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| Jack Taylor
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 Posted: Mon Jan 10 2011 11:27 PM - Post subject: Brand new governing body
A community high school comes out of special measures, an SGB is appointed to run alongside the IEB for 6 months only (IEB in place for 2 years) to end on 1st February 2011. Parent & staff governors elected 8 weeks before coming officially into force on 1st February 2011.
Can anyone assist with the following questions.
1. 1st February first meeting - Parent governors / staff attend plus appointed LA governors plus clerk?
Who actually starts the meeting - is it the clerk as presumably it can't be anyone from the IEB/SGB as they are disbanded?
2. How exactly is the chair / vice chair chosen - would the clerk seek nominations prior to the meeting or at the meeting?
3. Who decides how the system of voting for Chair/Vice chair is chosen i.e. show of hands, secret ballot or other method. Is this done at the beginning of the meeting or decided before or directed by the clerk on the night?
4. Other than the staff governors can all of the parent governors and LA governors become chair and vice chair and can the LA governor that was chair of the IEB then chair of the SGB become chair of the formal governing body?
5. What are the most important aspects that the new GB should concentrate on first, i.e budgets, provision, leadership, attainments etc?
6. Parent Governors have been told by the LA that they are designate governors only - until the first meeting. What exactly is a designate governor as they were informed they couldn't see previous confidential minutes?
7. How do the parent/staff/LA governors choose community governors and should they be forced to accept associate governors?
Sorry its a bit loaded
Thanks
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| Rott Weiler
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Posted: Tue Jan 11 2011 08:54 AM - Reply subject: .
Neither the rules for transition to a normally constituted GB nor the Procedures Regulations which will govern you from 1st Feb specify procedures at this level of detail and it is up to the new GB to decide many of these things for itself. The IEB/SGB ceases to exist on 31st January and cannot make any procedural decisons on behalf of, or binding on, the new normally constituted GB which takes office on 1st Feb. All members of the new GB are "designate governors" until 1st feb because the new GB doesn't exist until then. It doesn't mean anything specific, just that your term of office doesn't start until then. The LA might be technically correct that previous IEB Minutes are confidential and don't have to be shown to new GB but that doesn'r seem to me to be in the spirit of the LAs role, which is to smooth transition from the IEB to normal governance arrangements.
All governors who are elected/appointed before 1st Feb (+ Clerk) attend first meeting - presumably that's PGs, SGs (inc Head) and LA appointed governors.The clerk normally starts the meeting with the item for electing the chair and then hands over to the new chair. This isn't a rule, just custom and practice, your GB can decide to do it differently. If I were the clerk I'd write to all governors with the Agenda papers suggesting that, unless the GB wished to do it otherwise, I'd start the meeting that way. I'd also ask for nomination for chair and vice-chair and accept further nominataions at the meeting itself. As governors don't yet know each other I wouldn't ask for nominations to be proposed and seconded and would accept self-nominations. I'd also propose that voting be by secret ballot. Unless governors disgareed, that would be a pragmatic approach that would get your meeting started - you'll have a lot to do and don't want start life as a GB with long procedural wrangling, that would set completely the wrong tone.
From first Feb normal Procedures Regs apply so any governor can be CoG/VCoG as long as they don't work in the school, so yes the previous chair of the IEB/SGB can stand for election as COG.
As normal Procedures Regs apply it will be entirely up to the new GB on 1st Feb to decide how it wants to go about appointing Community Governors and whether it wants to appoint any Associate Members. The LA might want to make recommendations to you about Associate Members but it's your decision (I'm guessing you are one of the new PGs?)
Impossible to say what your priorites should be, knowing nothing about your school, where it has come from and the challenges it currently faces - I'd have expected leadership to have been sorted out by the IEB/SGB, but if not it's a key issue. Raising attanmaent should be the first and most important aim of the GB, but that covers an awful lot of issues.
Good luck!
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| Jack Taylor
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Posted: Tue Jan 11 2011 11:31 PM - Reply subject: Brand new governing body
RW Many thanks for such a fulsome and comprehensive answer, similar to many I have seen from you so many times on here.
Yes, I am a new governor to the school as you have guessed. As one would expect the IEB/SGB have been completely in control and they may well wish to continue this in the new guise of the new formal GB, as the chair of the IEB and then SGB, is an LA governor and will be at the first meeting to take control no doubt.
For background of sorts there have been many issues that the parents have been at odds with the IEB.
In terms of the current IEB/SGB chair, he has also been working at the school as the parent champion for over three years, not really sure if he has been paid for this, but suspect he has been.
Do you think that the current chair could simply carry on as chair once the formal GB gets going as some believe it should be fresh blood going forward?
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| Rott Weiler
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Posted: Wed Jan 12 2011 07:19 AM - Reply subject: .
The test for whether someone is eligible to be CoG/VCoG is whether they are "paid to work at the school" now (ie at the time of election), not whether they have worked at the school in the past. Whether the outgoing IEB/SGB chair gets elected as your new CoG is entirely in the hands of the members of your new GB on 1st Feb. Stand yourself - there's nothing to stop you canvassing support for yourself!
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| Helen London
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Posted: Wed Jan 12 2011 11:41 AM - Reply subject: new governing body
Whoever you elect as chair, Jack, I suggest that - for the first year at least - you choose someone with experience of the role. You need a chair who knows about systems/committees that work and can knit a team together. Your vice-chair doesn't need that pre-experience, but it would benefit you all to choose a man or woman with potential to become a chair.
Beware of anyone who wants ro reinvent the wheel! A school just out of special measures is still vulnerable.
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