January 5th, 2016

In November 2015, PIC and Waterloo Region Assembly of Public School Councils (WRAPSC), with the support of the office of the Director of Education, ran the first annual Director’s Town Hall. This event, hosted over two nights at Eastwood Collegiate Institute (ECI) and Bluevale Collegiate Institute (BCI), invited principals and school council chairs to network and share best practices with other principal/council chair teams to improve the ability of all school councils in the WRDSB to engage their parent communities.

WRDSB Director Bryant spoke about the importance of parent engagement in student success and well-being, based on his personal experience and research being conducted by scholars such as Dr. Ken Leithwood. The highlight of the evening was the panel Q&A session. Panellists who were all current or former principals and school council chairs answered questions about the role of school councils and their officers, how to communicate with the school community, how to run effective meetings and more.

Participants left energized and armed with new ideas to engage parents in their schools. Summary notes captured from the Town Hall event are now available.