Join us in the library at 6:30pm on Wednesday, October 18th.
(Use the gym entrance.) We hope to see you there!

The following letter was emailed with the newsletter on Friday. If you did not receive the newsletter, contact the school office and check your contact information. First and second contacts were emailed.

October 12, 2023

Dear fellow Parents & Guardians,

We need your help.

For the past few years, the Robert Ogilvie PAC (Parent Advisory Council) has survived on a skeleton crew, and now we are in the unfortunate position of being below the threshold number of volunteers needed to keep operating. If we are forced to close our doors due to lack of volunteers, we will no longer be eligible to receive the BC Government PAC funding that our kids currently benefit from. Last year’s grant was over $4000.

What does PAC do?

Every year we apply for, and receive thousands of dollars of grant money from the BC Government’s Gaming Commission to put towards extra-curriculars for our students. Last year we put some of those funds towards a Grade 6 farewell party, including sweaters & yearbooks for all departing Grade 6’s, and food. We also designed, printed and subsidized the yearbooks for all students – bringing the price down from $15-20 per book to $5 per book, in order to make them affordable for all of our families. The PAC contributed towards the Mingle Jingle in December, we gave away a scooter on bike night, and gave away treats throughout the year. Last year the PAC also helped facilitate corporate sponsors to pay for some of the Soup & Bannock, or Bannock Taco days, as well as facilitating volunteers to help make & hand out the food. In previous years, the PAC has also helped facilitate extra grants and funding to get new or upgraded playgrounds and equipment.

How does PAC operate?

First, we meet once a month – on the third Wednesday of the month (on average 7-8 times per year) for 1-1.5 hours. Typically a parent will invest about 10 hours total of volunteer time, and not everyone has to make every meeting. We are usually able to meet with one of our administrators, and they give us updates on what is happening in the school, and we are able to ask questions/make requests for them to look into on our behalf as parents. This is the PARENT ADVISORY part of the Parent Advisory Council. Every single one of you that is a parent/guardian of a student in Robert Ogilvie is ALREADY A MEMBER of the PAC, and has the right to attend these meetings in order to help us decide what to do with our funds.

We also have the opportunity to be a part of the District PAC (a body of PAC reps who are able to make suggestions and requests of the Ministry of Education),and the Superintendent PAC (the Superintendent of School District 60 meets with the DPAC at a separate meeting in order to update us on what is happening district wide, as well as giving us the chance to ask questions/make requests for them to look into on our behalf as both PAC reps and parents.

What happens next?

If we are forced to close our doors, we lose the opportunity to have a say in so many things about our kids’ education. We also lose the money we currently have, and any future grants. Any money in our accounts (which is currently around $9000-$10,000) will be divvied up between other school PACs in the district. We need your help to continue to operate. We are in desperate need of a treasurer, and a vice-president in order to complete our board.

Last year everything we did was accomplished by an average of 4-6 people. We could do so much more with a few more people. At the moment we have only 2 board members. It’s not enough.

Our next meeting is Wednesday October 18 at 6:30pm in the school’s library. Please attend and consider volunteering.

Sincerely,

Jenn Merrett – PAC president.  Email: ROPACpres@hotmail.com