This document presents the basic framework of the School Governing Council (SGC) of the
Overview
The concept of a School Governing Council was born out of the current trend of decentralizing the management of public schools. The growing autonomy of the local government units presents an opportunity for public schools to coordinate more closely with the LGU’s in order to appropriately allocate financial and logistical resources to address real and actual issues that schools are facing. This is effectively complimented by the thrust of the Department of Education (DepEd) to devolve certain critical decision-making functions to local school administrations. The DepEd encourages schools to adopt this new paradigm through School Based Management (SBM) initiatives that involves other stakeholders outside of the traditional school structure. Many studies show that effective implementation of SBM has a significant impact on the performance and achievement results of schools as compared to those that do not have a similar program.
SBM encourages Principals, as school administrators, to tap other stakeholders like the alumni, the local government and non-government organizations, to address areas of improvement within the context of the school’s unique needs and requirements. The partnership among the local government unit, the school and the community of stakeholders have been proven to be very effective in providing timely and appropriate resolution to the many issues affecting our schools today. It is therefore our desire to adopt the best practices in SBM implementation and use them to reduce attrition in student enrolment and achieve significant improvement in the quality of education provided by the
Under the School-Based Management paradigm, the Principal and the school’s administration will remain as primarily responsible for the formulation, development and implementation of policy directions. These policies and programs are expounded through the School Improvement Plan, which identifies the development goals of the school for the next three years. The School Governing Council, on the other hand, shall be a multi-sectoral committee composed of representatives from the school’s stakeholders. Its primary role shall be to assist the Principal and the school administrators in attaining the goals set forth in the School Improvement Plan. As such, the SGC will not implement programs or projects on its own. Its mandate is to identify issues and propose solutions based on the SIP, and then coordinate and work with individuals and organizations who can effectively implement these programs and advocacies. The SGC will also work with the school administration in monitoring and evaluating programs, and shall ensure that progress is sustained and results and feedback are properly communicated to all stakeholders.
History
In more recent years, the satellite campuses were given more autonomy, and eventually became independent schools with their own administration and faculty. This pragmatic move reduced the number of students in the original campus to more manageable levels. Providentially, the Department of Education started promoting School Based Management to decentralize vital decision making that directly affect the effectiveness of school policies and programs. This initiative empowers public schools to set their own policy directions and tailor them to address their specific needs in close coordination with local governments and community stakeholders.
Building on the positive feedback from other schools that have implemented similar initiatives, Dr. Josephine M. Cruz, incumbent Principal of the
Thus was born the first School Governing Council for the
| Comm. Pablo P. Perez (Ret.) | RHS Alumni Foundation |
| Mryna P. Neri | RHS Alumni Association, Inc. |
| Dennis E. Concepcion | RHS Class 1981 |
| Florencia T. Laxamana | RHS Faculty |
| Rex Aquino | RHS Faculty |
| Vanessa Ann C. Santos | RHS Supreme Student Council |
| Bernard Perez | Barangay Chair, Caniogan Pasig |
| Ursula Moosmann | VOICE – NGO for Values Formation |
| Jose Villaviza | HOPE – NGO for Child Welfare |
| Alfredo Tengco | RHS Parent Representative |
| TBA | City Government Representative |
Elected to a three-year regular term as Chair and Vice-Chair are Mr. Dennis E. Concepcion and Ms. Myrna P. Neri, respectively. Ms. Florencia T. Laxamana is the Council Secretary.
The main objectives of the School Governing Council are:
- Assist the school in achieving its goals and objectives as stated in its School Improvement Plan (SIP), and provide inputs to continually evaluate and improve the same.
- Provide recommendations to the Principal on matters that can help in addressing relevant issues and problems affecting the school and actively participate in the resolution of these issues.
- Develop and promote an integrated program of projects and advocacies in support of the SIP and provide the framework by which stakeholders of the school can come together and work towards the achievement of goals and objectives that will have the most significant positive and sustainable impact to the school and its students.
Organization
The School Governing Council is a committee composed of representatives from stakeholder groups of the
- School Administration, Faculty and Other Non-teaching Personnel
- Students
- Parents
- Alumni
- Local Government
- Business Community and Civic Organizations
- Non-Government Organizations with focus on Youth and Education
Individuals and organizations may be invited by the School Principal to join the Council as members. Individual members may be invited in their personal capacities, while organizations may nominate a member or officer to sit in the Council on its behalf. At any given time, the Council may not have less than seven (7) and not more eleven (11) regular members. The number of members should always be an odd value (7, 9 or 11).
After the Council has been constituted, members from amongst themselves will elect a Chair, a Vice-Chair and a Secretary. Each of these elected Officers shall have a term of three (3) years. They will exercise the following functions:
- Council Chair
- Preside over the meetings of the Council.
- Coordinate with the Principal and the school administration in the implementation of the Council’s Programs and Advocacies.
- Assist the Principal in identifying and inviting prospective members of the Council
- Provide leadership towards the attainment of the goals and objectives of the Council.
