Every Board in the province is required to have a Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) that meets throughout the year to provide advice to its Board of Trustees and staff regarding how parents and school councils can best support student achievement and well-being.
YRDSB’s PIC has been active for many years under the name of Parent, Family and Community Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) as the Board has focused on the integration of these forms of engagement. YRDSB also prefers to use the term "engagement" as this is seen as both more comprehensive and action-oriented.
Highlights from 2024-2025 School Year
- Supported PEAC meetings and created intentional opportunities for PEAC members to engage and provide input on system initiatives.
- Promoted the call for new member applications through the PEAC newsletter, School Council Chairs EDSBY communication hub, the regional Parent Voice Matters PEAC Symposium, and PEAC Public Meeting, along with providing an online information video to help inform the submission process. These efforts resulted in a 75% increase in eligible applications received, demonstrating the high level of interest from our parent community.
- Finalized new membership in PEAC through a selection process that was team based in partnership with Trustees, Board staff and PEAC members. A two-part neutralizing bias training was made available online for the selection team to complete to mitigate bias in the selection process.
- Orientation session was held to welcome all new PEAC members to their new role and provide them with an overview of the role. Board staff and current PEAC members attended alongside newly appointed members.
- Supported the planning of the School Council Forums by engaging in an outreach to potential workshop presenters and curated for the Community Education Centre (CEC) planning teams. A slide deck was prepared to support the understanding of financial guidelines and procedures for the CEC teams.
- Co-planned and facilitated the regional Parent Voice Matters PEAC Symposium with PEAC members.
- Engaged community partners to set up vendor displays and promoted information on the Ministry’s PRO Grant and PEAC member application process at the annual PEAC Parent Voice Matters symposium.
- Ongoing collaboration with PEAC members to create multiple avenues and opportunities to further parent engagement.
- Provided school council chairs with their new annual Board email login information and invited new school council chairs to join the School Council Chairs EDSBY communication hub.
- Regular communication with school council chairs on the School Council Chairs EDSBY hub answering posted questions and sharing information and resources.
Updated December 2025