Introducing: SAC Academy!
For the first time, School Advisory Councils are mandatory in the District (starting in school year 2016 – 2017), meaning that there are many SACs in their infancy that need extra support and guidance. To ensure that SAC members new and old receive the ongoing professional development they need to build and maintain strong, effective SACs, the FACE Office’s SAC Support Team has created a new initiative to address SAC members’ needs: SAC Academy.
SAC Academy is a professional development workshop series for SAC members (and non-SAC members if they’re interested). Workshops are applicable to all stakeholders on the SAC—parents/family members, principals, staff members, community members, and students. All workshops will be interactive and action-oriented.
The spring 2017 SAC Academy Workshop Series kicked off in February with “How to Run a SAC Meeting.” Although running a SAC meeting may seem easy, it can be intimidating for those just starting off.
At the February workshop, participants learned about the importance of running effective, action-driven, and timely meetings. The SAC Support Team presented on the elements that make up a meeting agenda and how to use the agenda as a road map for meetings. Attendees compared two sample SAC agendas—one “good” and one “bad”—and then took time to outline their own SAC meeting agendas.
Workshop attendees also learned about how to quickly make decisions at meetings through the “fist-to-five finger method” and about the three SAC leadership roles (facilitator, organizer, and secretary) and what responsibilities those roles entail.
Attendees were then able to put their new knowledge to the test by participating in a simulated SAC meeting. In small groups, participants elected their facilitator, organizer, and secretary and were then given the task of deciphering how to use a $5,000 grant for the fictitious Dr. William Hite, Jr. Elementary School.
After viewing data from Hite Elementary School, groups were given 20 minutes to narrow down their top three choices for how to use the grant money. Here’s the catch, though: group members who were not nominated to be the facilitator, organizer, or secretary were given special roles at random.
These “special roles” included typical, challenging characters one might encounter in a SAC meeting—the “Blow Horn,” who talks over people constantly and has strong opinions; the “Helicopter Parent,” who is overly-concerned with their own child and does not want to discuss anything beyond their child’s needs; the “Devil’s Advocate,” who argues for the sake of arguing and causes discussion to go on endlessly; the “Silent Starer,” who does not speak or share their opinion; and the “Peacekeeper,” who is always looking to avoid conflict and diffuse tension through jokes and redirection.
After the simulated SAC meeting activity, workshop attendees shared what they found difficult about dealing with strong personalities and coming to consensus on an issue, and they also shared strategies for overcoming these barriers.
The next workshop, “How to Write SAC Bylaws,” focused on how to use the SAC bylaws template (found on www.philasd.org/sac) to create a shared set of goals and values for the SAC. Participants learned about the importance of writing site-specific bylaws and about how bylaws can help keep SAC members accountable and focused on the end-goal.
Workshop attendees spent time drafting mission and vision statements—two of the most essential articles in the SAC bylaws—and brainstormed the pros and cons of various decision-making models.
Later in March, the FACE Office partnered with the Office of Research and Evaluation to conduct another SAC Academy Workshop, “Understanding the Parent Survey: Action Planning for Your SAC.” Workshop attendees received an overview of the District-wide Parent Survey, learned why the Parent Survey is so important, and were trained on becoming “Parent Survey Ambassadors.”
Staff from the Office of Research and Evaluation facilitated break out group discussions about how to improve the Parent Survey and how to increase participation in the survey this year. Although the Parent Survey does not open until April 3, 2017, the SAC Academy Workshop helped garner energy around survey participation.
The next SAC Academy Workshop is on April 4, 2017 (at both 10:00am and 5:30pm at 440 N. Broad). The workshop, “Turning Your Vision Into Action (Part I): Supporting Academic Achievement,” will feature staff from the District Performance Office, who will help SAC members make sense of their school’s SPR (School Progress Report) and learn about how to use school data to bolster academic outcomes.
The workshop is open to everyone—please register online at www.philasd.org/sac or by calling 215-400-4180, option #3. Questions? Email sac@philasd.org. We hope to see you soon!
We are also excited to announce that our “SAC Training Materials” page on www.philasd.org/sac is fully up and running! You’ll be able to find all PowerPoint presentations and materials from our SAC Academy sessions on this page, as well as relevant resources from other District offices. Check it out today!
