School Council News

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS 2014

Elections for our 2014 School Council will take place shortly.  The School Council plays a most valuable role in the school’s operation and future development.  Please consider nominating as a School Councillor.  

What is School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council.  They are legally formed bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of the school within centrally provided guidelines.

Who is on School Council?

There are three possible categories of membership:

A mandated elected Parent category.

More than a third of the elected members must be from this category. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.

A mandated Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) employee category.  Members of this category may make up no more than a third of the total membership of school council.  The principal is automatically one of these members.

An optional community member category.  Its members are co-opted by the decision of the council because of their special talents, skills, interests or experiences. DEECD employees are not eligible to be community members.

The term of office is two years.  Half the members retire each year which creates vacancies for the annual school council elections. Retiring members may re-nominate.

This year, the term of office for the following school council members expires:

Parent Category:

Angelo Piperidis

Jeffrey Rosewarne

Maria Tsekouras

Cassandra Williams

DEECD Category:

Nerida Burns

Shirley Krongold

Community Member Category:

Amanda Daemen

School Councillors whose term of office expires are eligible to be re-elected.

Why is Parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying in itself and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections.  However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.  In view of this, you may consider standing for election or encourage another person to stand for election.

The school council election process for the new council commences today.  Please see the following attached information.

 A nomination form is attached and forms are also available from the school office.

Election Timeline:

Notice of Election and call for nominations:         4 February 2014

Close of Nominations: 11 February 2014

List of Candidates, nominators and seconders displayed: 12 February 2014

Distribution of Ballot papers (if ballot needed): 18 February 2014

Close of ballot : 25 February 2014

Votes counted: 28 February 2014

Ballot declared: 4 March 2014

Council meeting to appoint community members and elect Office bearers:17 March 2014

Heather Hill