Welcome to Beyond the Bell podcast, where you will get an inside look into school life. We cover school-related topics that support your child's education and well-being. As you listen along, we hope you'll gain insights for navigating school with your child and leave with a deeper sense of connection between school and home. Here's your host, Chantelle Quesnelle.

Chantelle: Hello, Simcoe Muskoka families. Welcome to another episode of Beyond the Bell. Today, we're diving into a topic that is hugely important, based on what we know and experience, and what the research tells us: parent involvement in schools. 

Studies consistently show that when parents are engaged in their child's education, it boosts academic performance, improves social skills, and even strengthens emotional well-being. Kids whose parents or caregivers are involved tend to feel more confident, connected, and supported at school. So how can you get involved in ways that make a real difference? Well, to help us unpack this, I'm excited to welcome Tarra Madigan, a dedicated member of the board's Catholic Parent Involvement Committee. Tarra's here to share insights on the many ways parents can participate in school life and why your involvement matters more than you might think. Let's jump in. Welcome, Tarra. 

Tarra:  Hi Chantelle, thanks for having me.

Chantelle: I'm so glad that you're here. Before we get started though, I do want to share some information a little bit about you with our listeners. So Tarra has been an active member on Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board’s, parent councils since 2019. In 2021, Tarra also became an active member and chair on our board-level parent council, CPIC, or Catholic Parent Involvement Committee. She has been the CPIC vice-chair since 2023. In this role, Tarra brings the voices of parents, including concerns, feedback, and acknowledgements.

At this board-wide parent committee, Tarra and the other CPIC members discuss concerns and ideas and bring forward a parent point of view to the board. Tarra also remains an active member of her children's school parent council by coordinating fundraising, school culture initiatives, dances, carnivals, movie nights, and more, and all the initiatives that help amplify all aspects of school life. In Tarra's words, the parent council helps make school fun. So, Tarra, you bring so much experience to this conversation. And so we're so excited to have you here.

I imagine some of our parent listeners aren't exactly sure what a parent council is or what they do. And so can you share some of your experiences and help describe it? 

Tarra: Um, so I guess to start off, I was one of those parents. I started with my kids going to school and me not really knowing what was going on, and I felt a bit of a disconnect. They would come home and we'd say, oh, how was school today? What's what happened at school today? And it was, oh it was good.

We did math and that's all I would ever get. Um, and then I'd get a flyer or a newsletter like 2 days or 3 days before an event, um, saying that the school was doing something or to pledge money for something. Um, and it was kind of a disconnect. There was a bit of that, well, how do I know where this is going and what we're doing and like how do I make it more fun for my kids to just go to school? And so I started way back when, it feels like.

Um, and I just, I went to my first parent council meeting. I asked, I reached out to the admin in the office at the school and said, “When's your next parent council meeting? Like, what does that look like?” And they said, oh yeah, come on in. It's on a Tuesday night at 6:30 and we meet in the library and Come on in. So I went into my first one and I was blown away by how much goes on that our kids don't always either tell us because they're not paying attention, or they just kind of, they don't care cause it doesn't necessarily fit what they want to do, but we know that they would probably enjoy it if they actually did it, if that makes sense, or their friends aren't doing it, so they don't want to do it. 

Chantelle: Right, like, like some of the behind the scenes stuff or stuff that's happening during school or after school hours.

Tarra: So, for example, I didn't know how many clubs go on in a school that my kids weren't involved in. Um, and it wasn't that they weren't involved because they didn't know about them. It was more of, well, my friends don't go to that one. And it was kind of like, OK, that makes sense, but would you want to try it? And then as soon as, for example, like in our school, we had my middle daughter was very good at helping in the kindergarten yard and things like that, but wasn't really engaging in school clubs or engaging in sports, and only because I go to parent council did I know that they had like the Mary Club and the chess club, and I mentioned those to her and she was like, “oh yeah, I guess I could do that too.”

