Parent Councils- are they different between Elementary and Secondary School?

[Gord Wyse]

As PIC chair for our Board and Chair of our High School Parent council we have always had a lively discussion on the differences between Parent Council at the elementary level vs the High School level. If you have only belonged to one or the other you may not be aware of the vast differences. Or perhaps unlike us you do not have great differences.
Whether you have differences or not I would love to hear why you think they exist/don’t exist. Here are a couple of my own thoughts to get the ball rolling.
Elementary- The parent council tends to be the umbrella group for parents in the school. Children are not old enough to fundraise on their own so Parents are involved.
High School- Students in different clubs/groups are actively fundraising on their own ie. Band, Student council, sports teams etc. Parent council fundraising for the most part would simply be competing with Students.
Parent council is not necessarily the umbrella group for parents who are involved with the school. Ie. Parents involved with Band, sporting events, career days, drama, poverty exposure trips etc. are involved at the school but not under Parent Council.
As PIC chair it is important to understand the differences so that we can understand how to facilitate Parent Involvement across the Board perhaps with different programs.
What are your experiences and thoughts? I am new to this forum so if this topic has already been discussed at length then just point me in the right direction.
Thanks

[Sheila Stewart]

Hi Gord. Welcome here! We pretty much heard this loud and clear at our Council of School Council Chairs meeting this week--the support for school councils/"parent engagment" at the high school level needs to be considered differently from elementary. I see many parents arriving on the secondary high school council relieved to leave fundraising behind them. I think in our area high school school councils are becoming very active and realizing it is not a time to lessen their involvement/connection with the school.....the "work" just changes perhaps. The high school council parents often bring good knowledge (years of experience) to the table as well and I see parents on the high school council taking that back to the elementary schools where they are also/still involved. It's a good outreach.

[Gord Wyse]

Thanks Sheila, although I have to admit I have just as many parents who attend the first Parent council meeting after moving up from Elementary side and when they find out our meeting isn't all about fundraising they don't come back. Ultimately we find them involved with whatever group in the school their kids participate in. A few years ago our initial concern was that our secondary councils were smaller than our elementary ones. We did a survey at the secondary level to understand parent involvement with the schools and found there actually was high levels of involvement just not through parent council. Since then I have always wondered if there was a benefit to trying to have Parent council be umbrella group for all the parent involvement or not and if in theory yes had it practically been done successfully anywhere?

[Sheila Stewart]

Hi Gord...have been meaning to get back to this.....and some of your questions. I am surprised by that..ie...parents leaving because the meetings are not about fundraising. In my area/board there are 4 high schools that I am familiar with and the school councils seem quite active and focused on other things....info about the school and activities, safety concerns, community needs, etc. Hard to know what the ingredient is that carries on school council participation to high school from area to area, I guess? It could vary. As for the school council being the umbrella group for all the parent involvement....interesting question.....I would think it could if it is supported and empowered and it could somehow connect all parents in a way that they need, when they need, if they need. It could be a huge job for a school council though, especially if it is small and not sure of its role and support. It is hard to get it right and please everyone.

[Jacqui Strachan]

What a great discussion topic! As chair of my son's high school council, I too have found a difference in the role we play. I think there is a natural progression toward less direct parent involvement in school activities as our kids get older. I often joke that "That's why there are no school councils at university" (although I have heard some worrying stories of parents getting over-involved in their adult children's education - let's hope this isn't a trend!). As our kids gain independence and move toward adulthood, they start taking much more responsibility on themselves, including fundraising. I am personally grateful for that! :-)

Gord, I have found the same thing - lots of parents come out for the first meeting, then fewer and fewer come over time. Once they get on the email list, they are quite content to get regular electronic updates about what is happening, and seem mainly interested in getting information (which is increasingly harder to get via the backpack method as kids get older). I think this is normal, and that the high school council can still work effectively - the role shifts a bit so that communication becomes the central purpose (although I would argue that this is the key role for elementary councils too!), and council meetings can focus on more broad-based topics that concern the whole school. So, for example, a principal may ask for input on what kind of drug awareness program the parents would like to have, or how to structure the parent-teacher interview times to ensure all parents can participate, etc.

