HANDBOOK AND POLICY GUIDE problems into their educational programs. The policy-making role requires further elaboration since, in addition to decision-making and evaluating the implementation of those decisions, it offers greater opportunities for holding the educational staff accountable. In such instances, policy-making bodies should have the power to make the ultimate decision with appropriate consultation in the following areas: hiring, firing and promotion of school staff; purchasing of books, supplies, equipment, food services; expenditure of funds local, state and federal; site selection, design and construction of schools; and establishing educational policy, shaping school-community curriculum and special educational programs and activities. Maximum local school-community autonomy or school-community control is best understood when one considers the right of communities to be involved in those decisions that affect them, and to control the network of internal power relationships within their own communities. In fact, this is not a challenge to the powers of the central system but a legitimate exercise of one's democratic prerogatives. It includes two categories of decisions, exclusive and shared. Exclusives consist either of those which can only be made by the central system of of those which can only be made by the local community. Shared decisions are those in which the central system and the local community together arrive at a decision. Such a plan requires that the central system confirms legitimate local decisions, and advocates on behalf of local interests when the ultimate power rests with the central system. When more than one community finds itself in competition, the central board may act to negotiate with the community rather than make unilateral decisions. It is the continuing responsibility of local school-community groups to identify those decisions which fall exclusively within its purview and to learn how to participate in shared decisionmaking with the central system. The community school council should also operate to ensure that the central board does not expand its decision-making areas so as to usurp the rights of local community school councils. It is vitally important to understand the varying levels of participation in the decision-making process. This knowledge is significant as a guide to learning how to participate in the process and how to ensure relevance of decision-making. The issue of who makes or shapes the ultimate decision is crucial since people usually make decisions in their own interest. Hopefully the community school council will come to perceive the positive value of making collective and consensus-oriented decisions as a support for building workable relationships and community unity. Table II Levels of Participation Support of Issues and Ideas Reinterpretation. Redefinition Modes of Decision-Making 13 While Table II outlines the levels of participation in the decision-making process, it must be understood that these levels occur within the framework of a given structure based on the distribution of authority and responsibility. Such a distribution occurs in the following categories: unilateral decisions by school staff; advisory role by community school council; joint decision-making by school and community; policy-making by community school council. In the latter instance the parents I would be in the majority and would be charged with the major responsibility for policy-making. This differs from joint decision-making by school and community where there frequently is not a dulyelected and representative body of parents. In addition, such decision-making usually takes place at the whim of the principal and not as a basic right and responsibility. Hopefully, however, even a policy-making community school council will attempt to achieve a jointdecision-making process as a means to ensure effective implementation of their decisions. The key implementers of decisions are the principal and the teaching staff, including para-professionals. It is their role to translate the decisions into action and to participate jointly with the community school council in the evaluation of these actions. HANDBOOK AND POLICY GUIDE 15 III. The Process of Establishing a Community School Council The process by which one establishes a community school council is a major determinant in achieving the educational goals of utmost concern to Black and poor people and their children. Advocates of meaningful parental involvement continually must find the ways and means to respond to the following three questions: 1. How does one enable parents to want to exercise their rights and obligation to function in an advisory and/or policy-making capacity in the education of their children?' 2. How does one enable community school councils to learn to develop a followership which is capable of holding it accountable, and an appropriate structure and process to sustain followership interest and participation? 3. How does a community school council develop a workable relationship with central boards and school systems (particularly unions and middle management principals and teachers) so that it increases its ability to exercise conflict-free decisions on behalf of its own children? In addressing these strategic questions, it is clear that the first requires a community education program directed toward parents, school staff, and community leaders, the second requires a workable structure and procedure, and the third requires operational skills. Establishing Community Preparedness. Many parents are reluctant to get involved in school affairs because they fear that reprisals will be taken against their children by the school system, or against themselves by employers, the Welfare Department, or similar agencies. Their fears are not completely unfounded. Efforts should be undertaken to get parents to identify such fears (if they exist) and to help them overcome them. Three strategies are suggested: Understanding Rights, Relating Rights to a Community Educational Philosophy, and Learning Involvement. Understanding Rights. Help parents to understand their rights and how to protect them. Test whether or not the rights which are presumed to exist are, in fact, operative. Such rights include those of appeal, access to information, dissent, rights of students and student organizations, confidentiality of information concerning individual students and families. Relating to a Community Educational Philosophy. The values of various groups in the community reflect a deep concern for the greatest possible development of the intellectual, emotional, and physical character of every person in that community. These values are stated more explicitly in the following: (a) The Students. All children are human and educable. They possess creative capabilities and potential. All children have a right to have that which is of value to them accredited and respected within the classroom. That "something of value" includes his cultural heritage, All families have a right to have access to the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing and the opportunity to enjoy and express their own interests as long as they do not violate the rights of others. All families have a non-negotiable right to be involved in shaping the policy and content of the educational programs serving their own children. All families have a right to expect that a democratic society will guard and enhance their right to achieve and exercise their fullest potential. The educational process should strengthen, not weaken, family relationships. (c) School Staff. Employees of the school system are the servants of the people. Deep down many teachers want their children to learn whether or not they are capable of teaching them. Professionals are expected to be evaluated on the basis of their performance and their ability to enable parents and students to participate in this process. An effective principal understands the relationship between teacher attitudes and student achievement; family security and student potential. (d) The School and Its Purpose. The school exists to serve the educational needs of the community and not those of the central system. The school is an integral part of the community. It must be a living laboratory for learning how to make democracy work on behalf of all of its members as against a place where democracy is imposed as a hollow ideology. Corporal punishment, school suspensions, excessive failures, track systems, white racist rule, double standards, compensatory education (educational reparations), negative labeling, nonphysical violence and autocratic rule have no place in the production of human beings through the vehicle of education. Learning Involvement. Parents need to be helped to get involved. One way to bring about this learning, after they understand their rights and the community's educational philosophy, is to involve them in helping the school staff to relate to the local community. As they do so, they become involved themselves. The activities listed below are not meant as an exhaustive list, nor do they necessarily apply to every community, Furthermore, it is hoped that involvement on various levels reflects the needs and priorities set by the community school council itself. (1) Staff Selection and Recruitment: Give priority to local residents in staff recruitment and hiring but not the ultimate priority. (2) Locale of Meetings, School Events, etc: Hold committee meetings grade level, executive, etc. in homes or local non-school facilities. Establish a local non-school facility as a school community social center. Plan weekly breakfasts, social hours, luncheon meetings, etc. Use a storefront, a meeting room in a local church or bar, etc. Encourage school staff and others to patronize local businesses. Invite school staff to local social |