And it was one of those things where that's not listed anywhere. It's not like as parents we get like a guideline as to what like what clubs run when, but we do as parent counsel. That's part of what we do is we make sure parents are informed about all the things coming up. And all the things that you have a chance to volunteer for or be involved in and school initiatives if you want something to happen, you get to voice that at parent council. 

Chantelle: It sounds like it opened up opportunities for you to learn about what was available and happening at the school, but that it also helped you have some kind of conversations with your own kids, and see if they needed, you know, support or encouragement to try out new things. 

Tarra: Absolutely. And I stand behind, like our school, we're very fortunate, we're a pretty tight-knit community, um, but I do know of other schools and friends of mine whose kids are in other schools and they always say, oh, our school's doing nothing. And I'm like, I find that hard to believe. And they know my role, so I kind of say like, why don't you just drop in once and see if your school's really doing nothing.

And it has created that engagement and that conversation, um, and I get to know what's going on in the school, which is important because as parents, we, the more we know, the more, essentially, the more we can oversee what goes on at home too. Um, and steering our kids in the right direction is a part of parent counsel because maybe our kids are saying, oh, we don't do anything at school, it's boring, we just go to class and come home. And giving your kids that, “but what about this? What do you think about doing a dance? What do you think about this” and getting them engaging with other kids, even of things that the school may not do, but being able to say and come back to our parent council or even to CPIC and say this is what's happening in the schools, can we make this different?

Chantelle: I think it's interesting that through parent, through parent counsel, it's almost like it's another avenue for some indirect student voice as well because when parents are chatting with their kids about the things that they might be interested in or what might be fun to kind of support at the school, then as a parent, you're taking their voice forward in these meetings as well.

Tarra: Yeah, for sure, and like for our council, we have a couple of parents that come in and their kids are in the more senior grades in the public school, and they have ideas, and they, there's initiatives that, well, last year we did a kindergarten initiative, um, where we supplied some outdoor play equipment for our kindergartners. Well, now the older kids saw that and kind of went to their parents and said, hey, like, can we get some basketballs and some volleyballs and some soccer balls and like, do you think parent counsel could do that too?

So it's creating that engagement and that furthering what the kids are getting and how they're experiencing it, um, and also input for when we do do events like our school does an open house carnival where we bring in inflatable games and we bring in music and kind of food trucks and that kind of atmosphere. So it's not just coming into the school and walking through your kids' classroom. It's coming into the school and understanding that we're a culture and we're a community and all the kids know each other, so you actually get to meet some of your kids' parents because maybe you haven't met them yet. Maybe your kids just started at the school 3 weeks ago or maybe you always kind of see them in passing, and it's never a chance to like stand around and have a conversation about things going on. Like it's, it's creating those aspects of the school that's not just curriculum and teacher initiatives, it's breaking that down a bit and allowing parents to get involved and parents to have a voice because as a parent, you can kind of feel like everything happens without you knowing or without you saying anything.

And it's great in a lot of ways. Our teachers are phenomenal, um, but there's also aspects of “do the teachers understand the stresses and pressure that goes on in a household?” too. So making sure that we're balancing those things and conveying that information is really what it comes down to and why. If a parent, I always, parents will send me an email or send me a text and say, oh, can you bring this up in your next meeting? And I say, I can, but I'd rather you do it because coming from you has more of an impact than if I'm just your caveat for information.

Because I can talk for 2 hours at a council meeting, but my counsel's kind of tired of listening to me, and they want more input, right? So I always say, I can, and I will, if you can't make it, but we've made our council more, I wanna say, more available, um, because we know that school nights are hard and they're really hard when you have younger kids and you're trying to get everything done. Um, so we've done a virtual incorporation into our in-person, so we run it in-person, but we also have a virtual Zoom that anybody can log into that requests the link and it gives that opportunity for if you just want to pop in for 10 minutes, pop in for 10 minutes.

