Parents and Independent Private Schools in Uganda
To be successful, every independent private
school needs and expects the cooperation of its parents, who must understand
and embrace the school’s mission, share its core values, and fully support its
curriculum, faculty and staff. When joined by a common set of beliefs and
purposes, the independent private school and its parents form a powerful team
with far-reaching positive effects on children and the entire school community.
Working together, parents and
school professionals exert a strong influence on children to become better
educated; they also help them to mature by modeling adult working relationships
based upon civility, honesty, faith and respect.
In practice, the greatest
impediment to effective teamwork between independent private schools and
parents grows out of misunderstandings about school decision-making processes:
Who makes decisions in independent private schools? How are those decisions
made? Independent private schools must communicate their procedures to parents,
who, in turn, share the important responsibility to become informed members of
the school community.
Parents
and the Board of Trustees
In most private schools,
decision-making authority at the highest level resides in a volunteer
Board of Trustees whose
membership often includes current parents. The Board of Trustees
does not intervene in the daily
affairs of the school, such as curriculum development and hiring, evaluating,
or firing of faculty and staff.
Instead, the Board focuses on
three areas critical to the success of any independent private school: it
selects, evaluates, and supports the Head of School, to whom it delegates
authority to manage the school; it develops broad institutional policies that
guide the Head in running the school; and it is accountable for the financial
well-being of the school. In the conduct of its official business, the Board
acts only as a whole; individual Trustees, including the Board Chair, have no
authority to act unless specifically authorized to do so by the Board acting as
a whole.
• Uganda National Association of Private Schools and Institutions (UNAPSI)
encourages parents who are interested in high-level decision making to stay
informed about the work of the Board of Trustees by reading school
publications, talking to the Head of School, and attending appropriate
meetings.
• Parents with concerns about the
school or with decisions made by the administration or faculty are encouraged
to inquire about and follow the school’s review process, but they should not expect
the Board of Trustees to act as an appeals board. In a day school, trustees
often interact with others within the school community and hear concerns about
the daily operation of the school. As a matter of good practice, the trustee
reports those concerns to the Head of School.
Parents
and the Faculty and Administration
Parents play an essential and
positive role in the life of an independent private school. Not only are parents
advocates for their children, they also support the faculty and administration
through
extensive volunteer activities
and events. The relationship between parents and the faculty
and administration is formally
governed by the school’s written enrollment contract and handbook, in which its
procedures are spelled out.
When parents choose to enroll
their child in an independent school, they agree to subscribe to its
mission, follow its rules, and
abide by its decisions. However, most teachers and administrators would agree
that trust and mutual respect are the most essential underpinnings of effective
working relationships with
parents.
• UNAPSI encourages parents to
work productively with teachers and administrators by staying
informed about their child and
important events in the life of the school. Thoughtful questions
and suggestions should be
welcomed by the school. It is incumbent upon the school to provide parents with
timely and pertinent information.
• Parents best
support a school climate of trust and respect by communicating concerns openly
and
constructively to the teacher or administrator closest
to the problem. Efforts by parents to
lobby other parents will be
viewed by the school as counterproductive.
• While parents may not agree
with every decision by the school, in most cases, the parent and
school will find enough common
ground to continue a mutually respectful relationship. In the extreme case,
however, an impasse may be so severe that the parent cannot remain a constructive
member of the community. In such cases, both the parent and the school should consider
whether another school would be a better match for the family.
The
Parents Association and the School
The Parents Association in an
independent private school provides a vital and much-appreciated service to
school leadership and the entire school community. Because the Parents
Association is so important, and its volunteer activities potentially so
wide-ranging, UNAPSI recommends the
following steps to structure and
clarify the Association’s role.
• The Board of Trustees, in
consultation with the administration, should develop a set of written
by-laws for the Association that
make clear its procedures and role as a service organization.
• The by-laws should clearly
state the Association’s mission to support the decisions and policies of the
Board and administration. The Parents Association neither participates in policy-making
by the school, nor functions as a lobbying group.
• The finances
of the Parents Association should be supervised and regularly monitored by
the school and should be part of
the school’s annual audit process.
• The Head of School should be
closely involved in the Association nominating process.
Cooperation and teamwork between
the Head of School and the officers of the Parents Association are crucial to
the health of the school community.
• It is appropriate that the
Parents Association advertise its activities and events. However, the
Association is not a public
relations arm of the school and should play no role in the school’s
efforts to communicate about
itself.
Uganda National Association of Private
Schools and Institutions (UNAPSI)
P.O.Box 29324 Kampala, Uganda
Email: unapsi@yahoo.com , unapsidept@gmail.com
Email: unapsi@yahoo.com , unapsidept@gmail.com
