them, you hit them head on, and you speak about it.

BC School Trustee’s AGM In Kelowna

The BC School Trustee’s Association (BCSTA) held it’s Annual General Meeting in Kelowna April 26 – 28. The big excitment was a push to ask the Provincial Government to change The School Act to allow the creation of Student Trustees, because students are often those most affected by school trustee’s decisions. The 112-99 vote was a disappointment for Vancouver trustees who had drafted the resolution in the hope of giving students a greater voice in their education. Read Janet Steffenhagen on the AGM vote.

We would like to thank the BC trustees who voted to support #StudentTrustees today. Canadian students will keep working. #bcsta#stuvoice

— StudentVoiceAlberta (@StudentVoiceAB) April 27, 2013

BCCPAC’s AGM In Richmond

Susan Wilson (treasurer) and Bonnie Krisher (director) were re-elected to a second term.

The British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC) held its Annual General Meeting on May 4th. This is a wonderful nonprofit student and family advocacy group. BCCPAC represents the District Parent Advisory Councils (DPAC), and Parent Advisory Councils (PAC) from every public school district in the province. Collectively, we represent the parents of the children in BC. Parents gathered from all over BC at the Hilton Hotel in Richmond and voting was held to select members of the executive for the next 2 year term. If you feel your family is in trouble at school and you have already tried to talk to the teacher with no results, I can tell you what BCCPAC would say about that…

Join the PAC. Get involved in education and try to make things better. It will make a big difference in your life.

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La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2014
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 351 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2014
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 351 days till Awareness Day!

Advocating For Children

Bullying Needs To Stop

Nova Scotia Premier Responds To Rehtaeh Parson’s Tragedy

The horrible story of a seventeen year old driven to suicide by photos of her sexual assault that was sent around to her classmates continues to reverberate across Canada and around the world. There has been outrage at her humiliation and the failure of almost every child protection department in our governments.

The Nova Scotia Premier, Darrel Dexter, said as a father first, who lives in the same community as Rehtaeh’s family, he felt, like most of us, indescribable, unimaginable grief. He could not imagine anyone going through this.

There was a cascade of events that led to the ultimate sad, and tragic death of Rehtaeh. As the Premier this is what his government is trying to do.

“We are trying to design a response that looks across the lines of individual departmental responsibilities. This is a question we’re going to address through the department of education, through health, through justice, through community services, with our partners on police forces and in school board administrations.”

“Young people move almost effortlessly – just living their lives – through the various areas of responsibility that the ones who look out for them hold.” – NS Premier Darrel Dexter

In the CTV Power Play interview, at counter time 1:00, the Premier mentions that on the last page of the 2011 Nova Scotia bully report Professor McKay noted sadly that “Technology has led to a deterioration of human relationships.”

The federal justice minister says the administration of justice is a provincial matter. Premier Dexter says that the communications laws and criminal code issues fall under federal jurisdiction. The Premier also says that there were so many agencies involved and so many opportunities to provide support and assistance, it obviously begs the question where were the gaps, why were the supports not there for this young woman.

PM Harper on Rehtaeh Parson’s Death

An Emotional Steven Harper Responds To Rehtaeh’s Tragedy

It was a busy day in politics and may change our history. Our Prime Minister joined in our global dialogue on bullying, saying when he heard the word bullying he thought of kids misbehaving. He said this was more than bullying, this was youth criminal activity: violent, sexual, internet criminal activity. One CBC news reporter commented that bullying may not be in the Canadian criminal code, but the Prime Minister was calling it criminal activity. For all parents, part of the challenge is to guide children growing up in a changing world where pictures never go away and one needs to navigate the Internet the way we would navigate our streets. Another part is working with teens substance use and club drugs – the type of alcohol and drug used by and against teens.

Barbara Coloroso defined bullying in her book, The Bully, The Bullied and The Bystander. She describes it as “arrogance in action” and “contempt” for another person who is deemed unworthy of one’s consideration. What makes bullying different from the normal conflicts kids have with one another is the fact that bullying is comprised of the following key elements: the intent to harm; an imbalance of power; repeated aggression and/or the threat of further aggression.

