Analysis of the PAC Survey
June 23, 2013
Executive summary:
Thank you to everyone who participated. We had 45 respondents, which isn’t too
terrible given the fact that it’s June!
The biggest takeaway from the survey for us is the overall feeling that we are doing
a pretty good job, but that we could significantly improve at parental inclusivity. We
do a decent job communicating outward, but we aren’t doing a great job at “Creating
a culture of parental involvement” as one person commented. A number of
responses also indicated that we could be more fun and welcoming. This is a great
thing for us to discuss and come up with a plan to promote the involvement of
parents and improve the communication channels for parental input to the school
and school board. If anyone reading this has any interest in helping with this, please
email us at: bicspac@SD45.bc.ca . We’d love the help.
The second most important takeaway was the topics for presentations at the PAC
meetings next year. The topics of most interest to parents will be prioritized and we
will come up with a calendar for the next year. Budget priorities will also be
analyzed based on this feedback.
Detailed Summary:
Knowledge of the PAC
97% of respondents are aware of the PAC and know at least a little bit about what
we do.
Importance of PAC Functions
Most respondents believe the more important functions of the PAC are the ones that
have a direct impact impact on the kids. These two functions were the top priority to
respondents:
 Enhancing the quality of the education and welfare of students- 91% Very
Important
 Fundraising for amenities that enhance the school life- 76% Very Important
These two functions tied for 3rd place with 71% calling them “Very Important”:
 Organizing activities and events which support and enhance the school
 Promoting the involvement of parents.
Functional Areas for Improvement
26% of respondents said we “need improvement” on:
 Promoting the involvement of parents.
 Advising the school board, principal and staff on parental views.
21% said we “need improvement” on

Assisting with communication between parents and the school.
Overall, the majority of respondents were “Happy” (56%) or “Somewhat Happy”
(18%) with our performance. 18% Say they are “extremely happy” and 9% say they
are “somewhat unhappy”. No one responded with “Unhappy” or Extremely
unhappy” (but that could just be a product of politeness ).
PAC Meeting Attendance
 47% of respondents had never attended a PAC meeting
 21% used to but don’t anymore
More likely to attend if
 38% said if their were presentations that interested them.
 29% said if they receive the agenda ahead of time
 15% said if they felt more welcomed
47% said they had no interest in ever attending and 18% said they’d be happy to
volunteer but were not interested in meetings.
88% of respondents attend PAC events at least some of the time.
Presentation topics for PAC meetings
Top five:
 Improving math performance
 Changes to the BC curriculum
 Info. about Student Support Services
 Social Emotional Learning
 Transition to High School
Lowest:
 District technology policies
 Budget input
 Teacher unions
One suggestion was adding Computer Science to the curriculum.
Budget input from parents
Top five (ranked from highest) :
 Classroom funds for teachers
 Cultural enrichment
 PE enrichment
 Technology upgrades
 Library purchases
Lowest (list ranked from lowest)
 Grade 7 graduation
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Outdoor learning centre improvements
Homework club
PE program & Equipment
Family Education
Suggestions were made to add budget for lunch supervision and a paid volunteer
coordinator position to help with creating a culture of parent involvement.
Ideas for future PAC projects included
 Finish the OLC
 Visual arts programs
One person wondered how we chose projects to focus on.
 The answer for that person is that we take pitches from parents and staff and
then discuss them and vote on them during our budget planning each year.
Fundraising ideas
 One parent thought it might be good to let parents know the annual
fundraising goal per student in the school and see if they would be willing to
make a cash donation to help us reach our goal at the start of the year.
 One parent commented that any fundraiser that involves the kids is great.
 One parent thought a “Popcorn Wednesday” would work great.
Communication with parents
Parents receive information from the following top sources:
 Bics this Week
 PAC Newsletter
 Emails
No one receives information from the PAC portion of the BICS website
Communication improvement suggestion
 One respondent thought a Calendar of Events like we did in the last PAC
Newsletter was very handy.