School Site Council Vice-President

Overview

Our School Site Council serves as one of the governing bodies of the school. The School Site Council is charged with working collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure that the school’s Single Plan for Student Achievement is a current, living document. The School Site Council is made up of administration, teachers, parents, certificated staff, and community representatives. I was privileged enough to serve as the Vice-President.

Responsibilities

• Once a month I represented teachers at local School Site Council meetings where we dealt with budgeting of fiscal, human, and material resources.
• I worked with the council in revising and updating the Single Plan for Student Achievement based on input from various stakeholders via a needs assessment.
• As the School Site Council Vice-President I made it a priority to improve parent participation by helping to make them feel more welcomed at our meetings.

Reflection

Our first meeting dealt mainly with electing our officials, and while it was my second time participating in elections, it is always nice to be a part of the democratic process in action.

The second meeting dealt with budget issues and approving moving money around to provide funds for additional support in the classrooms in the form of T.A.s. This was a cause taken up from discussions held in the lunchroom amongst teachers. They provided data in the form of student pre and post assessments, and more importantly they provided testimonials that showed that T.A.s were positively affecting student achievement, behavior, and attitude towards school.

At our third School Site Council Meeting due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to re-elect our officers. I was voted School Site Council Vice-President. One of my goals was to make sure there was moreparent involvement, which had been an area of concern at the previous two meetings. At subsequent meetings I made sure I thanked the parents for coming. I made sure that during the meetings I specifically asked our parent stakeholder group if they needed clarification on any matters that camebefore the council, including the revision of our Single Plan for Student Achievement and/or budget issues, both fairly important matters.

Participating in the School Site Council has been a great learning experience. I have had to learn to negotiate the wants and needs of many different constituencies while maintaining focus on the school’s goals, as put forward on our Single Plan. I have learned to negotiate the interest of the few with the needs of the many. I have further developed an understanding of the multitude of responsibilities that accompany a leadership position. The experience has given me an appreciation for the values and practices of democratic and distributive leadership.

Connection to CPSELs

• CPSEL #1 - The School Site Council was required to implement and monitor the school's Single Plan for Student Achievement. As such, the council was the governing body most directly responsible for articulating and driving the school towards its stated vision.
• CPSEL #2 - The School Site Council acted on strategies initiated by other stakeholders, designed to improve instructional practices, including re-aligning our budget and priorities to include hiring more T.A.s and restructuring our professional development sessions to include more time for teachers to collaborate.
• CPSEL #3 - The culminating task of our Council was the revision of our Single Plan. I fought to make sure that the voices of all stakeholders were heard. I feel the work we did was reflected in the hiring of a Psychiatric Social Worker, a high priority for the parents, hiring more T.A.s and paying the teacher’s Z-time to provide after school intervention to our neediest students, high priorities for all stakeholders.
• CPSEL #4 – As the School Site Council Vice-President I made sure the voices of parents were always heard. We demonstrated this by hiring a Psychiatric Social Worker, a high priority for parents, yet a source of some conflict with another stakeholder group.
• CPSEL #5 - Serving in the role of vice-president of the School Site Council has required a sustained commitment to the effort of progressing the school through the Single Plan process, while making sure that the voices of all stakeholders are heard, equitably.
• CPSEL #6 – On a couple of occasions, in order to promote parent participation at our meetings, the district sent out their parent representative to help the parents feel welcomed to the democratic process. We also worked with the district to provide interpreters for all our stakeholders to participate effectively in this democratic and legal context.

Supporting Documents/ Artifacts

• Certification Form
• April 3, 2014 Agenda: 1) School Budget Needs Assessment; 2) Budget Development
• April 3, 2014 Sign-in
• April 3, 2014 Minutes (1)
• April 3, 2014 Minutes (2)
• March 13, 2014 Agenda: 1) Parent Compact; 2) Parent Involvement; 3) Single Plan for Student Achievement
• March 13, 2014 Sign-in
• Single Plan for Student Achievement