You can watch the Prime Ministers remarks on CBC News Nova Scotia.

The Amanda Todd case in British Columbia and the Audrie Pott case in Saratoga, California have been held up as eerily similar high school bullying cases.

Making A Difference In Canada

Communities Giving Voice To Sexual Assault Victims

I heard Prime Minister Harper’s discussion about Rehtaeh while he was in Calgary naming a child advocacy centre after Sydney Sheldon, saying “Our efforts to eliminate child abuse are being informed by brave people like Sheldon Kennedy.” The headline for this item comes from a report by the Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Women discussing the effects of violence on high school students. The first line of the report states violence can be either physical, such as rape, or psychological, including photographs, repeated insults meant to demean and erode self-esteem, and forced isolation from friends and relatives as happened to Rehtaeh.

NDP Vote with Conservatives to Kill Cyberbullying Bill

Many Schools May Need School Conduct Code Updates for 2013

We try to rehabilitate students aged 12 – 17 under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Where there is a link to schools, school authorities are expected to apply their Codes of Conduct. Many schools may need to update their Codes of Conduct to deal with life in 2013. Parliament is trying to update the Criminal Code to include cyberbullying, through Vancouver MP Hedy Fry’s private members bill. Criminal behaviour by students over the age of 18 is subject to the Canada Criminal Code. Unfortunately, the cyberbullying bill has been delayed.

The February 2013 agenda of the BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition shows we were all talking about the death of Dr. Clyde Hertzman, early childhood education and happy about Pink Shirt Day instead of watching the progress of the cyberbullying bill. The multiple and convoluted layers of child protection laws highlights how much we value children.

Breaking News!

RCMP will agree to work with Anonymous on Rehtaeh’s case if the Internet Hacker group will remove their masks.

CBC’s Anna Marie Tremonti asks how is Anonymous affecting police investigations.

Bitcoin: An open source P2P digital currency

Bitcoin is a digital currency, a protocol, and a software that enables:

Instant peer to peer transactions

Fast Worldwide payments

Low or zero processing fees

Multi-Signature Accounts

Protection against payment and chargeback fraud

Pseudo-anonymous online payments

You can be your own financial system

* And much more!

Bitcoin uses peer to peer technology to operate with no central authority; managing transactions and issuing Bitcoins are carried out collectively by the network. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment systems.

The software is a community-driven free open source project, released under the MIT license.

Thursday’s news report was the first time I had ever heard of Bitcoins, but apparently people are using this alternative currency to buy pizza, haircuts and even houses. It was created by persons unknown to assist drug dealers get paid. One man in the news report says he keeps all his savings $60 – 100,000 in Bitcoins. A Bitcoin used to be worth about $10 – $20, but since it hit the news this week, so many people have been buying in, the value has risen to $160 per Bitcoin. Reporters point out this makes it just as volatile as the stock market, but without any taxes. While average Canadians worry about hackers and online banking, early adopters are enjoying the freedom of carrying a cell phone instead of a wallet.

Check out the Bitcoin website.

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La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2013
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 12 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2013
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 12 days till Awareness Day!

Springing Forward

Dr. Bif Beats Adversity

In her Women’s Day address, rocker Bif Naked said she found two very powerful effects when helping other women through adversity. The first was laughter. Bif said she always tried to get people laughing even when they were all in a tough situation together, like facing cancer. Laughter and jokes always works to fight any health problem, any adversity.

The second was the power of connection. Bif said, “When we gather as groups, the connection we have will always get you through. The collective connection we have no matter what situation you are in, you can reach out to the hand of [another] and feel safe.” She said she does a lot of negative self talk. She allows herself to get defeated over the most stupid and shallow things. She said she thinks men probably do these things too. Negative self-talk is a human trait.

