Education Advisory

[This material is taken from Education Advisory #11, Feb. 1982. Please comment on present features of PAC’s. TA]

A. Parent as chairperson

Parent input to decision-making is best ensured by a group which maintains its integrity and credibility. If principal and staff are involved, they are generally non-voting and are there as a resource to the parents.

B. Representative of as broad a range of parents in the school as possible. Guard against single-interest parents domination of agenda and activities: a task committee may be indicated. Use class reps.

C. Open meetings, well advertised, and held when most parents can attend.

D. Quality, not quantity is important. The consultative role of a school with its parents can very well be handled by a small, credible group of parents who maintain the trust of parents and school. Though the ideal is to have well-attended meetings, don’t forget, the primary goal of a consultative group is to see that the parent point-of-view is considered in school decision-making.

E. Local school is the focus of the group. What is important to your parents? External agendas should not be entertained unless the parents agree they are pertinent. Parents, in their advisory role should make every effort to have as full information about school programs as possible. Regular reports from the principal and other staff member are desirable.

F. Participate in accreditation/evaluation process of school. Find out the status of the process in your school and plug in. Find out what follow-through resulted from the last report. Accreditation usually requests feedback about some of the following:

• school-community relations
• responsiveness to questions, concerns
• character development
• discipline
• homework
• reporting
• strengths and weaknesses of the school