By Gord Kerr, Executive Director, Ontario School Council Support Centre

Are school councils working? Are they working well? Or are they just another fruitless meeting to attend every month?

I’m going to take a provocative stance. I say they are working. However, they are not all working at the same level and in the same way, and yours may not be working as well as you would like.

Let me introduce you to the five different stages of development for school councils. This is a framework developed a couple of years ago that I continue to refine and develop … so it’s not perfect. But it does help to explain why some councils are involved in certain things while others are doing something completely different. Let me also that assure you that all of the stages are helpful and important and contributing to the success of the school. However, councils at each level are engaged in different activities, and different kinds of discussions. Chances are, if you want to be involved in level 5 discussions, and the rest of the group is involved in level 1 discussions, you will have the perception that the council is not working.

This stage is characterized by traditional kinds of involvement such as fundraising, volunteering and attending school events. From time to time, a major issue may need to be addressed, but these are rare. These are all valuable kinds of involvement and are essentially unchanged from the days before school councils were introduced.

Student learning is enhanced through the efforts of volunteers, and children benefit simply by seeing one or both of their parents volunteering their time within the school.  Even parents who attend only the occasional concert or science fair are reinforcing to their children the value they place on the school and the education it provides, simply by going into the school.

Fundraising benefits student learning when the efforts are focused on supporting the school's goals for continuous improvement.   

In this stage, there is a limited role for advice or for involvement in the development of the school plan for continuous improvement.  

In some cases, this may be the result of parents simply being more comfortable being involved in the traditional types of involvement.  In other cases, it may simply be routine to take care of these things and leave the issues to the professional educators.

This stage is characterized by people who are quite comfortable with the traditional kinds of parental involvement described in Stage 1 - and are working to become more knowledgeable and capable of providing informed advice to the school Principal.

This stage involves a period of learning for both educators and parents.  Both are learning to work with each other in new ways.

Often this stage can be plagued by miscommunications, misunderstandings as people try to become comfortable discussing matters that used to be the exclusive domain of educators. Usually, this stage is characterized by people working to clarify what their roles are, and questioning the roles of others in the group. This stage takes leadership, patience and a willingness on behalf of both parents and educators to give each other a little room to make mistakes.

Most School Councils in Ontario have spent at least a year or two in this stage over the past few years.  Many remain in this stage.

This stage is characterized by a group of educators and parents that are comfortable and trusting of one another.

In this stage, parents are comfortable and confident in providing informed advice to the school Principal, and the school Principal is comfortable receiving and responding appropriately to the concerns of the School Council.

This stage will often involve a School Council that is involved in the development of the School Plan for Continuous Improvement, led by a Principal who is comfortable sharing responsibility for the plan, in the interest of gaining a greater level of community commitment to the plan.

In this stage, the School Council tends to be focused on trying to do a few things very well, often working towards the school's goals for continuous improvement.

This is essentially the stage that the original PPM 122 designed school councils to achieve.

The challenge facing a group at this stage will be balancing the desires of some who want to remain focused on action-oriented roles such as fundraising and volunteering, others who are quite happy in an advisory role and still others who want to discover and try new methods to build partnerships between home and school.

This stage is characterized by a group of parents and educators that believe in the need to form a stronger partnership between schools, families and the community in the interests of student learning.

Improved student learning is the clearly understood goal of the School Council.  There is an understanding that there are important proven ways for parents to impact student learning - beyond the traditional roles of volunteering and fundraising, and beyond providing informed advice. 

In this stage, School Councils begin to explore methods to stimulate increased levels of parental involvement in education - such as improved communication between home and school on homework, assistance for parents in facing the challenge of being a parent, and reaching out to parents who might otherwise be reluctant or afraid to come to the school for events or interviews.

One of the key issues that arises involves the learning process itself.  Both parents and educators are learning to work together in new ways, in the interests of student learning.  For some, it may mean working on a joint committee including parents and teachers for the first time. 

Another of the key issues that arises is how to reach out to include as many people as possible in some of the key initiatives - beyond the committed few that always attend workshops, speakers, student performances or curriculum nights. 

This stage is characterized by a group of educators and parents who are working together in a fairly advanced partnership dedicated to improved student learning.  

There is a high degree of trust and confidence in one another, and a high level of understanding of the various kinds of parental and community involvement that can lead to improved student learning.

There is focus and a clear sense of direction for the School Council.  

There are:

The key challenge facing a group in this stage is maintaining a steady influx of new volunteers to ensure the continued viability of the strong partnership program. Leadership of such programs needs to be shared so that, if one or two key people leave the school, the programs can sustain themselves.

Legislation created the school council system, but legislation cannot make school councils work. Making them work is up to the participants including parents, staff, principals and vice-principals, the school boards and, in the case of high school, students. The training and experience of members, the leadership of the principal, the leadership of the chair and the goals of the group will all play a role in defining the discussions and the stage of development for your council. The challenge is this: what role can you play in shifting your council from one stage to another, if you truly believe that would be in the best interests of the students in your school?

With special thanks to Ken Thurston of the York Region District School Board and thanks to many people within the York Region and Halton District School Boards for the input and feedback to refine the Five Stages of Development framework.

Gord Kerr continues to research practical methods for improving the effectiveness of Ontario’s school council system. For more information, please visit www.schoolcouncils.net.