Bif was never really angry or confrontational. But she did say one thing that surprised me. Bif said when she thought Canada’s rape laws were too weak, she wrote a song entitled Come to Canada and Rape. In Abbotsford we have the Zero Tolerance Against Men Initiative and 64 BC child advocate agencies worry that the Canadian justice system is hyper-encarcerating boys and young men, especially First Nations children. All of us, or at least most of us, seem to agree that men can be, and often are, abused. According to a recent survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 40 percent of all victims of extreme domestic violence are men, with female perpetrators. Nonetheless, only 15 percent of all reported cases involve male victims, because, thanks to gender stereotypes, men know that society will most likely ridicule or dismiss them. And the high male suicide rate seems to suggest there is some negative self talk and defeat going on for everyone.

But this was Women’s Day after all and Bif finished up talking about the power of words, the power of music, and of course, the power of girls. The University of the Fraser Valley Senate has voted to give Bif an honorary doctorate for her important work helping women. Congratulations and thank you to the soon-to-be Dr. Bif for a cool talk.

Read AbbyNews article Bif Naked to receive doctorate from UFV.

Parent-Teacher News

Click if you are having trouble reading School Board News.

Bubble Science

We’ve had beautiful, sunny weather for two days now and I’m looking forward to “souffler des bulles d’amour” or breathing bubbles of love in the warm Spring sunshine with and for our kids.

I had a great time blowing bubbles last year and I don’t think I need to explain this phenomenon to you this year. Kids love to blow bubbles and even teens and adults laugh and get drawn in for a minute. You don’t even need a batch of cookies or any pamphlets about parental alienation (print Canadian pamphlets here). Just go to the Dollar Store, buy eight dollars worth of Bubble Wands in liquid soap and wait for a sunny Spring day. When a family comes by, ask the parents if they want a Bubble Wand, and watch the fun. It’s not an alternative to setting goals and creating an action plan, but when you feel really beat down by adversity, this is an inexpensive plan that helps everybody. First, it gives kids some fresh air and activity. Second, it gets everyone laughing. Third, it connects our communities. Beats the heck out of sitting around worrying about the problem. And you might just send the message that BOTH parents matter, so when parents remain at odds/contradict each other, it’s confusing and unsettling for kids, and can have long lasting effects.

I always love to learn new ways to blow bubbles. This morning a Dad taught me about the Bubble Pipe, like Santa Claus used to have before he quit smoking. Put your soap in a cup with a straw. Cover the cup with a Terry cloth, leaving the straw out. Blow in the straw long enough to fill the entire room with soap bubbles and foam, or until you feel dizzy, which ever happens first.

Sometimes on the Internet you will see photos of kids standing inside a soap bubble. It takes a lot of training to be a bubble scientist.

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La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2013
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 46 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2013
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 46 days till Awareness Day!

Child-Focused Budgets

Abbotsford School District Budget $170 Million

At our last school board meeting on Feb 5 Trustee John Sutherland said that the district education budget is bigger by far than the city budget. This comparison caught my attention, so I went out to research both budgets.

First, I spoke with Linda Peters, the Director of Finance at Abbotsford School District, to learn that the education budget for this year will be set at $170 Million, 85-90% of which will go to staff salaries. No one worries about the costs of school buildings or properties because those budgets do not represent market values. For example, ASIA Fine Arts School was donated to the district for a dollar. So the budget shows the value of this $10 Million school as one dollar. Linda says there are two major parts to the school district budget: the Operating Section includes the costs for operating all K-12 schools and the school board office. The Special Purpose Section includes non-standard expenses, like community links and StrongStart BC. Abbotsford has the StrongStart program running in the following eleven schools.

