Governor problems - need to offload

[ZeldaFitzgerald]

Have namechanged to protect anonymity.

I'm a Chair at quite a large primary age school. I've been Chair for 3 years. The school is only 4 years old - prior to that I'd been a Gov at a different school so when the school was created I was one of only a couple of us with any experience. And at this stage I do know my stuff - am on other County and Cluster committees etc. There are still gaps in my knowledge but I do at least know who to ask.

My problem is the other governors. I work very PT from home and all but one of the others work FT. So of course they are never available for anything - some try to an extent, but 95% of new staff interviews are down to me, 95% of daytime meetings are down to me; they are just never in school. And there are things that need doing - all sorts of initiatives, monitoring activities etc which I would like to see done and I just can't do it all. The school is Outstanding and I think that's despite the GB rather than because of it.

I sorted some training recently for us - despite having 2 months' notice, and despite the fact they'd asked for the training, two of them showed up. It was mortifying. I've composed so many hissy fit emails to them and don't have the guts to press send - I just don't know how to proceed.

The bottom line is that I don't feel I can complain too much because they have to work FT and I don't. But then I do have DCs and a life and other interests and maybe my self-employed PT work would be a bit less crap and PT if I wasn't spending so much time in school or dealing with school. I can't make them want to do stuff - I know they care, and they contribute usefully to meetings, and we all get on well, but I feel like they're taking the piss at this stage. I feel like just walking away, but I care too much to do it.

Any advice?

Yes Brass, I understand what you are saying but the parents can't get rid of the governors who don't show up. They don't have the power, nor would they know who had or hadn't been going to the meetings or whether they had been pulling their weight.

The governors are accountable to the parents only as a body, not individually. Any governor approached by a parent has to refer to them to the Chair, they don't deal with the issue themselves. That doesn't differ from school to school, that is the way governing bodies are set up. If the governing body overall is doing their job then that is all you will know.

The OP is doing all the work for her GB - the parents have no grounds for querying it because they are, as a body, doing their job. It is just that it isn't fair that she is the one doing all the work but the only person who can change things is her and the HT not the parents.

Besides parent governors are less than half of the GB. What about all the rest of them who aren't helping out either?

Zelda - I understand where you are coming from as I have been a governor for 20 years.

One thing perplexes me, why are you doing staff interviews? Have you not delegated everything below Ass't Head, DH & Head to your Head as it is no longer necessary to have a governor on the panel? That should take part of the burden from you.

The other thing to think about is putting 30 mins aside during your GB meeting for training... at least then you will have a captive audience. Have you considered online training? You can still for the next month or so download programmes from Teachers TV (before it closes) which are free or find out if your LA subscribes to any other online CPD provider.

Also what do governors say when you fill in your part of the SEF, how do they currently grade themselves - whilst you don't want to read the riot act to them, why not get someone in from the LA to take you through it and shame them in that way?

If you want more support from fellow governors try: forums.ukgovernors.org.uk/content.php - I think you might find them very helpful.

Thank you all so much - you've given me loads to think about and lots of good ideas. To be honest just having other people acknowledge that this isn't fair or right or good governance has made me relax a bit; I was starting to doubt myself.

The staff interviews thing - no, I don't need to be present for every TA or teacher interview, but I usually am, largely because I want the HT to feel supported. At this stage she sort of relies on it; we're a good interviewing team. I'm in the ridiculous state re interviewing where actually, I don't mind the reality, I just mind the principle, the assumption that it will always be me.

Re SEF etc they rate themselves well - so many of them work in education - but they don't see that being a good teacher elsewhere doesn't follow that they'll be a good governor here. And training - yes, we have access to online training and I've recommended it until I'm blue in the face. It's a standard agenda item, and one of the tumbleweed moments.

I have drafted an email saying that I am no longer dealing with training, inclusion or new Gov recruitment and induction, and that someone needs to step up. It lists the monitoring activities we should be doing and aren't doing. I'm quite proud of it although it still sounds a bit like a hissy fit so I will tweak and consider but I promise I will eventually press send :o.

Hi Zelda, I am another CoG and do sympathise, but you really need to man up and send your hissy fit email! You will probably be surprised at the response - I had one governor at one point who said 'I don't know how you cope with it all' on a particularly bad day to which I replied that 'I don't' and got her to immediately agree to take on additional responsibilities - maybe your governors don't realise you have issues with them, but will when you send your email?

I would not be involved in any interviews at school except for the head teacher I think - staffing is day to day management and not strategic. Definitely delegate new governor recruitment and induction to vice chair - you should be concentrating on SEF/equivalent and school development plan.
I think the other thing to think about is what are you telling people about the governor role when you recruit them - some people are told that it's only one or two meetings per term, and then it comes as a bit of a shock when the reality hits...

I seem to have been very lucky. I'm a governor at the local comp. I'd say all but a couple of governors work full time and all but one (who is ill) pull their weight.
I always avoided the governors at primary as it seemed to me to be an extension of school gate syndrome. Everyone as far as I could work out was on there with their own agenda.
I was stunned at how well the first meeting was chaired when I joined the govs at comp. The chair has a high powered job and sure knows how to stick to the point and how to delegate.
It's more dictatorship than democracy but it runs like a well oiled machine.
Minutes of main meetings are done by the LA and sub committees are done by school staff. Recruitment is done by staff apart from Head/Deputy head.