School council meetings and decision-making

Meetings are where the school council carries out its business and where you help make decisions.

The council can't make decisions about Department of Education staffing or operational matters. This includes how students are taught and how a school is managed.

School councils are also called school representative bodies or school boards.

Watch the video

In the video below, you will learn about:

  • why and how school councils are run
  • the responsibilities of the chair, the secretary, the treasurer and the principal in meetings
  • your role as a member in meetings.

Or you can read below for more information.

Meeting rules

During meetings, you might hear about standing orders.

They're rules for managing the body's work and running meetings.

The basic standing orders are in your constitution. It covers things like:

  • quorum - minimum number of members needed to make a decision
    • at least 50% of members need to be at the meeting to make a quorum
    • this makes sure any decisions made at the meeting are supported by enough members
  • meeting frequency - at least 8 times a year
  • voting on decisions - all members who come to the meeting have an equal say.

During a meeting, you must follow rules and processes for discussions, voting on decisions and recording meeting minutes.

Your school may also have a document with detailed standing orders that apply specifically to your school council.

It's a good idea to review these specific rules after each annual general meeting (AGM) to make sure they still meet the current needs of the body.

You can find a standing orders template on the NT COGSO's website.

Quorum

At least half of the school council members must come to a meeting for it to start and for decisions to be made.

If too many people leave, the meeting won’t be able to continue.

This is called a quorum.

This is why you should try to come to every meeting.

For example, if you have 9 members, you must have at least 5 present for there to be a quorum.

Timing

Meetings must be held at least 8 times a year, including the annual general meeting (AGM).

This generally works out to about one meeting per month during school terms.

You should talk at least once a year as a school council about what day and time suits members.

You won’t be able to meet everyone’s availability, but you should try to make a time that allows most parent members to get involved.

Roles of members

Read about roles and responsibilities.

Meeting agenda

Meetings are run in the order set out in the agenda.

Everyone should be given the agenda before the meeting so they know what's going to be talked about and they can share their knowledge.

It's best practice to have an agenda item at the start of every meeting to ask members to declare and discuss any conflicts of interest.

All topics that will be discussed must be listed on the agenda, including any general business.

You may use the template agenda for school council meeting DOCX (20.6 KB).

Attending meetings

As a member, you should:

  • read meeting papers before the meeting
  • try to share knowledge on topics that you know about or are interested in
  • limit discussions to school body matters only
  • present and discuss agenda items while being aware of the meeting's time limit
  • talk kindly to all members to make sure there is a safe and respectful atmosphere for decision-making.

Parents and community members who aren't part of the school council are welcome to join meetings, unless it's closed to discuss confidential matters.

Recordkeeping and minutes

Meeting records are a true and legal account of the decisions made at a meeting.

To ensure transparency and accountability, the school council must keep clear meeting records of:

  • what was talked about
  • what was decided
  • how the school council came to a decision.

This helps everyone know that choices were made fairly and in the best interest of students and the school.

Recordkeeping ensures accurate minutes of every meeting are written. This should include:

  • date and time of the meeting
  • who is at the meeting (attendance list) and those who can't attend (apologies)
  • declarations of conflicts of interest
  • agreement on accuracy of previous meeting's minutes
  • letters and emails to or from the school council
  • reports like finance reports or school improvement plans
  • what the school council talked about when making a decision
  • voting outcomes with:
    • who voted for or against
    • who didn't vote - particularly if there's a conflict of interest
  • time the meeting closed.

The meeting minutes must be ­saved in a place where all members can access them.

How decisions are made

During meetings, decisions are reached by voting on 'motions'.

Motions are formal proposals put forward by a member. The body must then discuss, move, second and vote on the motion.

A majority of members must approve the motion for it to pass. It then becomes a resolution or a decision.

Voting

Every member has one vote, including the chair.

Guests, visitors and the business manager (even if they're the treasurer or secretary) are not allowed to vote.

­ Everyone should know what they are voting on, and everyone should get a say.

If the voting is a tie, no member has the power to make a deciding (casting) vote so the motion doesn't pass.

Recording decisions

Every decision must be written properly in the meeting minutes because they become a legal record of the choices made.

This includes the exact wording of what the school council agreed to at the meeting.

For example, instead of writing 'the school council agreed about the maintenance contract', write 'the school council decided to award the 2-year maintenance contract to XYZ Gardeners'.

You should also briefly note key points from the discussion that helped the body to make the decisions.

For example, 'the principal showed the body 5 quotes and XYZ Gardeners was a local company that offered the best value'.  This shows that decisions are defensible and have been made in good faith.

Decisions outside a meeting

Decisions can be made ‘out of session’ where appropriate.

If you need to make a decision quickly or before the school council meets again, you can make a decision out of session.

You should include the process for out of session meetings in your standing orders.

Everyone will still need all the information to make a decision and vote for or against the decision.

This information should be included in the next meeting minutes.

Ways to meet

A member can come to a meeting in person or by:

  • video conferencing
  • teleconferencing
  • telephone on speaker.

You should include this information in your standing orders so everyone knows their options for attending the meeting.

Your school will likely have web conferencing software, like Skype or Zoom, that can be used for meetings.

Issues between members

If members keep having too many disagreements or aren't being respectful, you may need help to work together through mediation.

Contact NT COGSO for help.

Special meetings

Sometimes a special meeting may need to be called.

These meetings are requested when something needs urgent discussion, outside of the normal meeting schedule.

Examples of this could be:

  • in an emergency or
  • if the chair needs to leave that role and a new chair must be elected.

Special meetings can be requested by:

  • the Minister for Education
  • the chief executive of the Department of Education or
  • a group of 3 or more school council members.

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