Structure of the Stewardship Council
Membership of the Stewardship Council
Membership is comprised of ex-officio and co-opted members. Two
Brigidine Sisters, one of whom is the Provincial Coordinator or
her representative, will be ex-officio members.
Co-opted members are chosen from the community on the basis of
having:
a sense of "mission" and a desire that the ministry of
education be alive in the church
some real feel for the school and what it is doing
an ability to be involved in shared decision making and making
decisions on behalf of the common good
They also will be chosen because they have one or more of the following:
particular expertise which they are willing to share with the Stewardship
Council
expertise other than educational skills
some experience of the school eg. Past students or past parents
The Principal of the school will be the Executive Officer of the
Stewardship Council and as such shall attend all meetings of the
Council. The Principal is a key person in determining the successful
operation of the Council and is the liaison person between the Council
and the school community for whose good the Stewardship Council
exists.
Roles on the Stewardship Council
The Stewardship Council Chairperson is appointed by the Brigidine
Sponsorship Group from the Stewardship Council members. The appointment
is for three years. The chairperson's main duty is to be the centre
of coordination and unity. He/she does this by facilitating and
regulating discussion, deliberately and steadily moving members
towards consensus and decision. The agenda for the Stewardship Council
meetings is prepared by the Chairperson in consultation with the
Principal. All written communication to and from the Stewardship
Council is effected through the Chairperson.
It is the essential function of the Principal to provide educational
leadership to the whole school community, not only staff and students,
but also to parents and to School Stewardship Council members. The
Principal has a dual role on the Stewardship Council - a leader
in terms of policy development, an executive in terms of policy
implementation. The Principal services the Stewardship Council with
reports, recommendations and information, while serving the Stewardship
Council by administering the school.
Number of Stewardship Council meetings
Initially there may be a need to meet more often, say twice a term.
Once the committee structure is fully functioning, once a term will
probably be sufficient.
The Responsibilities of the Stewardship Council
A significant part of the Stewardship Council time and energy will
be spent in education, reflection and prayer determining the ways
education can be organized as a legitimate ministry within the church.
This will form the foundation of working as a Stewardship Council.
The Council's main responsibility is long-term planning and policy
making.
It:
- is a policy making team who have an awareness of shared ministry
and who together approve policies that are consistent with ideals
that come from a belief in the redemptive love of God and faith
in the person and messages of Jesus Christ
- takes the Brigidine Criteria for what makes an education Catholic
as basis tenets from which to plan
- is a structure for shared decision making
- collects data, looks at trends in education, in local demography,
projects future needs and plans how these can be met and consistently
updates long range plans
- provides pre-service and in-service for Stewardship Council
members
Specific aspects of school life that will require constant attention
by the Stewardship Council are:
the mission of the school as a place where the redemptive love
of God is witnessed and an education that is Catholic offered
review of policy; in practice there is not a lot to do with policies
once they are in place unless the process of planning shows the
need for new or revised policies
long term planning is probably the main work of the Stewardship
Council
the finances of the school, capital and recurrent
Public Relations
support for the Principal
Committees
Each Council member should be on at least one committee. The committees
then are made up of at least one Council member and other school
or community members, including parents and students.
A member of the community or school staff will normally chair the
meetings.
Since the implementation of policy is done by the schools and directly
affects students and families, it is important that school staff,
parents and other members of the school and local community are
part of the discussion and formulation of policy. This can be done
through the various committees. The ratification of policy is then
the work of the Stewardship Council.
The Stewardship Council needs to ensure that good communication
patterns exist between it and all the committees and that responses
to reports are given as soon as possible.
The Principal may be on all committees. All Councils need a Finance
Committee and an Executive Committee; beyond these the actual committees
that are established should reflect the needs of the school.
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