HANDBOOK AND POLICY GUIDE

board in the school, through personal contacts, etc.

Abolish teacher room and staff toilets and integrate them into " community toilets. Students need to know that teachers have bowel movements.

Encourage community organizations to "adopt a class", to finance trips to plan community tours and study, to locate employment and to develop "my brother's brother" kinds of relationships and not Big Brother relationships with the students. Encourage such groups to present citations to deserving teachers and students. (3) Corporal Punishment: Abolish corporal punishment and insist that teachers begin to learn how to handle student behavior in the classroom as a part of the educational process. Remember violence begets violence. (4) Suspensions: Prohibit school sus

pensions and develop strategies to enable students to utilize the educational experience productively. Protect the right of students to be themselves and to learn by doing so. (5) Open School: Organize regular class

and school visitations by parents and feed-back the collective reactions of the parents to the respective school staff.

Keep the school open on weekends and evenings for use by community groups, etc. Weddings, funerals, card parties and political meetings should be held in the school.

The "gate-keeping"

function

should be exercised by community members and not just by the school staff. The community knows who should be allowed into the schools.

Encourage the school to utilize local residents as guest lecturers, speakers, etc. in the areas of their special experience and knowledge. (6) Accountability: Develop an instrument and a process for enabling students, parents and community leaders to evaluate the school program, the staff and to participate in shaping the educational goals of the school. Monthly reports should be sent home dealing with: Teacher Turnover; Teacher Absences; School Dropouts, if any; School Emergencies; Problems of Vandalism and Theft; Calendar of Special Events: on a classroom level, grade level or school-wide level; Financial Income and Expenditures.

A Parent-controlled Grievance Committee should be established. This committee should be available to parents and staff to elicit problems and concerns.

Encourage teachers to prepare a one-page statement which clearly outlines their goals for the year. Encourage them to hold meetings with parents to ensure a clear understanding of the goals and to elicit parent opinions and reactions. The same discussions should be held with their students.

(7) "Teaching" the Teachers: Teachers

should be required to have their students and their parents teach the teachers about the local community mores, values and customs such as language, behavioral patterns, etc. An "Open Community Mon th" should be established during which time all homes have to be visited by teach

ers.

The first ten minutes and the last ten minutes of every day should be used by the students to teach teachers about "how it was in the local community last night" and "what kind of a day it has been", respectively.

The officers of the individual school councils, the principal, student leaders and key teachers should hold weekly "staff meetings" in the school.

(8) Classroom Assignments:

Students should be given classroom assignments designed to bring the home and school closer together. Interviews with parents on critical social issues, eliciting of parent attitudes toward school, childhood experiences, etc. should become an integral part of the students learning. (9) Parent-Directed School-Community Studies: Parents should be enabled and assisted to collect information on community interests, attitudes and aspirations as a way to help the community to relate to the school. (10) Justification and Mediation: Most

issues are not really settled by a vote or by the exercise of power by those in school.

Develop a means for resolving conflict, settling disagreements or breaking log jams by supporting principals, students, teachers and parents only when they are right. Require all the participants to justify why they acted in certain ways and to listen to reactions to others about their assessments.

Settle disagreements through the use of impartial mediators or by negotiation.

Building Community Understanding.

The process of establishing a community school council, if effective, will

result in building operational unity, in increasing the number of people who are interested and able to participate in identifying weaknesses and strengths of their own program, and in gauging the strength of the opposition.

Concentrate on the process of community-building, and not just the issues. In cases where issues can be consciously selected, the extent to which the issues generate community solidarity becomes a criterion of selection. It is not necessary to attempt to educate the majority: concentrate your attention on the strategic "local influentials" and "opinion makers" - clergy, beauticians, bankers, businessmen, community workers, block leaders, numbers men, doctors, social workers, politicians, youth leaders, organizational representatives, the bench sitters, the people in the laundromat and so forth. Have them play the message back to you in their own words to be sure that they understand you. Then, ask them to speak with specific people, and to put the message on the informal grapevine: When it comes back to you on the grapevine, listen carefully to find out what is being communicated. Ask questions in order to learn more about what is being said.

numbers and getting to know the secretaries of those who have them. Returning telephone calls, keeping promises and showing up when one is needed; the only time it really counts! Helping people to evaluate issues, to explore alternative strategies and to get involved in learning what has to be done.

