Ottawa Carleton District School Board

Make A Difference At Your School

All schools in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board should have an advisory school council to help increase communication between schools and their communities and to serve the needs of students. A school council liaises through the school principal and is an important link between parents and the school community. Find out more about school councils by reading our factsheet.

Some of the key duties of a school council include:

Building a sense of community involving:

Organizing extra-curricular activities in the school
Coordinating school-based services and community partnerships related to social, health, recreational, and nutrition programs
Advising on community use of school facilities
The local coordination of services for children and youth

Enhancing the home-school relationship through:

Establishing school-community communication strategies
Developing methods of reporting to parents/guardians and the community

Providing advice and comments on areas such as:

The school-year calendar
The school code of student conduct
Curriculum and program goals and priorities
The responses of the school or Board to achievement in provincial and Board assessment programs
The preparation of the school profile
The principal profile - provision of input as to the qualities, skills, attitudes, and training/education for the Board and administration to consider in the selection of school principals
The school budget priorities, including local capital improvement plans
The development, implementation, and review of Board policies at the local level

The principal assists the school council in carrying out its obligations by:

Providing existing non-confidential information