1. Alexander Elementary	(604) 859-3167	225 Lobban Rd
2. Clearbrook Elementary	(604) 859-5348	3614 Clearbrook Rd
3. Terry Fox Elementary	(604) 859-8403	3071 Babich St
4. Godson Elementary	(604) 853-8374	33130 Bevan Ave
5. John Maclure Community School	(604) 853-6450	2990 Oriole Cres
6. Dormick Park Elementary	(604) 859-3712	32161 Dormick Ave
7. Aboriginal Education Centre	(604) 859 1224	3277 Gladwin Rd
8. Harry Sayers Elementary	(604) 852-9665	31321 Blueridge Dr
9. Ten Broeck Elementary	(604) 850-6657	2580 Stanley St
10. Margaret Stenersen Elementary	(604) 859-3151	3060 Old Clayburn Rd
11. Dr. Thomas A Swift Elementary	(604) 853-7730	34800 Mierau St

BC’s Early Learning Programs

StrongStart BC early learning programs provide school-based early learning services for adults and their young children, aged birth to five, at no cost to families. Qualified early childhood educators lead learning activities, including stories, music and art to help children get ready for success in kindergarten.

Abbotsford City Budget

Next I spoke with Randy Miller, Budget and Payroll Manager for our city. Randy says our total municipal budget is $250 Million broken up into a $80 Million Capital section and a $170 Million Operating section. The Capital budget includes building roads, bridges, developing our water distribution system and our sewer system, and building fire halls, and other buildings. All this is called linear infra structure.

The operating budget includes 50% wages for city staff, like tradesmen and professional staff, Waterworks staff, Bylaw Enforcement staff, Fire Fighters and Police Officers. Randy compared the school district budget to our city budget this way. The education budget will probably be a single line of business. Our budget covers a range of a hundred different businesses.

I can already hear objections about the comparison of the education budget to our city budget. Teachers will point out the complexity of the Canadian education system. There will be an argument that an Orientation and Mobility Teacher of deaf and blind students or a Teacher of English Language Learners is completely different and specialized from an Elementary or Secondary Teacher or even a Principal. And all the complexity in Abbotsford’s 46 schools will be reflected in the school district budget. But it wasn’t me who made the comparison, it was the school trustees.

Stagflation and Inertia in British Columbia

This research points out two basic facts. Both the school budget and our city budget are large – a couple hundred million dollars each. And all budgets will be lean this year because by virtually any measure the state of the Canadian economy is anemic.

We all want to avoid huge service cuts, but huge wage increases of 15% for any workers seem unlikely. There are no new taxes. No increase in personal taxes, and no overtaxing of businesses. The oil glut has decreased the taxes we will have to spend. The employment rate is low. The inflation rate is near zero – some are calling this stag-flation. Businesses are sitting on a half trillion dollars of DEAD MONEY. The United States is facing a budget bomb on Friday, Mar 1, which could also blow up Canada.

Despite all this doom and gloom, Premier Christie Clark is very excited about our provincial budget which the government released February 19, 2013. She says BC is one of the only regions in North America to have recovered from the 2008 recession. Minister of Finance, Michael de Jong, was the first Abbotsford resident to bring in a provincial budget. Our Premier also says that families are a bedrock value and education is a core value of all Canadians. Here are four new education programs created in the BC budget that will concern parents.

1. B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant: A one-time $1,200 grant toward a B.C. resident child’s Registered Education Savings Plan after the child reaches age 6. Payments are made from the Children’s Education Fund, established 2007.

2. New B.C. Early Childhood Tax Benefit will provide $146 million to approximately 180,000 families with children under age six, effective April 1, 2015. Up to $55 a child/month, with most receiving the full amount. Those with family incomes between $100,000 and $150,000 a year will receive a partial benefit. About 90 per cent of B.C. families are expected to be eligible.

3. Early Years Strategy will invest $76 million over three years to support the creation of new child-care spaces and improve the quality of child care and early years services. This includes $32 million to support the creation of new childcare spaces and $37 million to improve quality of available services.

4. An interesting ten-week program to help BC seniors, 55 years and older, who want to stay in the workforce to do just that, by teaching them about computers.

By far the biggest budget item in any province is healthcare and the second biggest item is education. The steward of the economy is Prime Minister Harper. But Canada is in persistent debt. Can we deliver major government services, like healthcare, education and social services in a more cost effective way? How can we make our budgets sustainable?

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La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2013
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 58 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2013
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 58 days till Awareness Day!

