Key to a great partnership is understanding the roles needed to make the partnership work. Seems that when our youth reach middle school parents aren’t as involved with the schoolhouse. Parents in poorly educated communities tend to not communicate as much with school administration and staff. Like the only reason why they communicated when their youth were in preschool to elementary is because they felt they had to advocate for their young students versus supporting the families educational goals. So when their youth reach middle school this demographic tends to get lazy with their parental responsibilities and the school and society has to pick up.
The School Advisory Council Summit Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 440 N. Broad St. is a great time to learn about being part of the schoolhouse and express your concerns for building partnerships with your school.
#GetInVolved
Outline of the Day:
8:15 to 9:00 pm - Registration and continental breakfast
9:00 to 10:30 am - Plenary (Auditorium)
10:45 am to 12:05 pm - Workshop 1 (session of your choice)
12:05 to 12:35 pm - Lunch
12:40 to 2:00 pm - Workshop 2 (session of your choice)
SAC Roles and Responsibilities
School Advisory Councils are charged with responsibility to:
- Review and approve school Budget and school Action Plan
- Provide input on discretionary spending
- Review and approve school-based policies, including policies governing school safety and discipline, truancy, extracurricular activities, ESL supports, and other
- Review and inform hiring/creation of new positions
- Act as a catalyst to develop a culture of community support and involvement in decision-making for school-based policy
- Play an active role in supporting and promoting the programs and initiatives they approved
- Examine data on the effectiveness of school-based programs and services and periodically review and revise Action Plan strategies and recommendations to ensure continued progress towards reaching school goals.
- Complete Quarterly Reports reflecting the above findings and recommendations
Additionally, members of every School Advisory Council will be responsible for:
- Holding regular meetings
- Creating a schedule of meetings for the year and making it available to all stakeholders
- Making sure an agenda for the following meeting is approved at the end of each meeting and shared with designated school staff and the principal the following day
- Maintaining active, two-way communication with stakeholders
- Holding at least 2 community meetings each year to get information out to parents, students, and community members about what is going on at the school, and to get feedback from those stakeholders
- Working with community partners, parents, and school staff to disseminate information on the work of the SAC and solicit input from stakeholders
Joint Responsibility of the SAC and the Principal:
- Creating a collaborative, inclusive, and transparent process to inform school-level decisions, including the adoption of the school Action Plan and Budget, and collaborating to address urgent school issues (e.g., truancy, bullying, improving student achievement)
- Fostering a cooperative and collaborative environment at the school
- Rallying parent, staff, student, and community support around school priorities
- Organizing and conducting SAC elections
- Responsibility for Supporting the Work of the SAC
- Each building administrator is responsible for providing the following supports to the School Advisory Council:
- Assistance with parent and student recruitment
- Assistance with disseminating information about the meetings as well as the decisions and initiatives of the SAC
- Providing space where SAC members can meet and work as needed
- Providing access to equipment (computer, copier, etc.)
- Informing SAC about funding, mandates, current metrics, problems, and conditions at the school
- Providing regular updates on the performance of current programs and initiatives
- Providing ongoing support and technical assistance
- Supporting community meetings (opening the building after hours if needed, providing space and personnel as needed)
Supports from the School District of Philadelphia:
- Ongoing professional development
- Technical support and other support and assistance as requested.
