Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School Council Constitution
Sir Guy Carleton SS is constituted under the authority of the Ontario Ministry of Education, Ontario Regulation 612/00, dated December 2000, with the name Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School Council, or the abbreviated name Sir Guy School Council. It is a volunteer group of members of the school community – parents/guardians, students, school administrators, teaching staff and a community representative - dedicated to strengthening educational opportunities and partnerships with the community.
1. Definition of Terms Used in this Document
School , or Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Board or School Board is the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, under whose jurisdiction the school falls.
Member is a duly elected or chosen member of the Council in good standing.
Parent is the birth parent, adoptive parent or the legal guardian of one or more students registered at the school for either the current semester or the upcoming semester.
Student is a student currently enrolled at the school.
2. Mission of the Council
The mission of the Sir Guy School Council is to work with the broader education community for the purpose of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of Sir Guy in all its attempts to provide the highest possible calibre of education for each and every student. In order to achieve this purpose, the School Council is committed to developing and maintaining positive, two-way communications and consultative mechanisms with the administration, teachers and non-teaching staff of Sir Guy, with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and, where appropriate, with the Ontario Ministry of Education.
3. Mandate of the Council
The Council shall assist, communicate and provide advice on all matters that affect the quality of the education experience of Sir Guy students. These issues include, but are not restricted to: • Student focus issues, • School policies and Board policies, • Use of technologies, • Curriculum and program goals and priorities, • School budget priorities, including local capital-improvement plans, • Preparation of the school profile and promotion of the school, • Methods of reporting to parents and the community, • School-community communication strategies, • Local school-year calendar, • School code of student behaviour, • Responses of the school or the Board to achievement in provincial and Board assessment programs, • School-based services and community partnerships related to social, cultural, health, recreational and nutrition programs,• Development, implementation and review of Board policies at the local level, and • Anti-racist, ethno-cultural equity.
4. Composition of the Council
4.1 Membership Members of the Council shall include:
parents as elected by those parents in attendance at a duly notified Council meeting; the principal of the school; student(s) as chosen by the staff; teaching staff as chosen by same; non-teaching staff as chosen by same; and community representative(s) as chosen by Council. Parents shall form the majority of the Council.
Membership numbers shall be consistent with the following table:
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
Parents
|
3
|
10
|
Principal
|
1
|
1
|
Students
|
1
|
2
|
Community Rep
|
1
|
1
|
Staff Rep
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
4.2 Member in Good Standing:
A member in good standing is a person who has been duly elected or chosen and whose term has not expired or who has not resigned or is not deemed to have resigned. All members in good standing shall have the right to vote at all meetings of the Council. The school Principal is a non-voting member of the Council. Council meetings are open to all parents, teaching and non-teaching staff and students of the school; all of whom, however, do not have the right to vote.
4.3 Selection of Members and Terms of Office:
All members of School Council shall be elected or chosen annually within 30 calendar days of the beginning of each school year. For any seats that remain unfilled or become vacant beyond this time frame, the School Council shall choose qualified persons to fill such seats as expeditiously as possible.
Members of the Council shall be elected/chosen as follows:
• Council shall appoint a nominating committee, by no later than the May Council meeting of each year, to actively solicit parents, and community representatives who would be willing to serve on the next year’s Council.
• The election of parent representatives shall be held at the first Council meeting of each year, by all parents in attendance at the meeting. Notice of this meeting shall be given to as many parents as reasonably possible at least 2 weeks in advance, in a manner as determined by Council.
• Parent members shall be elected for a term of one year.
• One or two Student members, as determined by the staff, shall be chosen
• The Principal may appoint a Vice-Principal as his or her alternate to School Council if necessary.
• One or two teacher members, as determined by the teaching staff, shall be chosen by members of the teaching staff for one- or two-year terms, as determined by the teaching staff.
• Teaching staff may decide for themselves how to choose their representatives to Council.
• Community representatives will be chosen by the Council for one-year terms.
• Vacancies on Council shall be filled by the group from which the member was elected or chosen, after consultation with the group affected.
4.4 Composition and selection of the Executive of the Council:
Council Executive shall consist of the Chair or co-Chairs, the Secretary, the Treasurer.
• The members of each incoming Council shall elect a Chair or co-Chairs, as determined by Council each year, only from the parent members of the Council. The elections shall take place at the first Council meeting of each year. The Council Chair or Co-chairs, shall serve a term of one year, starting and ending at the first meeting of the school year.
• The Secretary and the Treasurer shall each be elected, or chosen by the Council, from within its membership, at the first meeting of the school year, for a term of one year.
5. Operations of the Council
5.1 Role and Responsibilities of Council Members Council members shall:
• Attend Council meetings regularly. A Council member who fails to attend three consecutive meetings shall be deemed to have resigned, unless written notice or explanation of the absence has been provided to the Council Chair;
• Participate actively in the work of the Council; and
• Support the work of the Council in the community and bring forward to Council the views of others along with their own.
5.2 Roles of Chair or Co-Chairs
The Chair or Co-Chairs is responsible for creating an agenda for each Council meeting, which should be sent to all Council members, in a manner determined by the Council, at least 5 days in advance of the meeting, whenever possible.
The Chair or Co-Chairs shall chair all Council meetings. Co-chairs shall share the duties of chair.
5.3 Meetings:
The first Council meeting each year must be held within 30 calendar days of the beginning of the school year, on a date fixed by the Chair, or co-Chairs in consultation with the Principal.
The Council shall hold a minimum of six meetings per year. All members in good standing will be notified, by a means specified clearly by Council, at least seven days in advance, of the time and place of meetings. The schedule of Council meetings shall also be posted on the School web site and listed on the school calendar.
Meetings of the Council and committees shall be open to the public. In exceptional circumstances, Council may resolve to meet in closed session.
5.4 Quorum
To form a quorum as required for a meeting of the Council, a majority of the current members of the School Council shall be present at the meeting, and the majority of the members present shall be parent members.
5.5 Voting
The preferable decision making model of the Council is consensus. Should voting be necessary, a simple majority of the members in good standing who are present shall be required to pass regular motions or resolutions. The Chair of the meeting shall be entitled to vote only in the event of a tie.
5.6 Minutes of Meetings
Minutes of all meetings shall be kept and made available to all members at least three days before the next Council meeting. The minutes shall record all decisions and all action items. The minutes shall record the names of all members present at the meeting, plus the names of the Chair and the Secretary for the meeting. Minutes of School Council meetings shall be posted on the school web site, to ensure availability to the whole school community and the general public.
5.7 Gain to Members
All members shall serve on a voluntary basis. No honoraria shall be paid to a person who undertakes a task as a member of Council or as a member of a committee of Council. In no way shall any of the activities of the Council be undertaken for purposes of gain to any member of the Council. Any funds, or goods and services, gathered by the Council shall be used only to promote the objectives of the Council.
5.8 Amendment to the Constitution
Notice of a proposed amendment shall be given one meeting prior to the meeting at which the vote on the amendment will be held. The following conditions must be met to amend the constitution:
(a) A minimum of two-thirds of the members must be present at the meeting;
(b) A majority of the members present must be parents; and
(c) A minimum of two-thirds of the members present must vote in favour of the proposed amendment.
5.9 Rules and Guidelines
The Council shall have the authority to make rules or issue guidelines with respect to anything in this constitution. Such rules or guidelines must be in writing and must appear in the minutes of the meeting at which they are adopted.
6. Effective Date
The Council adopted this constitution on the 20th of November, 2018 at Ottawa, Ontario.