BCTEA President’s Message – May 3, 2023
As we enter the last quarter of the year, it’s the time where timetable planning and grad events start taking over. Hopefully student projects are taking form and all is well with you. The BCTEA executive met last weekend in the beautiful Comox Valley to spend a couple days mid-year planning (not mid school year, but midway to the next conference.) and visit the PSA Day conference sites. All the members of the executive are excited for the conference in October and hope you are looking forward to it as much as we are. With an understanding that a conference on the island will incur more travel costs for most, you will notice the conference costs are lower than last year. The local committee in Courtenay/Comox and the executive are working to make this another stellar experience. A number of Tech Ed teachers have already applied for additional Pro-D funding through their local and have been covered for travel and accommodation, I encourage you all to look into options in your districts, often there are many thousands of Pro-D dollars waiting to be used.
Other than conference planning, the executive worked through ongoing initiatives. These included updates to the BCTEA Best Practices Guide, improving our lines of communication to you the members (through multiple avenues,) planning priorities for the next bargaining round, creating documentation to improve enrolment in Tech Ed teacher training programs, connecting and making plans to further collaborate with the Washington State version of our organization (WITEA) and planning resources for you through materials and potential grants. We are planning on resurrecting the e-view newsletter and the first edition will include more detail on all of these initiatives. Stay tuned in the weeks before summer for a lot more information on what the executive have been working on. Until then, stay well and keep creating.
Nigel Reedman
President
British Columbia Technology Education Association