The School Council is a great way to get involved with important decisions that affect our children. Mandated by state law, the Council serves as an advisory board to the principal. Members include the principal, 2 faculty/staff and 2 parent/guardian representatives, and a community member. School Council provides a forum to discuss and advise the principal on issues that arise throughout the year, including programmatic matters; the school improvement plan; safety and building maintenance issues; and other relevant topics.
During the 2022-23 school year, we will meet 3-4 times through June.
The Underwood School Council is a separate entity from the PTO. School Council focuses on programmatic, operational, and budgetary issues, while the PTO provides social and community support and curriculum enhancement activities.
Parents/guardians are elected for 2- or 3-year terms to School Council. In NPS, we recommend staggered terms to avoid complete council turnover. For our newly constituted School Council, I recommend members be assigned either a 2 or 3 year term (this can be determined via interest or by drawing names, etc).
We are looking to fill 2 spots for parent/guardian representatives.
If you would like to be a candidate for School Council, please write a short description of your background, why you are interested in the position, and how you would make a difference to Underwood.
Candidate statements should be e-mailed to underwoodpto@gmail.com and are due by Tuesday, December 13. Statements of interested candidates will be shared with the Underwood Community and the School Council election will be held shortly after December 13th. The election will be conducted through an on-line survey and/or paper ballot.
If you are considering running for School Council and have questions, please talk with Suzie Talukdar (Underwood Principal) or your PTO Chairs for more information.