Encouraging the development of meetings in homes, speaking engagements, student assignment, essay contests, newspaper and TV programs where ideas are discussed, not sold.

Keeping a running record of those who give evidence of a deepening understanding of the issues: getting them invited to meet with others: in churches, civic groups, etc.

Inviting speakers and consultants in from other cities to local forums and workshops. Invite professionals, community interns and parents from other communities.

Focusing activities on organizations: providing them with materials and speakers; inviting them to canvass their neighborhoods; to convene conferences and meetings.

Helping people to get to know you as a person.

Being whomever you think you are and not what others want you to be. Helping people to learn how to keep you honest; to prevent even you from manipulating them.

Helping people begin to feel good about themselves: help them understand and learn from their mistakes, compliment them when they deserve it.

Educating the antagonists; attempting to get them linked to the movement.

Remembering the students should be a full part of this effort.

The effectiveness of this effort can be measured in the following ways:

One hears about the issue at formal and informal gatherings.

Individuals and organizations begin to put the issue on their meeting agendas.

The request for materials, speakers and information begins to increase. More local residents begin to explain to you what's going on.

Individuals and organizations begin to subscribe to community control/ decentralization publications.

The rate of school visitations begins to increase; school principals and teachers begin to attend meetings in the community.

Former strangers get to know each other.

Regular meeting attenders begin to bring their friends with them; more strangers begin to attend meetings. Relationships of the Community School Council to Other Systems

The community school council must learn to deal with principals, district superintendents, and the school superintendents. Since the principals will be responsible to or working with the community school council several suggestions are submitted:

1. Involve him fully in the affairs of the council,

2. Meet with him regularly in the school,

3. See that he is invited to community meetings,

4. Ask for regular written reports from

him to be distributed to the parents, 5. Develop a meaningful relationship with him; help him to learn how to advocate on behalf of the students,

IV. Composition

and Structure of a Community School Council

The community school/decentralization movement differs from the regular system, not only in relation to the role of the parents in the educational process, but also in its broader interpretation of the concept of education. It is more than that which goes on within the classroom; the community and the school become inseparable. The community school teacher is concerned with more than that which takes place within her classroom, a concern for the total school is required. A student must be perceived as a member of a family and as a member of the community: community pressures or community support have a bearing on his ability to achieve within the school.

Every effort should be made to make it possible for community school council participants to obligate themselves to discharge their responsibilities to their communities and their schools. Teachers should have an opportunity to meet with their colleagues in order to aptly represent the views of the other teachers. Students should be afforded a chance to meet with other students. Parent meetings should be called for the express purpose of informing the parent representatives. Where necessary, babysitting, telephone, travel and meal costs should be met for all participants. The composition of the community school council is largely affected by the opportunities provided to guarantee full participation of its members.

Composition

Community school council should recruit, encourage and sustain the full participation of parents, students, community leaders, administrators (including principals) and teachers.

The community school council should consist of one large council with representatives from every school in the target area, and a number of similar councils, one in each school in the target area. The following diagram reflects the structure of the Dayton Community School Council, consisting of elementary and secondary schools in the target area of the Dayton Model Cities program. One must distinguish the Dayton Community School Council, which includes over one hundred people parents, students, principals, PTA presidents, and teachers, from the smaller community school councils for each school.

Each school selects six parents, one student, two teachers, (all of whom are democratically elected from their respective constituencies) and the principal and PTA president. These eleven people make up the community school council for that school. These people then select their own officers: a chairman, a vice-chairman, and a secretary. All eleven people, however, are representatives to the Dayton Community School Council.

The large Dayton Community School Council has no officers. Meetings, held once every two weeks, are presided over by a rotating chairmanship. In order to maintain the flow of communication between the Model Cities Planning Council and the Dayton Community School Council, the four members of the Model Cities Planning Council Education Committee attend the large group meetings.

59-411 O 71 pt. 13 - 16