my Involvement
To make a
difference
Parental Involvement Guide
in the school system
Getting involved as a parent in your child’s school environment can seem intimidating, especially when you’re faced with structures whose function you don’t know, and acronyms you’ve never heard before!
That’s why the Regroupement des comités de parents autonomes du Québec has prepared this summary of information on the various opportunities to get involved with school governing. In particular, you’ll find short descriptions of..:
- Governing Board (GB),
- the Parent Participation Organization (PPO),
- Parents’ Committee (PC),
- the Advisory Committee on Services for Students with Special Needs (CCSEHDAA),
- as well as the Board of Directors (BOD) of your Centre de service scolaire (CSS), which also includes parents.
Education is an enriching environment to discover, not only for your child, but for you as well.
We hope you’ll find your place in your school and school organization. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the RCPAQ or your parents’ committee!
Annual General Meeting
parents
A must in every school
The Annual Parents’ Meeting is the gateway to parental involvement in the school. It is open to all parents of students attending the school. The written invitation from the Chair of the Governing Board must be sent at least four days before the meeting.
The agenda for the annual meeting includes :
- Communications and exchanges with parents on all relevant subjects;
- Election of parent members of the Executive Committee
- Formation of the Parent Participation Organization (PPO);
- Election of your school’s parent representative to the Parents’ Committee (PC)
It’s important to attend in order to get to know your school community, elect the parents who will represent you on your school’s Governing Board and, among them, your representative on the Parents’ Committee, and allow a parent to join the CSS Board of Directors.
Even if this is your first year at the school, don’t hesitate to run for any of the positions up for election at the annual meeting. This opportunity only comes up again at the beginning of each school year.
Parents have their place in the education system, and it all starts at your school’s annual of your school.
WHEN?
It will take place no later than September 30 of each year.
HOW?
The Chair of the Board convenes the meeting, and as such is responsible for preparing, with the help of management, how the meeting will be run.
General meetings must be public: they can be held in person, in schools, or remotely, by videoconference. (See Sheet #28 of the Minister’s Mandatory Training for Governing Boards and Principals).
Board
of Establishment
At your school
The Governing Board (GB) is a forum for information, discussion, decision-making and consultation between parents, school management and staff (and students for schools offering Secondary 4 and 5 education). The GB has a decision-making role on a number of issues, including, among others:
- School values and code of conduct;
- Adopt the rules of life of the daycare, if applicable
- The school budget;
- The terms and conditions of various fees and services (daycare and lunch services, extracurricular activities, etc.);
- Approval of the Educational Project, the time allocated to each subject and educational activities.
Training offered by the Ministère de l’Éducation is mandatory for members of the CÉ, and their term of office is two years. Usually, each year, half of the seats reserved for parents are filled by election.
The Governing Board may decide, if it deems it useful, to form a committee of parents who use the school’s daycare service, which may make recommendations to the Governing Board.
One of the parent members of the Parents’ Committee must be elected by the parents’ assembly to represent them on the school service center’s Parents’ Committee (PC). Another parent member of the ESC may be designated as a substitute. These parents will represent the school’s parents on the CP, not the CÉ.
Organization
parental involvement
At your school
The Parent Participation Organization (PPO) is at the heart of your school’s values. The OPP aims to promote the participation of parents in the development, implementation and periodic evaluation of the educational project, as well as the support they must give to their child’s academic success. The PPO can give advice to parent members of a Governing Board on any subject that concerns parents.
The existence of a PPO at your school is decided at the parents’ general meeting, which also decides on its composition and operating rules. There can be as many PPOs as there are buildings in the school.
The parents who make up the PPO are generally chosen from among volunteers at the general meeting, but each PPO has its own operating rules and may therefore welcome new parents during the year.
Service Advisory Committee
students with special needs or learning difficulties
At your school service center
The mission of the Advisory Committee on Services for Handicapped Students and Students with Social Maladjustments or Learning Disabilities (CCSEHDAA) is defined by the Education Act (LIP), and includes advising the school service center on :
- Policy on the organization of educational services for students with special needs.
- Allocation of financial resources for services to these students.
- Application of the individualized education plan for students with handicaps, social maladjustments or learning disabilities.
Parent involvement in the CCSEHDAA does not involve your school’s annual parent assembly. Parents whose child has an intervention plan can sign up at the CCSEHDAA’s annual general meeting, and will receive a notice to this effect at the start of the school year.
Committee
parents
At your school service center
Under the Education Act, the Parents’ Committee (PC) is responsible for :
- Promote public education to all parents of a student attending a school in the school service center;
- Suggest ways for the school service center to support parents in their role with their child, in order to promote their educational success;
- Suggest to the school service center ways of fostering communication between parents and school staff;
- To promote parent participation in school and school service center activities, and to designate parents to participate in the various committees formed by the school service center;
- Transmit to the school service center the expression of parents’ needs, including training needs, identified by school representatives and by the representative of the Comité́ consultatif des services aux élèves handicapés et aux élèves en difficulté́ d’adaptation ou d’apprentissage;
- Develop, with the support of the school service center, and propose to the latter, for adoption, the policy relating to financial contributions;
- Advise the School Service Centre on specific pedagogical projects offered or planned in its schools, on any matter likely to ensure the best possible operation of the School Service Centre, and on any matter on which it must be consulted.
The Parents’ Committee must be consulted on a number of issues, including the school calendar, the distribution of educational services, student enrolment criteria and the school service center’s commitment to educational success.
The Parents’ Committee can also inform and support parents in their efforts to become involved in the education network, provide them with resources to support them in their roles, and represent and express their needs and points of view to government, school, regional and national authorities.
The Parents’ Committee is made up of a parent representative from each school (who must be a member of the Parents’ Committee), elected by the Parents’ Assembly, and a representative of the CCSEHDAA, appointed by the parents on the committee.
Board
administration
At your school service center
Each School Service Center (SSC) is now managed by a Board of Directors (BOD). The Board of Directors is responsible for administering the affairs of the school service center, while ensuring that its establishments benefit from optimal conditions for carrying out their educational mission.
Board members are appointed or elected, and come from three distinct groups: parents, community members and school staff.
Parents wishing to run for a seat on their school’s Board of Directors must be members of the Parents’ Committee. They must first be members of a GB and then elected to represent the parents of their school on the Parents’ Committee.
It is important that parents
take their place in the education system
Academic success is not the sole responsibility of teachers. The school team, the community and parents are also called upon to work together to maximize student success.
We look forward to seeing many of you there.
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