And that's fine too. Or if you just want the agendas emailed to you, that's fine too, as long as you feel like you're getting what you need from us, um, because I know what it's like to feel like you don't know what's going on. So I wanna make it so that the excuse can't be that, oh, I can't get there, or I don't know, I don't know how to get it. Um, I don't know where to find it. 

Chantelle: That's quite an impactful list, and, and I hear you kind of giving that offer to our listeners, like, find out when the parent council meeting is, drop in for 10 minutes, get the agenda, or come for the whole meeting, but there's lots of ways that they could get curious about what the school's parent council is doing.

Tarra:  Yeah, and I think it comes down to how involved does somebody want to be, right? Like, I don't expect to have parents going, oh, I wanna be chair and I wanna head up all the fundraisers, and I wanna coordinate this, or I wanna be secretary and take all the notes and all the meetings. I, there's no expectation of that because when it comes down to it, it can be a lot, especially during like deadlines and trying to get promotional stuff out and things like that. Um, but to attend one meeting every month, 2 months for an hour, I feel like that's approachable.

I feel like that's, that's a consideration that um, gives you a little more insight too as a parent, and I feel like that's something that if you're curious and you want to know, and maybe your parent counsel doesn't meet that often, maybe they only meet once every 2.5 months and they kind of do a very formal meeting. Um, but then if you think there's stuff that your school could be doing or you hear about other schools doing stuff or even something as simple as hey, let's do a fundraiser, let's do a Kernals popcorn fundraiser for let's raise money to repaint the pavement in our schoolyard.

It's simple things and as it's simple as that even sentence sounds, um, your parent counsel is the one that will initiate that with your principal and with the board and make sure that everything can get in motion and everything can get moving. And your kids are the ones that reap the benefits. So that's where I kind of always sit there and go, is that hour worth it? 

Chantelle: Certainly sounds sounds like it is. I wonder if you can describe the difference between um a school parent council and the, the board parent council, cause you sit on both.

Tarra: So the big difference is, I call the school parent, like our in-school parent council sort of the boots on the ground. Um, so we're the ones that are impacted directly by our students and in the like now, like if we're planning an event or we're doing things in our school culture, we're doing it with it's being launched within the month or two. Um, the CPIC aspect of things is more board-directive, and it's more keeping that connection between the parents and the board, understanding changes in the curriculum, understanding dynamics in teaching, understanding where the board is going in directions and how our students' lives are evolving um through board directives.

Like most recently, obviously in our last meeting, we um we talked about AI integration in the schools, and I don't know all that technology, but I'm happy that the board has a committee that does. And I got to bring that back to my school and there was kind of this, oh wow, like how do as parents, how do we, what do we do with that? Like how do we do this? And there was links provided and It's, it's that sort of this is creating that connection that there's a bit of a disconnect, right?

Cause your board is your board and as much as you can see things on the website, it's different when you have somebody sitting present who is a parent with kids currently at different levels in the school system, and I'm fortunate that I get to have a voice in both, um, and I think that there's a very big difference in the two when I sit at the board, um. I sit more as a spectator and more as a question response in presentations that are made and in information that's provided and the strategies that are being put in place where on my council, I'm an action taker.

So it's, it's a very different role, um, but both of them obviously are super beneficial to my kids and future kids in our schools, so. 

Chantelle: You also spoke earlier, Tarra, around um that there's a lot of different ways for parents to get involved in, you know, their, their child's kind of school or school community. And I'm wondering if you would have any kind of tips or ideas for parents and caregivers if maybe a parent council meeting, um, you know, doesn't feel like a, a good fit. What other recommendations might you have for how they could, can get involved? What would a starting place be? 

