Administrators and staff at Neepawa Area Collegiate Institute are hoping community members will get on board with a new initiative to help improve the school.
NACI is trying to establish a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) to allow parents and the community at large to give their thoughts and offer ideas regarding the day-to-day operations at Neepawa and area's senior school.
"The Parent Advisory Council can serve a number of different capacities within our school," NACI principal Kelvin Hollier said. "We have to establish exactly what the PAC's role could be, but what we are not looking for is a fundraising group.
"Really we are looking for an extra set of eyes and ears. There are areas parents may have some concerns with that we may not see."
If formed, the PAC group of parents and community members would meet regularly to discuss things occurring at the school while offering thoughts, issues and concerns surrounding NACI.
PAC members would also help NACI plan for the future by offering ideas and potential solutions.
"We're looking for PAC members to be involved in any way that may help us," Hollier said.
The principal added the plan is to keep the school's influence out of the council. PAC members would run, organize and plan for themselves and discuss what they have talked about with the school afterwards.
The PAC concept is utilized in numerous communities across Canada already.
Hollier's support for the idea comes from personal experience where he has seen PACs offer tremendous support in helping to implement positive changes in the past.
"A prior school I was at did have an active PAC and it played an important role. I think there is a good opportunity here at NACI for that."
As part of establishing the committee, NACI is inviting all community members to a meeting Wednesday, Feb. 1 with the Manitoba Association of Parent Councils' executive director.
The exec. director will speak to parents and community members about how to form a positive, productive and meaningful parent council. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in N.A.C.I.'s library.
"We hope to see a number of parents and community members at the meeting to see if there is some way they could be involved in our school."