British Columbia Vision Teachers’ Association
(BCVTA)
B.C. Teachers of Students with Visual
Impairments have been dedicated to teaching, advocating and supporting Blind
and Visually Impaired students throughout British Columbia for the past 30
years. The executive and members of BCVTA work actively in a variety of
different areas:
- to represent students who are blind or visually impaired to the
Ministry of Education, advocating on their behalf
- to provide representation to committees such as PRCVI, Braille Priorities, and POB (Provincial
Organizations in the Field of Blindness)
- to support and contribute resources and funds to conferences
relating to the education of students who are blind or visually impaired
- to provide communication and information through the circulation
of BCVTA executive minutes and local chapter minutes several times each
year
The inception of BCVTA dates to 1978; our
founding president was Joyce Lydiard. Many teachers have served as past
presidents, each one moving our organization towards increased support and
services for our students.
In 1992, BCVTA developed a Constitution. The
mission statement was presented at the biennial general meeting in 1996.
BCVTA Mission Statement:
“BC Vision
Teachers’ Association provides support and enriches learning opportunities for
partners in the field of vision impairment.”
Working in the field of visual impairment can
be a rewarding and fulfilling career. If you are interested in becoming a
vision teacher, this link includes specific course and prerequisite information.
http://www.prcvi.org/files/forms/VisionFlyer2011.doc
BCVTA is a provincial organization with 5
regional chapters: Vancouver Island, Metro (lower mainland), Fraser Valley,
Thompson-Okanagan-Kootenays and Northern. The executive meets every 3 months
via telephone conference calls, and they strive to have representation from
each chapter. The meeting minutes are
distributed by the chapter representatives, via email to the membership.
Membership is on an annual basis, professional fees are nominal.
http://www.prcvi.org/files/forms/BCVTA
Membership Application 2011-2012.doc
The organization meets every two years for a
general meeting. The Biennial Meetings are held in conjunction with the
Provincial Vision Teachers’ Conference. We look forward to October 25, 2013,
when our next conference will be held in Richmond, B.C. These conferences
attract speakers and delegates from across Canada and the US. The conferences
are well attended by professionals working in the field of education for
visually impaired and by parents of visually impaired children. Please check
back to this webpage for registration information regarding our next
conference.
The BCVTA executive is nominated and voted
into position at the General Meeting. Currently the following people serve on
the 2010-2013 executive:
President: Daphne Hitchcock, SD 61
(Victoria) daphnehitchcock@shaw.ca
Vice President: Debbie Sitar, SD
41 (Burnaby) Deborah.Sitar@sd41.bc.ca
Secretary: Dawn Bennie, SD 23
(Kelowna) dbennie@sd23.bc.ca
Treasurer: Peter Midtdal, SD 22
(Vernon-Salmon Arm) pmidtdal@sd22.bc.ca
Members-at-large – chapter reps:
Rita
Schouls, SD 39 (Vancouver) rschouls@vsb.bc.ca
Marilyn
Rushton SD 39 (Vancouver) mrushton@shaw.ca
Mary
Anderson (Merritt) redser@shaw.ca
Sofeya
Devji, SD 8 (Kootenay) sdevji@sd8.bc.ca
To find out more information
regarding BCVTA, please email the president.