What rules govern a school council?

[Yael]

Hey guys,

DS attends a private school, which was set up initially by the members on the school council/board. It is a very 'closed' board, with not much information being available to parents about what is going on behind the scenes, how decisions are made, or allowing us to have a say in matters. It also oversees/makes rules on a lot of the ongoing stuff at the school, which I believe ties the principles hands so to speak.

Anyway, I have been giving it some thought, and I was wondering if there are rules/by-laws that govern how to board can act? Do they have to have an annual general meeting ever? Do positions need to be re-voted on (The school has been going for 13 years now and I think most if not all of the board have been on for that time)? Or is it more a case of it's a private school and if you don't like the way they run it then leave?

Is it generally the board that makes the decisions about 'visions' for important area's of the school? The school has a very small, poorly funded special ed area (well they are great with remedial/assistance for learning, dyslexia that kind of thing, but very poor training & importance seems to be placed on kids with bigger disabilities). I just want to gather as much info as I can about how other school's work before I request a meeting with the board.

Thanks,
Yael

[Phteven]

In our school people can nominate for the School board at the beginning of the year and if more than one person nominates they have to hold elections.

Yes, it's the board that looks after the direction of the school. At our school it consists of a couple of teachers, the Principal, and 2 parent representatives.

[Trillian]

The local catholic school here has a school board and they have an AGM every year with elections. Its entirely parents, so no teachers. I'm not sure how much input they actually have into how things are run though.

[diva det]

the school would have a school board that have to follow a constitution or code of conduct which outlines how it is run, how decisions are made, people elected and how it reports to the community. This document should be available to all in the shool community
a private school has to be run like a business- it would be incorporated and set up that it has to report to the relevant governing bodies etc

[nickle730]

Yep, I was going to suggest as *det* did, request a copy of the school's constitution. They have to have one in order to register as a school and for funding. The constitution will outline the governance of the school.