T: So I know like where a lot of parents start is if your child's in the younger grades, volunteering for field trips. Um. That's the right of the gate. Get your, um, police record check, and you can get that readily available through any OPP agency, um, within Simcoe Muskoka, and you fill it out online. Hopefully it processes fairly quickly. They do get a lot of requests this time of year, but, um, that's sort of the gateway into getting into the school or going on a trip with a group of kids that are likely your child and their friends or likely your child and classmates, um, but it doesn't have to be. 

You can elect to say, hey, I wanna go on the kindergarten apple picking trip, um, sign me up, right? And you just send an email in and it gets coordinated. Uh, lunchtime supervisors, that's another one. There's never enough bodies out there, um, for you figure our school in particular has over 600 kids. Uh, we have like 3 lunchtime, 4 lunchtime supervisors at any given time. So if you can allot an hour a day to hanging out in the schoolyard and talking to kids and wandering around and making sure everybody's safe and there's nothing crazy going on, uh, that's a good option. And before and after school, I think with the bussing stuff, I think you can volunteer there. I don't know the ins and outs of that, um, but even from a parent counsel point of view, like we have volunteers that don't necessarily come to our meetings, but they're willing to send out emails and they're willing to help us make flyers and they're willing to help with distribution on days where we do certain events. Um, it doesn't always have to be a formal, oh, I, this is my role. That's kind of the benefit to being involved is that you get to know where your school may need people and what's in demand and just sometimes it's as simple as making a phone call to your admin and saying, hey, um, how can I do something?

Like, what can I do? What would help? And make like our school has snack bins. We have somebody who puts together our snack bins for our classrooms. I don't know how that came about, but it did, and it works. So, you know what I mean? Like it's not always a formal, I have to have a role in something to be something, being happy to be there and engaging with the kids. Sometimes that's more than enough. 

Chantelle: I know that uh another entry point for, for parents and families is to attend some of the events, the events that, you know, parent councils help support like school open houses, um, for example. And I know, you know, on my end of things from the mental health, the student mental health and well-being side, sometimes we set up booths and have mental health kind of promotion, um, materials or activities at those events, and, um, it's always wonderful seeing families, uh, come together and, and check out the school and, and come say hi at, at the booth and participate in the different events that might be happening during those nights, but you certainly see parents connecting with parents and and friends meeting up on the, the school yard or in the halls and you kind of get to witness the sense of community that's being, uh, created and so attending the events that the school puts on is, is so important as well.

Tarra: Yeah, and that's the simplest form.

Chantelle: Right.

Tarra: That's, if you're…

Chantelle:Show up. 

Tarra:  …doing parent-teacher interviews, show up, like just make a wander through and or wait in the hallway 10 minutes before your interview. Like it's little things that it may seem like, well, why do I need to be early or whatever because sometimes there's a chance for something and it's also just nice to know where our kids are so many hours of the day, right at the end of the day, right? Like I like, and I, it also gives me a chance to check on like, do you still have two running shoes in the hallway? Do you have 7 pieces of clothing in the Lost and Found?

Chantelle: I always, I always check the lost and found. Always, always do a walk by, 

Tarra: Right? Or like, is your artwork been on display in the front hall of the school and you never even said anything about it? Like, little, little things like that, or like, there's a picture of you doing something. And I'm like, when was that? When did that happen? And my kids are always like, Mom, you knew about that. Like, no, I'm pretty sure I didn't, but OK. 

Chantelle: I do know it, it is, it is quite neat as a parent to, um, go into the space that, um, our kids are at all day, um, and to be in that space, whether it's for a parent council meeting or whether it's to participate in, in a school event, but, but to be in in the halls and the walls and the classrooms that they really like own and are proud of and have made memories in it, it's really cool to, to witness that and, and to be part of that for the little moments that we have in those spaces because otherwise, it can all seem very mysterious.

Tarra: Yeah, and it's the whole like even little things like, oh, the teacher moved our desks today, but you have no context of what does that even look like? Like, did your teacher put you in pods? Did she move you to a corner? Like, are you, where are you in your classroom now? Um, and like some, every classroom is different like in, the my oldest is in grade 7 this year, so every year she's had a different dynamic in her classroom in terms of how the teacher sets things up and what they do and um, where they congregate and how things are run in their classroom, and it's nice to just kind of walk in and feel that.

