Who are DPAC

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What is DPAC?

DPAC Executive 2012-2013

Diana Day, A resident of Vancouver since 1983, Diana comes from the Oneida First Nations Community in Southern Ontario. She is a solo parent of two children; a 16 year old son attending City School a mini school located at King George Secondary and a 15 year old daughter in her 2nd year at Vancouver Technical. Diana has worked in a variety of capacities in community development and social services. Her experience includes work at the local, provincial and national levels, ranging from program delivery to program management. Diana has provided personal and professional development training to Aboriginal people in Canada and the U.S. She has a BA Honours degree in Psychology. Diana is a recipient of the Gold Feather Award from the Pacific Association of First Nations Women for her achievements in working with Aboriginal communities. She currently holds the position of Leader, Aboriginal Community Development/Engagement with Vancouver Coastal Health, a position she has held since 2008.

Diana became involved with parent advisory committees early on, when both children attended Grandview Terrace Childcare Centre, and later became an active member of the Grandview Elementary PAC. More recently Diana assumed an executive role on the PAC as Co Chair of Vancouver Technical Secondary and as their DPAC Representative to meetings. Diana has an interest in working with the DPAC to ensure a parent voice is provided at each of the committees and to bring back this information to local PAC’s. Her interest includes looking at ways to provide the much needed services so that all children are able to benefit fully from attending schools in the VSB region.

Iraj Khabazian is a father of an 8-year old girl, who attends Thunderbird Elementary School ("Thunderbird") – he is very involved with all aspects of his daughter’s life to ensure a safe, healthy, and happy development. Iraj wishes to maintain the positive points within the current education system and enhance the areas that are in need of improvement, such as funding. He has been involved with Thunderbird PAC since 2006 and is currently PAC Chair. He is a dedicated volunteer with 3-4 different none for profit organizations as well as other community diversity initiatives. One of his volunteer positions turned into a part-time employment as a Family Support Worker. In addition, he helps new immigrants by assisting them with their need for housing, education, and advancement in life – he also writes business proposals for new immigrants through various law groups. Moreover, Iraj has a biochemistry degree with some of his research work published in journals. Furthermore, he obtained a certificate in forensic science, which is the basis for his validation project in forensics with the college. Finally, Iraj is very passionate about minimizing the lack of understanding (cultural, religious, political, etc...) that can be a causal factor in the lack of equal opportunities for all - he is a strong advocate for promoting awareness, accessibility to resources, natural justice, and client-friendly services to encourage a safer, healthier and friendlier community for people of all ages and ethnicities. Iraj enjoys music, poetry, outdoor activities, dinning, sports, and social gathering.

Ivy Leung, Co-Vice-Chair is the mother of a fully self-expressed 11 year old daughter who attends Vancouver District Montessori Program. Ivy has served in the roles PAC chair, Fundraising chair, class parent teacher liaison, and hot lunch volunteer in last 3 years. She has led PAC to implement a new hot lunch program, to fund-raise for 2 new playgrounds and to create Chinese Tea events - welcomed new Mandarin and Cantonese parents, assisted newcomers to integrate into school community.

Ivy has a huge stand for progressive education - emphasis of learning by doing, problem solving and critical thinking, collaborative and cooperate learning projects, group work and development of social skills, education for democracy and social responsibility.

Ivy commits to a fully funded and sustainable school system that empowers children in their ability to deal with peer pressure, to teach responsibility and enable confidence in facing challenges of life. She promises that each and every child knows themselves as someone who makes a profound difference.

Monica Moberg, Treasurer is the mother of a student in the Vancouver School system. She strongly believes that well-being is connected to community involvement. She wants to enhance the information stream to parents regarding today's vital issues in education. This is a new endeavour for her and she looks forward to the educational experience and learning curve. Monica has many interests for example: gardening , reading, music (from classical to soul) and self-improvement.

Colin Redfern, Chair is the father of two children In the Vancouver school system. Colin has been involved with his Children’s school’s PAC since 2006. Colin was born in raised in Vancouver and attended Vancouver public schools. In addition to that experience Colin had a parent who taught in the Vancouver public system from 1973 to 2002. Colin is a facilities engineering manager; working for advanced education and healthcare facilities for the last 23 years. This background gives Colin an experienced and parochial perspective on the evolution of the Vancouver Public system over the last 40 years and how facilities infrastructure is vital to delivering quality education. Colin is involved with advocating on behalf of students and their parents, as an executive member of the Vancouver Chapter of Gifted Children and the East Van Chapter of Canadian Parents for French (CPF). Colin is committed to seeing a fully and sustainably funded education system that supports all learners.

Jim Smith is the father of 2 boys aged 8 and 14, each in the Vancouver public system, at Thunderbird and Vancouver Technical. Jim has been involved with the Thunderbird PAC for the past year. He is retired and keeps busy working at other tasks on his computer. His education and interests include politics, history and education. He is a strong supporter of public education and ensuring every child is given equal opportunity to be educated and succeed regardless of ethnicity or family income. Jim was born in Toronto, graduated from York University and has lived in Vancouver since 1988, where he met and married his wife from the Philippines. Other members of her family have arrived to work and live in Vancouver. Their children also attend Thunderbird Elementary.

He is particularly interested in the future of the public school system and how that can benefit the new generation of students. How technology will impact our schools and how the students and teachers will adjust to this new way of imparting information to the students is an ongoing concern. Parents and caregivers will play an increasingly important role in this new frontier. Local PACS will play an important role in communicating these changes to parents in the years ahead.

Mabel Sun is a mother of a 14 year old daughter who is in grade 9 at Magee secondary. She has more than 15 years of professional experience in PR, marketing, sales, training, and career counselling. She is also a well trained life coach. She has keen interest in helping immigrant integrate to Canadian society, advocating connection and unity among different communities. She is currently holding a Co-chair position at Magee PAC, and focus on parent education and parent support network to enhance the parent's understanding of school system as well as the positive and healthy relationship between parents and their children. Mabel speaks fluent Mandarin and is very familiar with social media in both English and Chinese.

Jennifer West, Co-Vice-Chair is Mum to two enthusiastic boys in elementary school. Jennifer is well acquainted with issues facing education such as balancing multiple priorities within shrinking budgets. Jennifer is particularly interested in the role of technology within the classroom, the education of boys, and advocacy to improve education funding for all Vancouver students.

Sarina Auriel is a Community Member on our DPAC Executive.  As a former elected member of DPAC, she continues to be interested and engaged with our DPAC Executive providing some historical perspective and support to initiatives of past DPAC Executive Boards. 

DPAC Resources

Steve Baker (Communications Coordinator), As a former member of the Vancouver DPAC and BCCPAC Board, Steve brings a wealth of experience and perspective to DPAC in a role of Communication Coordinator.  In his role he provides information to our DPAC and PAC Executive members and parents through our alternate website and monthly e-bulletins. 

Claudia Ferris (Media Relations) is a former member of DPAC and is also a video producer (including our video series on "Parents are Teachers Too".  With the number of media calls DPAC receives, Claudia provides our DPAC Executive and Communications Coordinator support in the area of research and response to education issues in the forefront of the news.