School Councils must hold an election every school year within 30 calendar days of the school year. Members are elected to school council by self-nomination and membership vote.
Self-nominations
At the start of the school year, your school will send home an invitation for parents/guardians to self-nominate themselves for a parent representative position on council. Interested parents/guardians of a student enrolled at the school can nominate themselves by completing a nomination form and indicating their reasons for running in the election.
The school principal will collect all self-nominations and share a summary of interested candidates to the parent community via the school's bulletin board, website, social media accounts and/or newsletter.
Note, candidates are not permitted to give out campaign material at the school or use school resources to campaign.
Election day
The
election is conducted at the school by secret ballot. Your school will communicate when and where the election will take place (it must take place within the first 30 calendar days of school). All parents/guardians of students enrolled at the school are eligible to vote, and may cast one vote for each vacant parent position on school council.
If the number of candidates is less than or equal to the number of positions, the candidates will be acclaimed (no voting necessary). If all elected positions are not filled, the council can appoint additional people or choose to operate with vacancies. Appointments to council are by majority vote.
Helpful resources to run a successful election:
Selecting executive positions (chair, secretary, treasurer)
The fall election is to select parent representatives, not executive positions like co-chairs, secretary and so on. The executive positions are selected from among elected parents once the council is formed.
The elected School Council member holds office from the date that he/she is appointed until the date of the next School Council elections. A School Council member may be re-appointed as per the terms established in the School Council constitution.
Electing student, teacher and support staff reps
The school principal will ensure that the elections of the teaching and administrative staff members are carried out each fall by their peer group. At the secondary level, the school principal will also ensure that the election of the student member is carried out each fall by the student body.