Our Ongoing Committee Work
Prepared by Celina Mau, Vice President
Since the amendment of our Bylaws last Spring, your executive body has been gradually working towards aligning our executive’s practice pertaining to Executive Succession and Association Sustainability.
Executive Succession: Here is a quick overview of a few established committees under the Member Services Portfolio, within my VP’s role and responsibilities.
- Scholarships Committee is led by Jeff Larcombe along with his team: Allan Buggie, Christine Johnson, Paul Taylor, and me as ex-officio. On Wednesday, April 6, the team met in the BCPVPA office to review all 55 We have aligned our scholarship timeline with that of BCPVPA and now allocate our Scholarships in April instead of October.
- Affinity Benefits and Pension Committee operates under the leadership of Marsha Arnold, who is also in charge of our Affinity Benefits Special Bulletin. Elaine McVie is the member working with her on a Special Project focusing on Members’ Well- Being. At our late March Zoom meeting, it was determined that, between now and the end of June, Elaine would be making personal contacts with our recent retired members of less than three years. Her findings would help the executive to determine next steps of support services.
- Membership Committee consists of Deborah Luporini and me. Our collective responsibilities are to work closely with BCPVPA designated staff in maintaining an up-to-date Membership List. Over the Spring Break, we had a Zoom meeting with BCPVPA Executive Director, Kevin Reimer and Director of Finance, Carol Powell to review a few of our current practices so as to be more efficient in how we operate under this committee. Thank you to Christine, our President for setting up this meeting with Kevin and supporting us in our discussion with Kevin and Carol. Yearly, our executive would spend time at an executive meeting to identify the theme of our Speakers Program and together, as a team, we search for suitable candidates to speak at the annual/general This year, Eileen Phillips is our coordinator whose main role is to communicate with the identified speaker(s), introduce/thank the speaker(s), prepare a marketing script of the program, and write a summary for our newsletter.
Sunshine Committee is responsible for bringing ‘sunshine’ to our members as well as thanking those in partnership with us like BCPVPA staff. Reports were shared with members at each of our general meetings.
Association Sustainability: Our executive members began the year grappling with the key question of ‘What is our Association’s Mission and Vision?’ We spent the first five months of the year discussing the purpose of our existence before creating a Mission Statement (to be ratified at our upcoming May AGM). We have recently focused on how best to support those who have retired during Pandemic times. After much reflection, a
Membership Recruitment Committee was formed to address this sensitive yet timely topic. The members of this committee comprise Christine Johnson, Deborah Luporini, and me. This committee dovetails seamlessly with efforts put forth by Marsha and Elaine on Members’ Well-Being Special Project. So, at times, the two committee groups would come together via Zoom to collaborate, brainstorm ideas and/or develop action plan. Currently, we are working in close partnership with BCPVPA Executive Director, Kevin Reimer, and his team to look at ‘how’ our association could support the recent retirees and those ‘soon to retire’ members. Stay tuned for a more detailed account of the plan in the next Newsletter.
Hot off the press! March 2022 BCPVPA Principl(ed) Magazine featuring the following topics. Thank you to BCPVPA for inviting our President Christine to submit an article on ‘Why Join BCRPVPA?’ Here is the link, https://www.bcpvpa.org/resources/publications/principl-ed-magazine
- (Pages 20 – 23) “What’s your plan for retirement?” highlights the key benefits of joining BCRPVPA upon retiring from BCPVPA
(Pages 77 – 85) Part II of the article, “Thriving in Education” a BCPVPA Survey on how to help strengthen the foundations of our working colleagues who are new to the profession
(Pages 86 – 88) Last Word: One Conversation at a Time with BCPVPA Executive Director, Kevin Reimer on the topic of BCPVPA Mentorship Program since its inception
To conclude my report, your executive has been hard at work to hold true to our newly created and ‘soon to be ratified’ Mission Statement, “We strive to support the wellbeing of our members through a variety of services, interests, and resources. We also endeavour to contribute to the educational community.”
