1. 2.54 School/Department Committees
November 2014

2. Elgin Agreement 2014 The Committee 2.54.1 Composition
a majority of all the teachers and the building/program administration may mutually agree to vary the size and composition of the school/department committee
The committee shall discuss with the administration items which will include but not be limited TO:
Composition
Scope of Activity
Functioning

3. Consensus: everyone agrees they can live with the final proposal; that is, after every effort has been made to meet any outstanding interests.
The five steps to reaching consensus are:
Gather information and ideas.
Protect individual viewpoints/promote positive intent and mutual respect.
Base decision on objective information as much as possible.
Blend and integrate ideas to arrive at a decision that everyone can support.
Measure the final outcome by how well it meets the team’s (not individuals’) interests.

4. Tips for the process
Avoid using the majority rule, averages, or coin flips. These quick decisions are not representative of consensus.
Avoid rushing to agreement before everyone has had a chance to express opinions.
Encourage honest expression of opinions, even if they conflict with the prevailing discussion.
Move from “either/or” choices to “and/but” options.
Guard against groupthink

5. Additional References
6.6 ACCESS TO BUILDINGS AFTER HOURS
6.11 ADEQUATE HOUSING FOR TEACHERS
7.1 TEACHING EQUIPMENT/TEXTS/MATERIALS
8.1 EXCESSIVE TEACHING LOADS /CASELOADS
8.2 CLASS LOADS
15.22 Parent Conferences
Appendix F