The School Council President - tips to increase your effectiveness

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The School Council President- tips to increase
your effectiveness

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What is the role of school council?

• Establish the broad direction and vision of the
  school within the school's community
• Develop and monitor the school strategic plan
• Develop, review and update school policies
• Develop, review and monitor the Student Code of
  Conduct and the School Dress Code
• Raise funds for school-related purposes
• Approve the annual budget and monitor expenditure
• Maintain the schools grounds and facilities
• Enter into contracts (e.g. cleaning, construction
  work)
• Report annually to the school community and to
  DEECD
• Stimulate interest in the school generally

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Role of the president

• Chairperson of all school council meetings
• Signatory for school accounts, cheques and
  contracts as required
• Uphold all council decisions and work in
  partnership with the principal
• Ensure council stays focused on improving student
  learning outcomes
• Cast the deciding vote in the event of a tied
  vote

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Role of the principal

• The principal is the overall educational leader
  and manager of the school
• Executive officer of school council
• Accountable for the preparation, implementation
  and evaluation of the school's strategic plan
• The senior DEECD representative for the school

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Role of school council members

• All councillors need to respect other member's
  opinions AND support and uphold all council
  decisions
• Parent members bring expertise and views to
  council on behalf of the whole school community
• DEECD members bring educational expertise and
  views to council on behalf of the whole school
  community
• Community representatives tend to bring
  individual expertise to assist council in
  specific decisions

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Specific skills needed by school council
presidents

• Leadership
• Relationship management
• Meeting skills
• Team development
• Conflict management

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Leadership

• Model behaviours expected of councillors
• Clarify roles and responsibilities
• Set agenda
• Ensure there are no conflicts of interest
• Welcome new councillors
• Ensure all councillors have an opportunity to
  participate
• Manage the annual evaluation of the council

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Relationship Management

• Principal and school council president
• President and sub-committee convenors
• Between council members
• Staff and parents and school council
• School council and DEECD

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Chairing school council meetings

• Conduct business efficiently
• on track
• on time
• Ensure meeting protocols are followed
• Enable full and open discussion
• Ensure decisions are understood and correctly
  recorded
• Made by a quorum of members

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Example meeting protocols 1

• Everyone is listened to - this does not mean
  agreement but it does mean trying to understand
• Keep to the issues under discussion
• Keep the focus on improving learning outcomes for
  all students
• Discussion should focus on issues, not people or
  their personalities

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Example meeting protocols 2

• One conversation at a time
• Present information, opinions or feelings
  clearly and succinctly dont hog the meeting
  time
• No question is too trivial
• Avoid jargon
• Represent the entire community

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Quorum

• A quorum is the number of people required before
  decisions can be made
• A quorum requires not less than one half of
  school council members currently holding office
  to be present at the meeting with a majority of
  members present who are not DEECD employees.
• Any parent members on school council who also
  work for the Department are counted as DEECD
  employees for the purpose of a quorum.
• A member of the school council may be present in
  person or by video conferencing or
  teleconferencing.
• A quorum must be maintained throughout the
  meeting

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Conducting the meeting

• Open the meeting
• Welcome everyone
• Ensure people have received their papers
• Table correspondence in and out
• Conduct the discussion
• See next slide
• Summarise the meeting
• Point out main discussions and any decisions made
• Close the meeting
• Thank people for coming

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Structure of a discussion

• State the issue or topic of discussion
• Hear the facts
• Listen to peoples arguments, experiences,
  opinions
• Reach a conclusion on whats wanted
• Make a decision
• Record the decision

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Team development

• School council meets to make decisions
• It mainly does this collectively but it does not
  meet often
• This makes team development a challenge
• Groups operate in two distinct streams task and
  emotional

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The Team Development Wheel
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What is conflict?

• A normal part of decision-making
• Individuals / groups of people may differ in
  their opinions without anyone being wrong
• Conflict does not go away by itself
• Conflict can and should be dealt with

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Managing Conflict

• Recognise there is a conflict
• Hear all views, with a view to understanding
• Seek common ground
• Avoid inflammatory language
• Focus on the problem, not the person
• Break it into smaller parts
• Ensure clear agreement forward

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A few more thoughts on managing conflict

• Get rid of General Business
• Have an agreed Code of Conduct
• Use tools to surface differences in opinion
• Follow up with individuals as needed
• Remember task AND emotion

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A final thought

• The perfect human being is all human beings put
  together, it is a collective, it is all of us
  together that make perfection.
• Socrates

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For more information

• http//www.education.vic.gov.au/management/governa
  nce/schoolcouncils/role.htm
• (What is a school council and what does it do?)
• http//www.ssa.vic.gov.au (Welcome to the
  Board, State Services Authority)
• http//www.asciv.org.au Association of School
  Councils in Victoria (ASCIV)
• http//www.viccso.org.au Victorian Council of
  School Organisations (VICCSO)