Secondary School Councils and Effective Communication YRDSB Fall School Council Orientation Forum 2009

Rationale Parents “play a key role in student success through the attitudes they help to shape and the direct supports they provide.” (Ministry of Education) School councils have a unique role to play in bringing parents and schools together in partnership. In order to facilitate a strong partnership, effective communication strategies are necessary. But don’t measure parent engagement by the number of parents who attend school council meetings!

Knowing Your Audience Who are the parents of the school’s students? - sources of data (census, registration data, survey data) How can the data be used to plan and communicate well? - languages, preferences for medium of communication, access to computers - content of communication (what do they want to know? What do they already know?)

Ministry of Education Advice From The Parent Survey:  distribute to all parents  address all ways that parents can be involved in the school, not just school council involvement  Translate into appropriate languages  Include suggestions of ways to be involved  Inquire about preferred medium of communication  Inquire about information wanted

Planning for Communication  Use data results to plan communication topics and methods  Respond quickly – provide a summary of the responses received  Provide a way for parents to continue responding  Look for opportunities to involve parents in the planning and implementation (eg writing articles for website/newsletters, making calls, attending meetings, making presentations)

Communication Strategies: Communicating with Parents  Create an orientation package for new parents (grade 9s, new Canadians, ‘move-ins’) about the school, the community, school events, school council and parent engagement opportunities  Partner with administration at parent information sessions (provide a welcome from school council, host an information table, a refreshment stand)  Offer messages to be posted on the display board outside

 Encourage parents to ‘bring a neighbour or friend’ to upcoming events  Recognize student achievement at school council meetings, school events (this brings the students’ parents out!)  Partner with elementary school councils from feeder schools (host their meetings at your school, attend their meetings to begin the transition process for grade 8 and future grade 8 students’ parents)  Provide transportation (carpool)

 Organize interpreters for meetings and events  Translate newsletters  Create an information CD/DVD for parents of grade 9 students, newcomers  Maintain a notice board near the front entrance  Attend sports team events, arts events and be a visible ‘message’ or provide a message to be included in programs Other ways?

Communicating with Students Students can receive and distribute messages of parental support from other students’ parents! Speak at school events (briefly) and provide a presence. Reinforce student achievement through recognition programs (awards certificates, names on a bulletin board, in a program) Other ways?

Communicating with the Community Create a presentation to be displayed in the hall on a monitor after hours (for ‘permit users’) Provide school information packages to local community centres, real estate offices, development sales offices, medical centres Provide press releases to the local media Host community events Other ways?

School Council Generic school council accounts are created for school council chairs (a second account for co-chairs can be requested through The accounts are directly identified with the Board. Passwords to the accounts are reset on October 1st each year in keeping with the transition after elections of school council chairs. Sealed envelopes with the account name, password and instructions will then be forwarded to each school office for school council chairs. Be aware that and intranet are not private communication tools because others can read or access them.

Information that is normally circulated or forwarded to school councils by Board staff will be sent out in electronic format. Every effort will be made to avoid sending large attachments or lengthy s. will be used for a variety of different reasons. For example, staff will: · distribute documents for consultation; or · inform school council chairs of new information available to them on the website with links; or Inform school council chairs of upcoming events and timelines

School council chairs will need to review the information that is sent to them and decide whether the information needs to be: a) Printed for school council members to review at a future school council meeting (each school is allotted a certain amount of money for the purpose of communication which could include photocopying b) Summarized verbally for school council members at school council meetings (making the information part of the minutes); or c) Forwarded electronically to their members to read for information purposes.

Principals will ensure that they are prepared to assist individual chairs with the printing and distribution of key documents. Please note that school council chairs are responsible for checking these accounts. They are not to be forwarded to personal accounts.

School Council Websites School council websites may be linked from the school’s website Content must be approved by the school administrator Accuracy and timeliness are important to readers Contents might include meeting minutes, Constitution, membership, links to sites of interest, tips for parents, community features

School Council Newsletters  Best sent with formal school communications (eg report cards) to ensure that they reach parents  Post extra copies on the School Council noticeboard  Provide extra copies at school events, local community centres….  Provide content which is relevant to the identified interests and questions posed by parents

Thank you… For your interest in supporting your own child and those of your neighbours Send your feedback, ideas, questions etc. to