And then when she comes home and tells me something, I have a context to put it to. I'm not just kind of guessing at what this imaginary room that she spends so much time and looks like, or in the schoolyard. 

Chantelle: I've had that experience too, absolutely. Yeah. 

Tarra:  So, and it's nice to know like if your kids are in sports or if they're in clubs or activities and stuff, knowing your way how to navigate around the school for something like that, like if you show up maybe a couple minutes late to a sporting event, do you know how to get to the gym?

Chantelle: Right. 

Tarra: It sounds crazy, but as a parent, if you haven't been there. And you haven't done it with your kids who it's like the back of their hand to them. They know how to get the fastest way where and where the bathrooms are and everything else, but as a parent you're kind of walking into this maze going, where do I go now? If you haven't been there and you don't know it and you haven't seen it. 

Chantelle: Right, and when it is your child giving you that tour for the first time, if you go to that open house or the student-led interviews or any of those things, and they get to feel like the expert and take some pride in their school community and with kind of how the school is set up and organized or what their classroom looks like and that sense of um pride and independence and being the one to show, you know, parents and caregivers around can be so empowering, whether it's JK or whether it's grade 7 and 8, right?

Tarra:  Yeah. Well, and it's also a chance to see how they interact with different teachers because they'll tell you stories about certain teachers and you kind of wanna see like how are you interacting with them because you know your kid and you know like what they, how they behave with you, but what going to school and being involved in the school has really taught me is that my kids are much better behaved when they're not with me. And I always laugh about that cause I'm like, you guys are like angels here. Can we just leave you here? Not to say that my kids are bad, but they're just, there's a different comfort level at home that I feel like at school, they're still, they implement their manners and they use polite phrases and they're not as sort of crazy and off the wall and all over the place, like they are maybe at home. 

Chantelle: Yeah, it's nice to see them like shine in those adults uh relationships that they might have with teachers and school staff that we don't always get to, to witness and for the school staff to see our kids through their own eyes and experience and getting to, to hear how they experience our our kids can be really heartwarming, I think, um, and insightful, right? Whether it's their strengths or their challenges to have somebody else see and, and care for our kids in that way is, is quite a magical experience. 

Tarra: Yeah, for sure. And having a relationship with the teachers where there's a comfort level of if something's going on, you feel comfortable saying something to them. Um, I think that only comes with being around and being involved. Um, like it's nothing for me to email or text certain teachers and be like, hey, can you keep an eye on so and so? Like they had a really rough friend issue yesterday. Something's going on. I don't know if I wasn't as involved and if I wasn't as absorbed in so much if I would do those things. Cause I kind of feel like, oh that's putting them out, where the teachers want those relationships, they want to know our kids, and they want to know what's impacting our kids, and the only way to do that is to be there. 

Chantelle: Yeah, I think that, you know, that communication is another one of those foundational pieces of parent-school, you know, involvement.

Tarra: As a parent, I always. I always take a step back and say, I hope that I'm somehow making a connection between what goes on at school and what goes on at home. And the only way that I know if that's happening is the development of my kids, obviously. Um, but also the openness that they're willing to have with what's going on. Um, I have 3 daughters, and with having daughters, there's been struggles throughout their school careers. Um, we went through a cycle of bullying. We went through a cycle of one of my daughters having some mental health stuff and when you go through those things and it's a different dynamic when you kind of have this understanding of, OK, I can be open and I can be,

I can have conversations and I can, I can act on my child's behalf as well as I can sort of act on myself's behalf as a parent and say, “How are we doing this and what are we doing”, um, and that all comes down to just choosing to be active in it, and sort of I will say like my daughter going through the bullying experience was definitely an initiative that pushed me further into being more involved, um, because I wanted to know what were her other options and what was going on.

