Do school governors have perks?

[itsraining2024]

Parent governor at my child’s school gets to pick her kids up 5 mins earlier than everyone else and from a different side entrance. I’m not sure if this is normal. We all have other children to pick up and get late. I’d understand if she was a school teacher.

Has it occurred to you that it might be the other way round?
Not that the Governor's children get special attention.
But that the child has needs and therefore the parent decided to get more involved in school life by becoming a Governor.

Does the special pick-up thing apply to all Governors, or just the one?

No. Maybe you could give up some of your time and check for yourself? The real answer probably regards something you aren’t aware of

@senua you are probably right

No perks. No front row seats, no special arrangements. The office staff did know my name, but that was just because I saw them regularly. One of my DDs has SEN and had a laptop for writing at school (as did some other, non-governor children). I'd hate to think people thought it was because she was mine, rather than for a need. It was useful for the governors to have someone with a child with sen on the board, as they could see that part of the school in action.

Nope.
Just resigned after 10 years.
I'm proud of the work I did, but its thankless and the statutory responsibilities are huge.
Add in statutory training, behaviour and disciplinary panels, staff disciplinary panels...it was very, very hard work.
The last straw for me was parents shouting abuse at me in the street and hand delivering "complaint" letters to my home address.
Op...you have no right to know why this arrangement is in place.
In my many years experience, I would assume either a semh/physical issue or family issues.

Nope. No perks

Biggest volunteer workforce in the country giving up their time to do quite boring stuff for the good of the whole school cohort.

Perks; reserved seating at school events, biscuits and tea at meetings.

I would suspect there are particular reasons for her adjusted pick up and would mind my own business, I wouldn’t assume it was a governor perk.

I agree it’s thankless task. I get satisfaction in knowing I’m doing something to try and keep the school running smoothly.

the worst part for me was collecting the children from the playground the parents would accost me with the most ridiculous requests and complaints, as if I knew where little Tommy’s glove had gone and I have no say who plays Mary in the nativity. But yes I will be there early to set up the sports day and late to clear away. Yes I will stay up late for nights on end repairing the curtains in the main hall because we can’t afford new ones, and yes I will again be roped into props for the play. I will also spend this weekend on a course for this as well as the one I did a few weeks ago for that. I will spend my afternoon helping interview a new yr2 teacher after spending the morning hanging children’s art work in the entrance.

its endless thankless takes as much time and energy as you’re prepared to give - but listen to the little ones reading (helps the teachers to take this job) hearing them improve and overcome their difficulties over the weeks. To help the older children in maths club prepare for exams, and all the other children related jobs makes it worth while.

but collecting early from a different door - my experience tells me there’s a personal issue there

I am a governor (although not at my kid's school) and even if I was offered this I would never accept it. Why would I want my child singled out and made to look different? Plus the inconvenience for the teacher!

school governor - my perks are tea and biscuits at long meetings. Last school play we were put in the back row 😆

I think this falls in the ‘non of your business’ category.

she said hers would be coming out of a difference entrance and I said or are they? And she said ‘nope no just mine…it’s because I’ve struggled all week and have to pick up my other child from the side. I put so and so in the car and then go get another child…’but it happens everyday now.

I just assumed it was because she’s a parent governor as I’ve read some children get preferential treatment….

Same

I can't actually think of how perks would work for a school governor.

Possibly nicer refreshments.
They get to offers to meet the press, celebs and MPs. If you can consider that a perk.

But in this case its likely to be something arranged for the child for a reason, could be SEND or bullying related.

As Head of the PTA, I get front row of all assemblies, shows etc. I am sure the Governors get the same perks.

It doesn't sound like this is a Governors perk, more of a need of the child.

No but I did see similar from ours. A couple of times per week she'd take her kids home 10 minutes earlier, as she'd worked in the school all day. Which I thought was fair enough! All those on the PTA would also get the front row reserves for them and their family. Again they helped set everything up and got there early, so fair enough really.

As others have said, it’s either the child’s needs or just possibly letting the governor avoid a parent who has threatened them in the past due to decisions they’ve taken in their role.

If you’re so convinced governors get special treatment why not sign up? Most schools find it hard to fill all the slots. And for good reason - as others have said, it’s a gruelling and thankless role. I managed it for about three years before the hours got too much to balance with the day job.

^This!! I got the odd cup of coffee at meetings (though I had to make it myself 😆) but zero perks, no front seat at anything! The Head was actively unpleasant to me and the other parent governors, because she seemed to resent every time we asked a question or expressed an idea (which is the whole point of the role).

It was a pretty thankless, time consuming and grinding task; and I don’t regret doing it for the kids and the school, but I feel quite angry at the sheer lack of respect from the Head when I put a lot of time in to it for a long time.

Nope. No perks other than getting to know your kid's school really well and doing a really demanding but important volunteer role!
It sounds like an individual arrangement which is probably to do with the child's needs and is definitely no one else's business!

I’m sure there will be a vacancy either for governors or PTA. Why don’t you sign up and see if there are any perks. When I was a governor I didn’t get front row seats at plays. I did get invited to plays after my DC had left (stayed on as governor). I would always sit at the back then

This categorically did not happen.

my son gets to go into the classroom earlier in the morning and is picked up through the office at home time. He is autistic and struggles with the noise and crowds at start and end of the day.

these arrangements were started in the last two months of my husband being a governor and have continued but it’s entirely related to my son’s needs and nothing else.

It's a myth that governors' children get preferential treatment, but beliefs like this are why I held back from becoming a governor until after my dd had left her school. She was the type of kid who got picked for everything, and I just knew that people would say it was because I was a governor, so I wasn't willing to put us in the position of having that chucked back at us.

I remember many years ago, the governors of one of the schools I work with got to meet Prince Andrew when he visited the school. But I’m not sure that was really much of a perk! 🤣🤣🤣. He had the shiniest shoes I’ve ever seen.

Where have you read that?