Marvin Klassen is a parent with one child going into Grade 4 and another into Grade 11 next week.
So the Port Coquitlam dad has experience that runs the gamut, which will stand him in good stead as he helms the School District 43 District Parent Advisory Council for the upcoming school year.
The immigration lawyer got into the role after getting involved in his school parent advisory council and spent two years as DPAC treasurer.
He urges other parents to get involved to better stay informed about their schools and the education system, which is rapidly changing with a redesigned curriculum, greater use of technology and new report cards in the future.
“I always seemed to be missing the notices or not understanding the notices,” Klassen said of the time before he joined a school PAC. “So my wife and I decided to get more involved.”
In addition to staying informed about school business, attending PAC and DPAC meetings provides opportunities for parents to have a voice into what’s going on as well as for education that could help them navigate the school system.
For example, Klassen said monthly DPAC meetings feature speakers from the School District 43 administration team, who will talk about upcoming trends such as curriculum changes, new programs to support children with anxiety and potential changes to report cards.
“I really believe parents need to be involved. Their voices are really important and there’s a lot you learn that you can’t get from your children or even your teacher.”
The local DPAC has a website (www.dpac43.ca) and hosts education events and upcoming topics will include conflict resolution to help parents deal with issues at the school or board office in a positive way.
Klassen said the impetus for the topic came from discussions about a new parent code of conduct that SD43 administrators proposed during the last school year and is still being worked on.
“We want to explain what are the steps [to getting parents concerns dealt with], a lot of us don’t read the School Act to know how to deal with this system.”
As well, this year the DPAC plans to get more involved in the BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, which represents parents of all B.C. public schools.
“We want to be a voice at the BCCPAC table,” Klassen said.
• More information is available at www.dpac43.ca and at your local school. As well, many school PACs have Twitter and/or Facebook accounts.
