ASCD Board Visit to Vancouver
ASCD is governed by a group of 21 elected members. Once a year the Board chooses a location outside of the United for States for one of their regular meetings and this year they chose Vancouver. Their visit began on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 and concluded on the following Sunday.
Their schedule typically allows them to hold one business meeting as well as opportunities to learn as much as possible about public education in the region of their visit. They also take every opportunity to visit tourist sites and generally learn more about the geography of the area.
Members of BCASCD were very involved in assisting with the pre-visit planning and also volunteered to accompany Board members throughout their time in Vancouver.
Many of the present BCASCD executive we able to meet with Board members during a dinner hosted by ASCD during the first day of their visit.
Other activities enjoyed by the Board included visits to schools in both Richmond and Vancouver. In all, they visited four different schools. In each school visit the focus was different in an effort to share as much as possible regarding what we offer through our public schools. Feedback from the Board following each of these visits was most encouraging and in all cases participating staff and students shared many exemplary programs.
On one afternoon of the visit, the Board meet with representatives of the following groups (teachers, school administrators, superintendents, universities, Ministry of Education, BCASCD and parents) who all participated in what proved to be a very interesting and informative discussion regarding a variety of programs, initiatives and challenges presently being experienced by schools across the province.
Other activities planned for the Board included: a tour of the Olympic Speed Oval; a trip to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC; a tour of the new Convention Center; and a one day trip to Whistler. The group concluded their trip with a ferry trip to Victoria where they held a one day business meeting before returning to Vancouver the following day by air.
The feed back from the individual Board members as well as accompanying staff, which included their Executive Director Dr. Gene Carter, was very positive. In fact, Dr. Carter has invited some of the educators he met during this trip to consider submitting articles for future editions of the popular ASCD monthly publication called Educational Leadership or EL.
BCASCD was very pleased that the ASCD Board chose Vancouver for this important annual adventure.
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