Facts For Families

A kindergarten class in Firmi, France. Most students have Wednesday off, but the French government wants to add a half day of school for 3 to 11 year-olds starting in September. By NICOLA CLARK, Published: February 11, 2013

French Plan to Add to Already Lengthy School Days

Angers Parents and Teachers

PARIS — For more than a century, the lengthy school days of French children have been punctuated by a midweek day off, in recent decades for most children on Wednesdays, originally created for catechism studies.

The long hours and peculiar weekly rhythm have been criticized as counterproductive to learning and blamed for keeping women out of the full-time work force, as well as widening inequalities between rich and poor because of the demands they place on working parents. Yet the Wednesday break has remained a fulcrum of French family life.

With all that in mind, the government of President François Hollande recently issued a decree introducing a half day of school on Wednesdays for children 3 to 11 starting in September, while reducing the school day by 45 minutes the rest of the week. Read more of this NY Times article.

Digital Learning Day: A Global Perspective

It’s ironic that on this second annual Digital Learning Day, the U.S. Postal Service announced that it wants to end mail service on Saturdays. We truly are at tipping point where digital is taking over the print and analog world and today’s students will be experiencing even more of this change throughout their lives.

Global Kids, an award-winning in-school and afterschool New York City youth program, is joining millions of U.S. students today participating in activities that spotlight successful instructional technology practice in the classroom. Read the Huffington Post article by Evie Hantzopoulos Feb 7, 2013.

The Missing Piece from Education Reform: Dads

(CNN) – There is no shortage of answers about how to improve our nation’s schools, including more charter schools, school vouchers, standardized testing, lower teacher-student ratios and performance-based hiring, pay and promotion of teachers.

However, what we find lacking in almost every debate about education reform is the role of families – especially fathers – and the support they can and should provide to ensure children’s educational success.

If parents, educators and reformers are to make a difference in improving children’s educational success, we must expand our definition of education reform. We must move beyond the myopic focus on education systems and implement tactics that include a more prominent place for parent involvement in schools. Read the rest of the CNN special by Christopher Brown and Vincent DiCaro.

Helping Teens With Stress

Not all children grow from infancy through their adolescent years without experiencing some bumps along the way. While every child is unique and special, sometimes they encounter emotions, feelings or behavior that cause problems in their lives and the lives of those around them. Families often worry when their child or teenager has difficulty coping with things, feels sad, can’t sleep, gets involved with drug, or can’t get along with family or friends.

The AACAP developed Facts for Families to provide concise and up-to-date information on issues that affect children, teenagers, and their families. The AACAP provides this important information as a public service and the Facts for Families may be duplicated and distributed free of charge as long as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is properly credited and no profit is gained from their use.

The AACAP has produced the Facts for Families in English and Spanish. Other translations available on the WWW, while perhaps based on the original, were created independently and without benefit of AACAP review. Here are the facts for families.

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La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2013
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 72 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2013
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 72 days till Awareness Day!

Happy Family Day

Nature vs Nurture

UBC Child-Development Expert Clyde Hertzman Dies

Dr. Hertzman stated in the video below that our DNA is constantly affected by where we grow up, live and learn. Our cognitive development, our social-emotional development – our basic capacities that eventually create our identity – are all affected by our parents or our parent figures, our teachers, and our community.

Friend and colleague Jim Dunn called Dr. Hertzman the “ultimate blend of scholar and advocate,” noting that he made a complex subject accessible by adding the element of humanity.

“He brought a body of knowledge that was somewhat sequestered in clinical studies and experimental studies and really mainstreamed it for the policy audience and the general public at large,” he said. “The conversation that we have in this country about healthy child development – we don’t always act on it – is far more sophisticated than it was 15 years ago, and Clyde was a huge part of that.”

Federally-Appointed Supreme Court Judges Earn $219,000/Year

As parents we may need to to explain this new science to family court Judges. It is unfortunate that Judges are not held more accountable by their professional association. What they are doing is clearly worrisome. If judges were required to keep themselves updated in their practice of family law the way doctors, nurses, and teachers are held accountable, it would not be a parent’s job to present the latest child health science to professionals earning $219,000 a year because they are supposedly already experts in the area of child development.

