As November drew to a close, the BC School Trustees Association held their annual Academy. This year’s Academy moved back to downtown Vancouver, taking place at the Hyatt Regency hotel in the heart of the city.
Trustees from throughout BC convened within the Vancouver for a weekend of learning, sharing and challenging one another. With nearly 50% of BC’s trustees being new to the position following the general election, the event focused on building strong boards, with the guiding theme of trustees being “elected, engaged and empowered.”
Over the course of three days, trustees (along with other key figures in public education, including superintendents and secretary-treasurers and more) drew upon both their peers as mentors and expanded their understanding of trusteeship by way of the programming curated under the guidance of BCSTA’s education services department and the Associations Professional Learning Committee.
The keynote speaker for the event was George Couros, a leading educator in the area of innovative leadership, teaching and learning. George left a lasting impression on attendees through his energic presentation and a pre-conference talk focused on the importance of taking ownership of one’s digital footprint.
The conference continued with several concurrent sessions, a provincial council meeting, a panel of key education partners speaking about their roles in public education, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Association and the Ministry of Education, and more. You can get a sample of what occurred at the Academy by reviewing BCSTA’s Flickr album dedicated to the event or by reading our Synopsis report.
BCSTA would like to thank everyone who attended, volunteers and otherwise contributed to making this event a success. Feedback for the event was strong, and BCSTA looks forward to continuing its profession development initiatives into the new year. These events include a joint BCSTA / BCPSEA Orientation in January as well as a travelling Leadership Series that will make several stops across the province over the course of four months. A rundown of these events can be accessed here on our website. BCSTA’s annual general meeting is also scheduled to run in April, with details coming soon