- Liaise with the school stakeholders for the promotion of and in support of the Council’s Programs and Advocacies.
- Council Vice-Chair
- Preside over the meetings of the Council in the absence of the Chair.
- Assist the Chair in the implementation of the Council’s Programs and Advocacies.
- Perform any other function as the Council may designate from time to time.
- Council Secretary
- Preside over the meetings of the Council in the absence of both the Chair and the Vice-Chair.
- Act as the Official Custodian of all records and documents of the Council and disseminate the same as needed.
- Coordinate communication between the Council and other stakeholders of the school.
The Council shall meet on the first Saturday of the first month of each quarter at ten in the morning, unless another date and time has been set and the members of the Council have been notified of the change at least one week before the original or new schedule, whichever will come first. Special meetings may be called to discuss important matters outside of the regular meetings. Ad-Hoc committees formed for specific purposes may be convened for meetings and other activities anytime deemed as appropriate by the Ad-Hoc Committee Chairs.
The Council may invite resource persons from time to time to assist in the formulation, development and implementation of its programs and advocacies. The Council will ensure that in the course of its operations, it shall remain apolitical, non-sectarian and shall always adhere to universally accepted tenets of transparency, accountability, and equality.
Membership in the Council, although by invitation only, shall always be on a voluntary basis. Council members shall not receive any remuneration, monetary or otherwise, from the school or from any other sources. Representatives may be replaced by their respective member organizations, provided due notice is given to the Council. Council Members are to serve for three (3) year terms.
The Faculty Club, Supreme Student Council, the RHS Alumni Association and the RHS Alumni Foundation are ex-officio members of the Council. Their Presidents or Chairs shall serve as Council Members, or they may assign a representative from among their officers.
Operations
The School Governing Council shall operate exclusively under the auspices of the
The Council’s programs and advocacies must always be consistent with the School Improvement Plan (SIP) of the school. Based on the SIP, the Council shall:
- Identify areas of improvement
- Formulate programs or advocacies to address these areas
- Set performance and/or achievement targets
- Identify stakeholders that can implement the program or advocacy and invite them to participate in the program either as lead organization or co-implementor
- Monitor the progress of the program or advocacy and communicate to all stakeholders the status vis-à-vis the set targets
- Evaluate the impact of the programs and advocacies on the attainment of the school’s goals and objectives as stated in the SIP and the set targets
The Council shall not maintain funds of its own. It shall be the responsibility of the school to provide the venue and other materials for its meetings. The school shall also provide logistical support for its other activities and operational requirements. If any identified program or advocacy requires funding, the manner by which funds will be sourced and managed shall be included in the program plan and framework. The Council shall not in any way be involved directly in the management of any fund intended for programs and advocacies. However, an accounting of funds collected and used for any project or advocacy emanating from the Council, if any, must be submitted regularly and will form part of the Status Report to be provided to the stakeholders.
In view of the above, the Council shall appoint a partner foundation that will manage funds intended for its programs and advocacies. Funds entrusted to the partner foundation shall be used exclusively for the use of programs and advocacies identified by the Council. A Memorandum of Agreement shall be signed between the Council and the partner foundation towards this end.
Program of Action
The First Regular Meeting of the Council shall be on __ April 2008, Saturday at ten in the morning. The meeting shall be held at the RHS Principal’s Office.
During the organizational meeting held last
- An updated School Improvement Plan will be presented to the Council during the First Regular Meeting. However, it was noted that the current SIP can already be used as an interim material for identifying areas for improvement.
- The Council shall identify priority areas for improvement. During an initial review of the current SIP, the Council Chair called the member’s attention to the high drop-out rate of the school. It was agreed then that one of the Council’s first priority will be to address this issue.
- An initiative to adopt the Gramin Banking model for Micro-finance in establishing small support groups for students who are most likely to drop out of school was proposed by the Chair and accepted by the Council. It was further agreed that a program to support this initiative will be discussed and finalized during the First Regular Meeting.
- In support of this first initiative, the Principal committed to provide the Council the profiles of students who are most likely to drop out of school. This information will help the Council in understanding the problem and identifying the appropriate response.
- During the previous meeting, the need to upgrade the competency and skills of teachers was also identified as a vital area of improvement that can positively affect the quality of education provided by the school. Any program of action, therefore, should have in its core the twin goals of reducing the drop-out rate of students and upgrading the skills and competency of teachers so that students can stay in school and receive the quality of education that will make them better equipped to be productive and responsible citizens.
- The Council shall finalize and adopt a more comprehensive Program of Action, to be named the "Integrated Support and Incentive Program (ISIP)", and shall present the same to the different stakeholders of the school to generate support and encourage them to channel resources towards an integrated and holistic management of programs aimed at addressing the priority needs of the school. The program is designed to benefit all sectors of the school community, and shall identify and prioritize projects that can generate significant short and long term benefits.
- The Council shall conduct a planning session on 31 May 2008 at ten in the morning.
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