And it's not always happy and it's not always roses, and it's not always, they don't always have the big friend group that they hang out with. Like that's just that's not a reality for most kids and as a parent, if you can find them something that reaches a niche or even maybe they do something at home like if they build LEGO and maybe you can take the parent counsel and say, hey, is there a teacher that would be willing to do like a recess LEGO building class two days a week? To give my child an outlet, right? And like, I know it sounds ridiculous at times where it's like, well why would I bring, I don't want to overlap too many things with home and school, but I think creating a safe zone for our kids at school, whatever that looks like, however that works for them to feel like they're involved, that's what this is all about really. 

Chantelle: Yeah, I I wanna come back to what you said earlier, given that the topic of today is really on those like parent councils and and committees is that um, try it out, that if you're listening and you're one of those parents who, you know, isn't really sure what parent councils are about or what they do, that sometimes the, the best way is to, to get curious and ask for that agenda or attend virtually if that's an option, or attend a meeting in person that the commitment can be small and that you're likely to be met with a very welcoming group of, of parents who are in it to create that school culture to address concerns, to celebrate achievements, and to really make school a great experience for, for kids. And so, uh, give it a try, I think is the advice that you're giving. 

Tarra: Yeah, it's, it won't hurt and it's not as big as it sounds. I guess that's the best way to describe it. 

Chantelle: Yeah 

Tarra: You can, you can choose to literally get an email once a month like if you can read it, if you can read ads on Facebook, you can read a parent counsel agenda. 

Chantelle: Right. Yeah, I love the, you know, the, the choose your own adventure, and that that adventure might start small, like reading the agenda. Um, but it also can go big or bigger when you're ready, when you're ready for it. And, and that can evolve with what a parent and a caregiver has uh, capacity for or time for or as the needs of their, of their kids change, that their involvement, um, can be adjusted that way as well. Any, anything that maybe we didn't cover today, Tarra, that that you had kind of thought about or that you wanted to leave the listeners with before we wrap up?

T: My husband often makes fun of me and says, you're too involved, and I said, I don't think I'll ever look back on our kids growing up and say that I was there too much. Um, I don't know that I know any parents that would ever say I was too involved, I knew too much, I was too I was there too much, like, you know what I mean? I just, I don't think that's something that as a parent, we don't ever think, oh, I did too much for our kids, right?

So that's kind of the perspective I'd like to leave it with is like. It doesn't hurt. It's not, you're not walking into a ring of fire, like it's usually, like there's usually snacks and we usually talk about a lot. It's not always just about boring sort of stuff. Sometimes it's other stuff that's going on in the world and what's happening around us and what's happening outside of the school in our community, just conversations and relationships that maybe you need, maybe you don't, but it won't hurt, I promise.

Chantelle: Well, I, I, I think our listeners have appreciated this inside look at school parent councils and maybe the broader Catholic Parent Involvement Committee and um, thank you for your kind of personal insights and stories as you've navigated both and for sharing all of the ways that parents, big or small, can take those steps towards, um, school involvement, um, and yeah, the openness that you gave for parents to kind of do what feels right for them. And so, really appreciate your time and your insights, Tarra. Thank you so much for being here with us today.

Tarra: Thank you for having me. 

Thanks for listening to Beyond The Bell podcast. We hope you found today's episode helpful. 

Beyond the Bell is brought to you by the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and our Catholic Parent Involvement Committee. It's hosted by Chantelle Quesnelle. Pauline Stevenson is our executive producer. Episodes are produced and edited by Portage Creative. You can find our show notes and previous episodes on our podcast website, beyondthebell.ca. 

If you like today's episode, leave us a review. If you have any suggestions for future episodes or any questions or comments about Beyond the Bell podcast, you can send an email to info@smcdsb.on.ca. Thanks again for joining us. We'll see you next time.