Lawyers choose specific practice areas to work in for a reason. There are simply too many areas of the law for any one lawyer to be a master at every one of them. Clients are best served when a lawyer focuses his or her time on a few specific areas of the law and becomes proficient in those areas.

It’s a lot like the practice of medicine. There are some general practice physicians who will refer you to a doctor practicing in a specific area of medicine if the situation warrants it. You wouldn’t go to a podiatrist to diagnose your cardiac problem, you’d go to a cardiologist. So far only doctors are standing up to the devastating effects of Canadian family courts.

Family Day Candlelight Vigil in Edmonton

BC Family Day is a great time to talk about Family Day in Alberta. On Sunday, February 17, 2013, parents are holding a Family Day Candlelight Vigil for for all the children growing up without the benefit of responsible, loving parents, in front of the Law Courts Building in Edmonton.

Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives

Bringing Mental Health Into the Mainstream

Canada’s Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868) Click image for website

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La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2013
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 72 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2013
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 72 days till Awareness Day!

A Parent’s Voice

School Board News

Horse-Assisted Education

There were three delegations to the school board this week. The students and staff of Robert Bateman Secondary described their new Equestrian Program. Principal Jinder Sarwora explained that Mr. Bateman has often said he is more of an environmentalist than an artist, and that kids should walk outside, take a deep breath, and appreciate and enjoy nature. The mission statement states: “Bateman Equestrian Education is designed to educate students through personalized learning; connecting students with horses to participate in a high school accredited course focusing on horsemanship skills along with the care and management of individual project horses.” “It’s a perfect opportunity to find passion and engagement for Aboriginal Students – and earn credit for that towards their graduation,” notes Aboriginal Education District Principal Perry Smith. The program is a first for the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland, and fairly unique in BC.

Organizations involved in the partnership are: Robert Bateman Secondary, the District Aboriginal Education department, Cayley Wilson Performance Horses, Farm Credit Canada, and Horse Council BC.

English Language Learners Report

Ms. Kanta Naik, District Principal-ELL Review/Immigrant Settlement Workers, gave the English Language Learners (ELL) Report for this year. I attended last year’s report as well, which I believe was called the English as a Second Language (ESL) Report. Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) is an outreach program that helps immigrant and refugee students and their families. There are 2000 ELL students in Abbotsford. Helping immigrant students who are late arrivals or who have no previous school experience requires teaching social english first. Eventually the goal is to improve academic english or schooleeze. Principal Naik and her impressive team train ELL teachers and create curriculum. They plan, teach, evaluate, review, and then re-teach. Her team shows teachers how to teach and then checks results to prove we are using a good system.

Dr. Virginia Rojas travels extensively around the world to develop language programs and will train ALL faculty at five Abbotsford schools: Harry Sayers Elementary, Ten-Broek Elementary, Roberta Bondar Elementary, Clearbrook Elementary, and Rick Hansen Secondary.

Principal Naik also talked about Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model, which is a research-based and validated instructional model that has proven effective in addressing the academic needs of English learners throughout North America.

Summer School 2012 Report

Paper-Based Courses

Vice-Principal Jasbir Singh reported that 10% of Abbotsford students took advantage of summer school last year, with 1700 students in 10 sites. In these real classrooms, made out of bricks and mortar, students devoted a month of their summer break to study for 5 hours per day for 20 days. Some of the more popular paper-based courses were Math, Calculus, Physics and Socials. All had over 92% completion rates. There is a $100.00 seat deposit for paper-based courses – refundable upon completion of two weeks of Summer School.

On-line Courses

Principal Brad Hutchinson explained that in the virtual classrooms, students still completed 100 hours of work, but they did it on their computers at home. Grade 8 and 9 students were eager to study On-line Planning 10, a Health and Career course to help kids connect learning in school to the demands of the workplace. This was the most popular course. Students must complete Planning 10 in order to satisfy provincial graduation requirements. English 11 was the second most popular virtual course. Twenty seven percent of online students were adults. In 2011, 30% of online students failed to complete or withdrew from their courses. In 2012, a $25.00 seat deposit was created for on-line courses, reducing course withdrawal to 2%.

