Think about why you became a member of your school council.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Be positive !!

Have a presence at every school event

Kindergarten Registration – Get those enthusiastic new parents

Share the successes of the council and future goals

Meetings must have a purpose and offer value to every person that attends

Consider having a speaker at each meeting that will interest members and attract other parents.

Have a short and long term plan which members are committed to.

Create an orientation/member package. Place in a binder which members can use to keep their agendas and minutes from meeting.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Volunteer recognition is vital.

VALUE ADDED MEETINGS

RESPECTFUL MEETINGS

GOAL ORIENTED

TAKE TIME TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER

APPRECIATE VOLUNTEERS

RETAINING MEMBERS

Support the ethnic and diverse culture of the school i.e. translators, speaker on special education, french language etc.

Keep meetings on time. When parents commit to a certain amount of time, you will lose their support if meeting constantly run overtime.

Give everyone a voice. People want to know they can contribute and their opinion will be heard and considered by the council.

Treat everyone with respect, dignity, trust and courtesy.

Mentor new members. Match up experienced members with new members to answer questions and provide resources and information about council’s past work and processes.

Provide refreshments and take a break to take time to get to know each other.

Greet new members at the door and welcome them to their first meeting.

Provide child minding (consider asking Secondary School Students who need community hours).

Keep members focused on matters affecting all students/school and not on individual issues.

Take suggestions from member’s for the next meeting’s agenda.

Consider having meetings each month. Although Reg.612 only requires 4 meetings per year, it is impossible to keep parents committed when there are months between meetings.

What are school councils talking about today?

School Safety

Student Achievement

School Transportation

Community Events

School Budget

Increasing Parent Engagement

School Facilities

September

Annual General Meeting – Present Annual Report including Finances, Presentation on Role of school council and parent engagement, By-laws etc.

October

Welcome from Principal and School Council Chair, Review the roles and responsibilities of school council executive and members. Provide orientation kit to members. Review by-laws. Set-up Sub-Committees. Provide training for new members (i.e. voting procedures, quorum, Reg.612, Board school council policy, meeting ethics)

Establish school council budget.

Prepare communication to school community introducing new school council.

November

Get to know your school – Ask Principal to provide information about the school including:Enrolment numbers by grade, Special Education student numbers/special programs, Diverse culture of school represented at the school, Safe school committee, anti-bullying initiatives at the school, facility issues at the school i.e. major improvements, repairs needed, additions etc. , technology at the school,block budget including how it is established, what it pays for etc.,

Volunteers in the School – where are they needed, who already volunteers?Communication tools to keep parents informed – Trustee newsletters, Board E-Blast/News, Link to Ministry ofEducation “Parent Section” on website, Link to Ministry “Open News” which sends updates automatically, Link toboard website featuring Trustee Board Meetings etc.

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR MONTHLY MEETINGS

December

Rather than not meeting at all consider hosting a Christmas Tea and opening it to all parents at the school.

January

School academic update – what are the school statistics saying about the first few months progress?

Are there academic supports that the school council can provide to assist?

How are teachers supported to achieve the academic goals of the schools i.e. Professional Development days

How does the school learning plan relate to the board learning plan?

Invite teacher from JK/SK to speak on the kindergarten program goals, how children are learning etc.

Invite teacher from Grade 9 to speak on how students are adjusting to secondary school, learning strategies etc.

February

School Council Status – is the team meeting the goals, should plan be adjusted for the year?

Reports from all Standing/Sub-Committees on progress.

Review any board policy changes that affect students/school/council.

Invite representative from Toronto Health to speak on healthy lunches, snacks, winter health precautions etc.

Invite representative from the Board psychology dept. or Toronto Health to speak on student stress management, test stress, value of parent support etc.

SUGGESTED MONTHLY MEETING TOPICS

April

EQAO Preparation – If possible invite Grade 3 or 6 teachers to speak to how they are preparing students for the test and how parents can support them at home.

Same applied to Secondary Schools except Grade 9 teacher and Grade 10 for the Literacy Exams. Even more important because marks count!

Provide resources to parents on how they can assist their children such as:

http://www.eqao.com/Parents/Elementary/036/BookletsandGuides.aspx

Have PRO grant sub-committee present ideas to council for approval. Establish process for approving application wording.

May

EQAO Review from previous year including survey of student’s attitudes towards learning. Important information for parents:

- Students confidence in asking questions at school

- Students who read or do math at home on a regular basis

- The percentage of students at the school who read or work with someone at home to support their learning.

- The percentage of students who discuss school activities with their parents/guardians on a regular basis.

**This is an important topic for parent engagement. Based on results the council may work with the Principal to see how they might support areas which require improvement.

SUGGESTED MONTHLY MEETING TOPICS

MarchSend out communication to community to have a safe and fun March Break.Ask School Council members to formulate ideas for PRO grant application.

June

Prepare for the next school year School Council elections.

- Establish Election Committee

- Review By-law changes which will be addressed at the Annual General Meeting

- Review election procedures

- Discuss ideas for the AGM that will attract more parents to participate.

Summarize the accomplishments and challenges of the council work this school year.

Process for school emergency contact during the summer.

Discuss community b-b-q or welcoming event for new school year.

THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all who have participated this year.

Identify parents who may be interested in playing a leadership role next year.

Provide full information on the roles and responsibilities of executive members.

Communicate the value of being Chair. It is not a default position !!

Have interested parents shadow the executive this year to learn role.

Succession Planning

Prepare a document with processes for executives to stay informed i.e. email, phone

Have a binder with information, resources, training tools etc. to pass on

Keep notes on executive discussions that may be ongoing in the new year.

Ask current executives to be available for a couple of months to the incoming executives.

Succession Planning

True parent engagement takes time, don’t get discouraged or give up!!

Will all this work? Not all of it for every community, but, you have to start somewhere.

SECONDARY SCHOOL COUNCILS – You are needed more than ever at school and in your children’s education. Let all parents know this is the most important time to support your child.

Conclusion