Consultation means the School Board can involve more parents in decisions about the school. Research has shown time and again that home-school links are a very important factor in parents' satisfaction with the school. Consultation is the term given to a range of methods used to find out people's views on a particular range of issues. No one method on its own will give you a complete picture of parents' views. But by consulting parents, you are involving them in your decision making, and you are using their views and priorities as the basis for action.
Consultation is more than just providing information or arranging a public meeting.
It is more than just opinion research. The emphasis is on obtaining information about parents' views, rather than providing information to parents. Because of this, it is important that consultation takes place at the beginning of any decision-making process. If the School Board is involved in the decision making process at the school, it is making decisions on behalf of all the parents in the best interests of all the children at the school. In order to do this effectively it should ideally know what parents' views are on relevant matters.