Hamilton-Wentworth Family Action Council Dedicated to Preserving Family Values Hamilton, ON CANADA info@HamiltonWentworthFamilyAction.org A Chapter of Canada Family Action Coalition |
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SCHOOL COUNCILS' DUTYSee Ministry of Education School Council Handbook and A Guide for MembersThe role and functions of your school council Your school council is an advisory body of volunteers who work together to provide ideas and opinions to help the principal - and sometimes the school board - make the school a better place for learning. Your council should represent the diversity of the school community, which includes the parents and guardians of the children enrolled in the school and other people who live or work in the school's attendance area. It should give your community opportunities to discuss educational issues and respond to local educational needs by providing information for parents and community members, getting feedback from them, and presenting their views to the school and school board. It should help your school identify and respond to the educational needs of your community. In its role as a link between the school and the community, your school council has two very important functions - to establish and maintain good communication among the school, parents, and community and to encourage parents and community members to participate in education. The school councils that are most effective have the following: a focus on student learning; a link to the school's priorities for growth and improvement; an emphasis on promoting meaningful parental and community involvement; the collaborative leadership of the school principal; good processes for decision making; a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities; training for the school principal; training for other school council members' effective strategies for achieving a wide range of involvement from the entire school community knowledge of ways to effect change. Adapted from Anthony Bryk, John Easton, David Kerbow, Sharon Rollow, and Penny Sebring, Report of the Steering Committee Consortium on Chicago School Reform (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago, July 1993). Benefits of local participation Your school council provides a way for the community and the school to communicate and an opportunity for parents, students, and representatives of the community to take a responsible and active role in local educational issues and concerns. Studies show that when parents are involved in their children's education, the children's attitude towards school improves and their level of achievement increases. Studies also show that when parents are involved, students' school performance increases - from arriving in class on time and behaving well to staying in school until graduation. At the same time, parents' involvement in schools usually increases the success of school programs and the effectiveness of the schools themselves. It is not only the students and schools that benefit from parental and community involvement. The community also benefits. A partnership of school and community representatives increases mutual understanding and interaction between the world of the school and society in general. It is, therefore, important for your school council and for you, as a member of the council, to encourage parents, friends, neighbours, and other community members to participate in your council and take an active role in education in your community. A successful school council: actively seeks the views of its school community; represents the views of its school community; informs its school community about its role and functions, projects it is undertaking, and decisions it has made as well as the reasons behind them; involves its diverse school community; encourages all forms of parental involvement and support; creates a forum to increase communication among partners; works within the policies of the school board; becomes well-informed about school and board policies and procedures; holds sessions on team building, consensus building, etc.; focuses on the best interests of all students; supports school-improvement initiatives; maintains high ethical standards. Adapted from Anthony Bryk, John Easton, David Kerbow, Sharon Rollow, and Penny Sebring, Report of the Steering Committee Consortium on Chicago School Reform (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, July 1993). Aspects of school life that councils can affect as outlined in Policy/Program Memorandum No. 122 Your school council may provide advice to the principal and, where appropriate, to the school board on a wide range of issues. Your council may consider issues ranging from the school-year calendar and the school's code of student behaviour to the school's program goals, priorities, and curriculum delivery. It may become involved in preparing the school's profile (see the section Getting Started), determining the best use of school facilities by the community, and helping choose your school's extracurricular activities and school-based social, health, recreational, and nutritional programs. The council may also help determine criteria to be used in selecting the school principal, and may establish school budget priorities (including local capital improvement plans) and methods of reporting to parents and the community. The council will not be asked to consider personnel matters and employment issues, such as the hiring of school staff, as they are part of collective bargaining agreements and not part of the mandate of school councils.
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