YES we have a Site council, I am the secretary of it! I am in California & we get state funded money that can by law only be used for certin things (the laws are changing) we meet once a month and at the beginning of the year make/vote on a budget. We currently get $56,000 a year we have 450 students. This differs from a PTA because you do not have to raise/earn the money. The site council by law has to equally be made up of 6 staff( 1 principal, i classifeied, 4 teachers) and 6 parents or community members. 12 members total. We serve a 2 year term. Everyone is welcome to attend meetings but only members have votes. Once the budget/ and school plan is approved by us we take it to the district board for approval. Hope this was helpful [img]smile.gif[/img]

Our elementary school has a site council. CRogers described it best. There are many other "committees" out there. We tried to put together a Parent Advisory Committee a couple of years ago to address concerns at the school by a group a parents. One idea was was how to improve safety in front of the school where everyone is coming and going. PAC failed due to lack of parent involvement (big surprise!). Site council is involved in cirriculum issues and ours meets once a week for 45 min. It has representation from all grade levels and areas of the school. The principal has been trying to get a parent involved for years. I think we may finally have someone who can commit to this on a regular basis.

Our school district has site councils and I have been on the elementary and currently on the high school. These groups are formed to make sure the individual schools are meeting their quality performance for their school accreditation. Usually there are faculty, staff, parents, and commmunity people on the committees. They review standarize tests results and RECOMMEND ways of improvement. They may also RECOMMEND changes in some standard school polices. However, final decisions on anything is decided by the school board.

laurib,
i'm in ca. and i would like the info on site council. unfortunately i don not have access to a fax if you could email it to me or snail mail i would appreciate it. thanks
lisa [img]smile.gif[/img]

Dear Floridamom,
In no way are SACS in Florida supposed to be a rubber stamp group. By law we have the resposibility for creating the school improvement plan (SIP) each year, deciding on how school improvement fund are spent (the council has the final say, not the principal) and we are to assist in preparing the school budget. As a first year SAC member this year I was very frustrated to be a rubber stamp group.I could have been using this time to accomplish PTO projects. Then I learned that we actually have the responsibility for things and then I couldn't rubber stamp any longer. A great web site to learn from is www.fl-sac.org. You can learn more from them than any rubber stamping principal wants you to know.Good luck.
Dolores

Hey Menzy Mom... in the great 'smokey' state of Colorado, our little charter school has the HEART Committee. This committee was reallt formed to feild out issues and complaints parents had/have but were not appropiate to aim at the PTO (our meeting time was cut in half with this committee!) They really didn't have any 'rubber stamping' power but worked with the school board to address issues, solve problems and take a compliment here and there!

--I've been finding dust bunnies and cleaning spots I missed (or couldn't reach lol) while preggers! Also we adopted 2 dogs !! I'm starting to think very seriously about calling Miss Carol, too...... [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] :cool: