|
|
|
|
School Councils - After Nine Years
In every corner of
the province, within every school board, there continues to be much debate over
the role and effectiveness of school councils.
Do they make a difference? What
should they be doing? Have they
made a difference? With so much
discussion regarding the current status of school councils, it’s easy to
forget that school councils as we know them today were only created in April
1995. That’s only 9 years ago.
It’s worth stopping
to consider, and perhaps celebrate how far the system has come within that
relatively short time. Key success factor
number 1. Every school in Ontario
has one. That didn’t exist before
1996. Prior to the
introduction of the formal school council system, there was no requirement for
principals and teachers to dialogue or for educators to seek the input of
parents within their school communities. Many
educators did seek input, either through informal methods or through Home and
School Associations, Parent Councils or Parent Fundraising groups.
However, there were
many schools, as much as a third of the schools in the province, where such a
dialogue did not exist, and parents were seeking some mechanism to be heard. The fact is that a
mechanism now exists. Every
school in Ontario has a way for educators and parents to meet to discuss issues
affecting their students. That is a
cause for celebration. Key success factor
number 2: Educators and parents are
finding new ways to work together. The establishment of
a formal mechanism to bring educators and parents together is just that, a
mechanism. However, legislation
cannot make people work together. For
the past 9 years, significant effort has taken place within every board, and
within every school to discover new ways to work together in the common
interests of students. Not everything has
gone smoothly, and there continues to be room for improvement in many schools,
but the dialogue is happening and in general, people have found ways to do
terrific things together. Key success factor
number 3: School communities are
focusing on helping students. The first few years
were wrought with discussions over roles and responsibilities, who does what and
who has to do certain things. Over
time, many school council discussions have settled into addressing the core
issue of helping students succeed. Research has proven
time and time again, when school communities put their efforts into helping
students, students do better in school over time. Many continue discuss
roles and responsibilities and that’s OK, because those discussions pave a
pathway towards a focus on helping students succeed. A brief history The genesis for the
school council system was The Royal Commission on Learning in 1994.
In the report, For the Love of Learning, the commission recommended the
establishment of school community councils, with many of the responsibilities
now given to school councils. The system was
officially launched in a Policy and Procedure Memorandum (PPM 122) issued by the
Ontario Government in April 1995. The
first year for implementation began in the 1996/1997 school year.
For such a broad scale change initiative, that is a relatively short time
ago. The Education
Improvement Commission conducted a province wide study on the effectiveness of
the school council system in the 1997/1998 school year, with an emphasis on
understanding key issues and obstacles, providing a series of recommendations
focused on the future role of school councils.
One of the key recommendations of this report was the clear articulation
of a common goal for school councils – to assist in improving student
learning. Regulations 612 and
613 were issued in November 2000, addressing some but not all of the
recommendations within the report of the E.I.C., but going a long way to clarify
some of the roles and responsibilities of educators and parents involved in
school councils. The rest is up to
participants in the system … learning and working together to help students
succeed. Summary Change takes time.
Significant, meaningful and lasting change takes longer, and … it’s
hard work. Everyone involved in the school council system is part of a
very significant change initiative to focus the efforts of school communities on
helping students do better in school. All participants are
learning new ways to work together, and sometimes that includes making mistakes. Sometimes, it’s
worth stopping to reflect on the progress made.
Every school has a council. Educators
and parents are discovering new ways to work together, and school communities
are focusing on helping students. Not bad for a 9 year
old. |
|
Send mail to
gkerr@schoolcouncils.net with questions or comments about this web site.
|
