Involving Parents in the School: Tips for School Councils

Break Down Barriers

Many parents would welcome the opportunity to engage in the school community, but face genuine barriers to involvement. These tips will help you encourage parental involvement by addressing issues such as child care, language, transportation and accessibility to school events and programs.

Tip #8: The Childcare Program

Sometimes parents are unable to attend meetings because they do not have access to child care or cannot afford the cost of a babysitter. Here are some suggestions for activities that would help parents participate more easily in school events.

• Consider hiring high school students to run a babysitting service for parents using a small portion of Council budget.
• Alternatively, consider students who may wish to participate in babysitting services as a means of fulfilling the 40 hours of community involvement required for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma.
• Focus on low-risk activities – such as math help, reading help, storytelling and board games – to minimize the possibility of injury.
• Take care that all board policies and procedures are being followed, particularly where the program involves the hiring of students.

Tip #9: The Translation Service

If a significant proportion of parents speak a first language other than English, consider offering translation services for Council meetings and other events. Parents will also appreciate receiving selected school documents, such as newsletters or important information notices, in a variety of languages. Members of the school community, and the larger community, are often pleased to provide language support to new Canadian families.

Tip #10: The Parent Car Pool

Often, parents will be more than willing to arrange car pooling for those families who may not have adequate transportation. Be sure to prominently display information about your car pooling program on bulletin boards, in the school newsletter, and in other communications.

Tip #11: The Off-Site / Off-Hours Program

Where parents have problems with transportation, or with attending regularly scheduled events – due, for example, to shift work – consider holding supplementary events or meetings in the community and/or during off hours. The local library is often an ideal place to hold an information event, and can serve to raise the public visibility of the school at the same time.