In my LA it is policy to encourage GBs to federate with other schools when a Head resigns. This policy is available online but isn't widely known about and so only the most suspicious of staff/parents are aware of it. As our Head is leaving in the summer I am concerned that the policy to encourage federations will be forced upon the school and have reason to believe that the LA has already started this process. Unfortunately I also have reason to believe that the LA have an Executive Head (of a local federation) in mind for this role and are unlikely to take 'no' without a fight as this Head has already 'got' two primaries and is on the GB of another primary opening soon and of the secondary school - there will be no local schools not governed by this individual which feels uncomfortable at best.
My question is this, assuming that this process has already started, is there anything to prevent the GB from discussing with the staff and parents the possibility of being federated? It seems unreasonable to expect a GB to make a decision for/against federation without knowing the feeling of the school community.
The LA aren't proving to be terribly trustworthy at present so contacting their legal department (who have a history of getting the law rather wrong) isn't really an option but the Governors meetings that are happening are all confidential so 'no-one' knows about them.
How can we object to a federation if it's not common knowledge that it's being considered as an option? Is there a legal consultation process that needs to be adhered to prior to any firm decision being taken?
Help!