The Principals are hoping to continue to increase completion rates and look forward to a time when students can be ready for university courses in five years rather than twelve. Already we see some Abbotsford students studying university courses by Grade 10.

Our teachers are also hoping to engage our community in a discussion about what some of these possibilities and opportunities will look like in our future summer classrooms. They are also recommending some school-based consultations. Everyone needs to be aware and involved in creating these types of changes.

Bubbles of Love Day

Thursday, April 25

Thursday, April 25th 2013 will be a big day!

At noon I am going to Abbotsford Water Park to raise awareness about parental alienation and blow BUBBLES OF LOVE for our children. Take a moment, even if you’re at work, to think about kids by chewing some bubble gum or blowing some soap bubbles and joining with us in trying to find ways to help them have two parents in our changing families.

At 7pm, I will attend this year’s DPAC elections. Our parent councils have been such a big part of my parenting. I am looking forward to another great year. Come out and get involved in education and tell us your family’s ideas.

About DPAC

What follows is an explanation of parent oversight entities from Vancouver parents. The Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) is a collection of parents (elected by PACs) working with the common goal of supporting education for all the children of Abbotsford.

Our purpose is to: Support Parent Advisory Councils (PACs) at the school level and to encourage them to share their parents views at the district and provincial levels. Represent the views of city parents to the Vancouver Board of Education through participation on school board standing and advisory committees. Advocate for Vancouver parent concerns at the provincial level through representation to the British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC), Abbotsford Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), and the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) does not represent one voice. We try to represent the diverse views of Abbotsford PACs and parents. Recognizing that each student is unique, our goal is to attain the best education for all students in our school district (SD#39).

We strive to ensure that our input to various committees and levels of government will represent the diverse views of Vancouver PACs. We strive to ensure that the Vancouver Board of Education is communicating clearly with city PACs.

We invite all PACs to become informed and participate in the workshops and meetings with our DPAC hosts.

In Abbotsford, there are seven elected positions on the DPAC executive plus some appointed community positions (Special Ed, Abby Youth Council, Traffic and Safety). Please take the time to share your PACs views and concerns with your District Parent Advisory Council Executive members or myself. Read the original Vancouver DPAC version.

Next DPAC Meeting Thursday, February 28, 7pm

Special Needs/Learning Support Services in Abbotsford Schools

Heidi Vinois, an Abbotsford Mom, came to the school board back in February 2012 and gave a presentation about how she felt it was important to increase the wages of Abbotsford Teacher Assistants to help special education students by bringing TA wages up to par with surrounding cities.

The Abbotsford DPAC website says that at our February 28th meeting the teachers will make a presentation on how Special Education is changing and where Abbotsford is today. Teachers will describe how many students we have with special needs and ask how we should change our staffing and programs to meet those needs. These questions will be explored with parents. This topic is both related to Heidi’s ideas for increased TA wages and an issue that touches many families. Come and hear the details.

As well, Learning Support Services (LSS) will be giving an update of the new ministry mandate of ERASE BULLYING, describing some supports for the victim and for the bully in a school community. Critical Incident updates will be another topic, showing parents the direction of Learning Supports in our district.

This will probably be our last public DPAC Meeting before our April 25th DPAC Elections. But in the meantime, it’s budget time. Our School Board is planning on holding a public meeting – the date to be announced – to explain our School District budget, which Trustee John Sutherland explains is approximately $155 Million. That’s bigger by far than our City budget because the city does not have 2000 employees.

Lindsay Blackstock uploaded this DPAC Agenda file to Facebook.

Abbostsford School Board Office 2790 Tims Street, Abbotsford: Click To Enlarge Map

La fête des bulles d’amour – le 25 avril, 2013
Ensemble, nous sommes capables de beaucoup.
Il n’y a que 78 jours avant la journée de sensibilisation!

Bubbles Of Love Day – April 25, 2013
Together We Can Make A Difference
Only 78 days till Awareness Day!