We also decided to meet every second month, instead of monthly. Again, it is partly due to a stepping back in terms of school involvement, but also to be less demanding of parents' time. This has helped to keep the number of participants up a bit.

What is really important is that parents still stay involved at home - talking to their kids about school and demonstrating that education is the most important thing on earth! In the long run, it is this involvement that makes the greatest difference for our kids. High school councils may support parents best simply by keeping them informed about important events, programs and activities happening at the school. I'd be interested to hear what others think.

[Mike Hunt]

Jacqui, I agree with you that
. High school councils may support parents best simply by keeping them informed about important events, programs and activities happening at the school.div>
BUT -- isn't that the job/responsibility of the school administration? At either level - high school or elementary?
I myself joined school council (elementary) simply to stay informed because there is minimal information coming from school administration. Something wrong when parents have to do this and I think that both your comments and mine speak to a much bigger problem.

I'd be interested to hear what others think.

[Sheila Stewart]

You touched on a key thing Jacqui. School councils don't have to meeting monthly, and I have found that flexibility very helpful for participation at the high school level. Members seemed to feel some pressure lift when we skipped December last year and this year our "Nov." meeting has been moved to early Dec. as it just worked better. We also skip one early spring month (March or April), and keep our last meeting of either May or June as a fun wrap up, since those months are so busy for schools.
I have been fortunate over the last few years that we seem to have a consistent parent membership of 7 or 8, and they generally come to every meeting and that really helps us as a team to cover tasks. At the meetings it is the principal who covers information about the school and programs, so that gets in the minutes and up on the school website, so it is not a huge job for parents to get that info out. And because we have involvement of parents on board level committees, information about the board and province often happens because of that direct link as well. I think that an informed parent membership can only add to helping other parents find the information they need, even if it is just pointing them to the person they need because of the frequent confusion about who does what in education. And I guess we just have to remain flexible as to how much information parents want, and when they want it, even though that can be frustrating at times. I think information can help us become proactive, and less reactive at times.

[Jacqui Strachan]

Regarding Mike's comments about whose job it is to communicate with the parent community, I actually think of it as a shared responsibility. If the only way that parents can get information is by joining the school council, there is a communication problem at the school. But that is not only the principal's problem, it is also the school council's. The school council should be supporting the administration's communication efforts, through circulation of meeting minutes, newsletters, email updates, and anything else they can do to ensure that those parents that can't come to the meetings are kept informed. Of course the principal and staff have to communicate with parents, but I see the role of the council as supporting their efforts. I want my school principal to be focussed on being the 'lead teacher' - working with staff and students and ensuring a rich learning environment in the school. If I can take something off their already over-burdened plate by providing parents with information about school events, activities and programs, I hope that it leaves them more time to do the most important part of their job - teaching our kids! :-)

[Cathy]

I agree with much of what's been said already, except that our elementary councils tend to work better than our secondary one which is one of those councils that is being dragged on when no one really wants to do the job.

Much of the problem with our public secondary council is the revolving door of principals and vice-principals we see. It makes any sort of consistency impossible when one principal really likes working with council and the next person has no idea how councils work because as his last school they didn't have one. Also, as we're in a rural region of the province and most families with kids who attend our high school are from out of town very few like to make that drive in, in the evening in the winter months and when the spring and summer months roll around the sports organizations begin and practices begin with community programs. Councils always lose out in the greater scheme of things.

It all hit the fan most recently though when our secondary school was included in the accommodation review because the ARC was made up of people who had never met and never worked together on a council, which led to real dynamic problems as the process unfolded.

I have to agree with the fundraising by parents duplicating and affecting student council fundraising. Our problem was solved simply by giving all of the fundraising over to the students. So there's no fundraising boom waiting unsuspecting or unwilling parents. I think that when the school council at our high school worked really well, we worked closer with the students and engaged them more re: issues that they felt needed addressing like drugs and alcohol addiction which is a serious problem in this part of the province. The students wanted some help, we tried to get it for them by offering an evening session open to all our schools and councils, parents, and students, hosted by the police and addiction foundation, health unit, and all media. Really good turnout when folks can relate.