The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ecoiisfhist suntri7meictionlssues 2000 thursday otl262p66 9 school advisory councils are they working for the students the parents the schools by hannelore volpe staff writer whats your school coun cil supposed to do volunteer at fundraising events help children with their reading skills coordi nate school special events talk about money promote education if you talk to council members they most certain ly do all those things even though many of them are still unclear about their role in the five years since they werecreated by theoritario governrhentschool advisory councils have seen some spectacular successes along with a fair amount of frustra- orra tion ken thurston the york region public boards super intendent of schools with regional responsibility for school councils says the principal the chairperson of the council arid council members must be able to work together to achieve sue- cess as he travelled across ontario as a member of the education improvement commission thurston heard the same complaint about school councils over and over again ing skills by making positive con nections between school and home by volunteering at their school by encouraging learning at home with support from the educators who can help parents help their children with homework and educa tional initiatives at home by taking part in the decisionmaking process arid- by coordinating activi ties with community agen cies so that children recog nize theyre part of a bigger fundraising alone wont make a difference to a childs education a lack of clarity in their role holds councils back and causes frustration among members thurston was told communication too was a problem too little with information hard to get from school- boards and other bodies or too much they send us every memo and every curriculum document thurston heard from some council mem bers v but the public school- board has adopted some american guidelines j for making their school councils more effective encourage more effective parental and community g6wkerrcochairperson involvement fiieducdtibn iwfthev school councilaf and urging parents to partic- t wtiitchifrckvhigmahds ipatem the planing process public school in whitchurch stourfville and a former member of the education improvement commission introduced the new pro gram based on studies by dr jdyceeptstein at johns dpkim university for schoorimprovemerits among other things py but improving student learning is the main purpose behind councils said at whitchurch highlands kerrj his xd- chairperson shawn nisbest lkerr adaptedsome of v prinapallbill reynolds epsteins recommendations have wed i recommemla- asvnewbrkfdrcahadiah ttonsfrom the epstem study school councils ucboamhasapproveditsuse- jnisbet a longtime parent- fo yorkregion schools v volunteer spends about six itheepstemfrarnewbrk weeks- oh the phone every outlines six ways that parents fall she says interyiewuig caneffectivehcohtribute to prospective l roaii woratinn nf teers to find out how theyd innovative thinking and making good use of volun teers also resulted in the 17- acre wood project at the school instead of replacing a climber that had to come down because of safety con cerns and that would be used by only one segment of the school population the school councils environ- mental committee decided to do something that would benefit the everyone the project includes two outdoor classrooms one a type of arbour the other a rhini nature trails are being planned and parts of the yard are being naturalized changes are in the works for school advisory councils council members will face new challenges in the riear- future when the ministry of education is expected to gord kerr cochairperson bfwhitchuf ch highlands ptrblic t 5th ioncii s unheiped dfeate gmelinestor their effective come out with new legisla tion governing councils operation kerr added two more rec ommendations of his own increasing respect among principals parents- and teachers through social z events where the members meet in less formal settings and carrying out fundraising with a specific goal in mind fundraisingalone wont make a difference to a childs education kerr said leslie oconnor council cochairperson at st mark school in stouffville would agree although the catholic school board has not adopt- ed the epstein recommen dations councils oconnor says have given legitimacy to the advice thatparente do have for their school 0 more than a year ago council members lobbied the york catholic school board for a second catholic elementary school in stouffville the board lis tened a new school is slat- ed to be completed by the fall of 2001- but citing a iackof clear direction many parents principals arid community members have become frus- trated deciding how best to help the school andttieir children when legislated into exis tence in 1995 councils were basically left on their own a study 5 guidelines came about two years later from the eic- making rec ommendations on how to pc hmttmmm x ikbbssiasssislkse wmi ikili jxbbbbm js3m natasha pickering registered massage therapist certified esthetician worked at briars highfields instructorsupervisor canadian college of massage trained in european hydrotherapy trained in shiatsu ucin kimberly mqschke hairstylist reworked locally for last 3 yrs specializing in colours highlights updos recently visited montrealfor esthetic skincare convention to update skills charlene broadben hairstylist worked locally for last 2 yrs a stylist for 5 yrs specializing in short hair barbering colour foils recently visited montreal for esthetic skincare convention to update skills kim cleary registered massage therapist local resident r- y trained in european 7- hydrotherapy specializing in phytobiodermie procedures body treatments facials skin care trained in post stroke rehabilitation by sharing their parent t