Parent governors - does anyone know anything about the way they are meant to be elected/chosen?

[BoobsOnTheMoon]

For example...

If a parent stands as governor when a vacancy comes up, but the head doesn't want that parent to be a governor, can the head just ignore the nomination, wait a while and then rerun the whole thing claiming that nobody stood the first time?

The parent who stood in the first instance had a child due to leave the school fairly shortly anyway, but parent governors don't have to have a child in the school other than at the time of their election from my understanding of the rules. Ie a parent governor can be elected and then serve the full term as governor even of their child moves school during that time.

It just appears that the head did not want that particular parent to be a governor and so blocked their nomination from being sent out to parents, waited for their child to leave, then ran the whole thing again.

Is that allowed?

www.nga.org.uk/News/Blog/September-2019/Advice-insight-Electing-parent-governors.aspx

You might find this article useful.

Other questions to ask - are you 100% sure the head received the nomination and it wasn't mislaid in a clerical error/email went to junk folder etc (shouldn't happen obviously but this is the real world)?

No that's not allowed. All nominations put forward for a parent election must stand.
If there are more nominations than vacancies, an election must be held. If there are the same number of nominations as the number of vacancies, that person is duly elected whether the Head, Chair or anyone else likes it! The school/governing body have no influence at all.

First of all, check that the submission was received. Then check the start date of the term of office. It may be that the process was being held earlier than the vacancy starts. Could it be that the start date was after the child was due to leave? If this was the case, it would have been reasonable and polite to inform the applicant that their application would not be considered.

The parent personally handed a paper copy of it to the school receptionist and told her what it was when handing it over. So it definitely was received!

And at the time nominations closed, the parent had a child in the school with no date for when they would be leaving set (waiting for a place at a specialist school).

The vacancy was open with immediate effect as the previous parent governer stood down in protest over the handling of something.

The parent who has now been appointed as governor was personally approached by the head and asked to stand, and told that no parents had stood when nominations were asked for earlier in the year.

What was the time frame from nomination to child leaving? Is it a self nomination? Maybe head thought if this parents child is leaving they may be less commited to the old school?

@TitianaTitsling I wouldn't say that's a good enough reason.

I'm a governor at DS's school but as it's primary only, he'll only be at the school for 2 years whilst I'm a governor.

Oh there's no doubt about why the head didn't want that particular parent to be a governor, the parent had a long standing dispute with the head over various issues and has since won a legal claim against the school for discrimination. But the question is about whether it's actually allowed for the head to block it like this, irrespective of reasons. As far as I can tell, the parent was eligible to stand as they had a child registered at the school on the date nominations closed.

Is this a maintained school? If so the head has no power to just ignore a volunteer even if their child is leaving soon. If you were the only volunteer then you were elected unopposed with no ballot needed.

You understand the rules correctly in terms of what happens when a child leaves the school - parent governors can continue on the board, they only need to have a child at the school at the time of the election.

You could try getting in touch with the clerk to governors who advises the board on issues like this and might be able to fight your corner!

From what you've said I don't blame the head for their actions. They would be the one having to form policy for ALL the children in the school alongside the Govenors and this parent doesn't sound like a team player who is able to look at the school as a whole. Govenors shouldn't be a bunch of yes men and should hold the Head to account but this parent sounds like they have either a big chip on their shoulder or a personal agenda neither which would lead to a good working relationship.

@BoobsOnTheMoon

The parent personally handed a paper copy of it to the school receptionist and told her what it was when handing it over. So it definitely was received!

But there's nothing to say the head actually received the nomination in time. It still could have been lost within the school, or any other sort of error.

I'm a governor. You can't do this at all. If you open an election for a space and receive equal or fewer nominations than the places available, then those people become governors automatically. Election is held if more nominations are received than spots available.

First stop is to complain to the chair of the governors and ask for an investigation.

Unfortunately if the head denies receiving the nomination on time, then I don't think there is any way of disproving their account.

Contact the Chair of Govs and the Clerk. The Clerk runs the election and as pp’s have said there are rules and procedures which must be followed. The headteacher has nothing to do with it from a procedural point of view.

"From what you've said I don't blame the head for their actions."

Well they've broken the law if they've really ignored a parent governor volunteer so I blame them! Headteachers can't just veto parent governors because they feel like it.

The Clerk should have been in touch with the school office to make sure all the nominations were received. Did you fill in a nomination form? Did you get it from the Clerk? Didn’t you have to have two other parents to propose you on the form? All these people can be called upon to agree your version of events.

A letter went out to all parents with a nominations form attached.

The letter said parents could nominate themselves and just had to fill out the form and write a brief personal statement to be sent out to the parent body in the event of an election for the position.

Clearly enquiries will need to be made about what happened and why this parents nomination went no further!!

Maintained school or academy?

In a maintained school, responsibility for conducting the elections is delegated to the Headteacher, who acts as ‘returning officer’ in accordance. The Headteacher can conduct this process with assistance from school administrative staff and/or the Clerk to Governors, but only with agreement from the governing body.

Seconding or supporting an application is not required.

OP - if you know (a) s/he was eligible to stand (eg doesn't work at school in excess of 500hrs pa, there is another long list of ineligibility due to fraud/crime etc) (b) the application was handed in in good time and (c) the start date of term of office was before the child left the school, then make a formal complaint. The school will have a complaints policy, follow it to the letter.

Why would this parent want to be parent governor? If their child is leaving and there has been legal disputes my guess is that they want to be governor to rock the boat and be difficult- my gosh I wouldn't want that as a member of staff- some parent governors can be the worse too - having no actual clue about how a school is run and can be more work than actual help!
Sounds like this parent has a point they want to prove but really should just let it go and concentrate on their child's new school- maybe be a parent governor for that - however wouldn't be surprised if their name has already been mentioned to the new school from the old! X

@WoWsers16 I think you are right with the update of Clearly enquiries will need to be made about what happened and why this parents nomination went no further!! OP what is the driving force of the parent you? to be a Governor? For the support/betterment of the school/pupils or to make waves for the staff?

If the parent was taking legal proceedings against the school at the time wouldn't that make them ineligible to be a governor?

Under our scheme of delegation parent governors have to stand down once their children have left the academy school

When it was a state maintained school a parent governor could stay for the full term of 4 years even if their children had left.

@ineedaholidaynow

Under our scheme of delegation parent governors have to stand down once their children have left the academy school

When it was a state maintained school a parent governor could stay for the full term of 4 years even if their children had left.

That's why OP needs to state type of school - maintained or academy. Advice may vary!

"If the parent was taking legal proceedings against the school at the time wouldn't that make them ineligible to be a governor?"

Under what regulation?

It's just a normal state school. Not an academy.

And fair enough, maybe the parent was in some way ineligible. But nobody has said so, all that's happened is that the election has been rerun and another parent asked by the head to stand as nobody that the head likes stood the last time round...