Board of Governors - whose side are they on?

[rosierambler]

My son's been having an ongoing problem with a group of boys bullying him at school. Without going into all the details (it is a l o n g story) it is quite serious, my son has sustained a few injuries and he is at the stage now where he doesn't want to go to school. The head hasn't been able to sort the problem out, the teacher has been hopeless (sorry, but she has) and we have just had a meeting with the board of governors which has left myself and my husband gobsmacked. In a nutshell, they actually tried to deny thre was a problem at all, and said it was their understanding that my son had a clash of personality with these boys. When we mentioned the injuries, they said they were 'unaware of the them' even though we were in immediate contact with the school when these injuries happened. They were never formally recorded by the school apparently, which is presumably how they have been brushed under the carpet. Anyway, how on earth can this problem be resolved if the school won't even admit that there is one? Am feeling totally powerless and very frustrated.

Change of school ?

Home Ed ?

Am sure you've thought of these sorry not to be of more help.

Did the injuries happen at school? If so the school has been negligent in not recording them surely?

The governing body should be on the side of the school (that's not to say the teachers). If you are unhappy with their response I would say contact the education dept at your local council and mention 'safeguarding' issues at the school. Hopefully that would make them sit up.

Hope you get this resolved xx

The board of Governors has a responsibility to ensure policies are followed. They can't take the place of the Head.

If your complaint is specifically about the head, then they will deal with that.

Agree that all injuries occurring in school should be written down in - whether it was an "accident" or otherwise.
Some schools have behaviour logs where all incidences of fighting etc. are recorded. If bullying is racist then that should be recorded to.
If nothing is written down, then there is little the governors can do.
But there should be a behaviour (and/or) anti-bullying policy so ask to see it. If there isn't one then there is a serious problem with the school! it is the Head's responsibility to write these policies (sometimes with the help of the SENCO or Deputy) and the governing body's to make sure these are implemented.
The school should also have a complaints policy: usually you complain firstly to the class teacher, then the Head, then the governors and finally the LEA.

I have a friend who had a very similar experience - her son wasn't being bullied but had a very serious accident at school. When she collected him he ended up at A & E that afternoon having his leg glued. He couldn't go to school the next day and when she rang the school they denied all knowledge that he had even had the accident at school. She went to the board of govenors in the end and they too sided with the head and denied it happened at school. It wasn't recorded in the accident book either. It turned out that the person who treated the wound at the school wasn't a first aider, so denied treating it, and then the lie just snowballed into one huge catalogue of lies to cover up the first one. She only found this out because someone who worked at the school told a friend of hers!

You should read this article
www.myschoolgate.co.uk/blog/view/should-parents-sit-on-the-board-of-govenors/

I am gobsmacked OP - your poor boy. Where is the next stop - your LEA?

I am 100% of the view that current parents should NOT sit on the Board of Governors at any school BTW.

The governors are there to act as 'Critical friends' of the school. I am a governor at a local primary school. Our role is (partly) to monitor academic progress, and to plan the development strategy for the school. We hold staff and the head to account. In cases of complaints, (those few where the complainant feels they have not been satisfactorily dealt with by teachers or head), we act as the next stage and a small panel of governors is convened to give an independent opinion. Those who may know the complainants, or who have prior knowledge of the events leading to the complaint, cannot join the panel.

In terms of 'whose side are they on?' - the answer is the side of the school and pupils. Strategy and decisions are based on what they feel will be best for the school as a whole to improve standards in teaching and learning, safeguarding pupils etc. In complaint situations, the answer is that they are acting independently to ensure a fair and reasonable hearing. Where they feel the complaint is groundless they will say so. Where there is evidence that something has gone wrong they have a duty to act.

It sounds as though in your case they may not have had enough evidence to support your side of the story. Presumably you did take your son to a doctor if there were injuries? If so then your GP/ A&E can write reports on them and this may help your case if you need to take it further (LEA).

Oh and Hearts - I am a parent governor, and feel strongly that current parents should be represented on the governing body. But in any case, state schools are required to have a certain number of parent governors as well as local community, LEA and staff governors.

In situations such as these, clearly parent governors who know the child or parents would not sit on the governors panel for the complaint hearing.

In my experience . . They're on the schools side.

I went into the meeting to be told what I could and couldn't talk about. The chair of governors knew the person who came to the meeting with me but didn't excuse himself.

They are only interested in saving the reputation of the school. Sorry if I sound harsh but this is still such a raw nerve with me and if I didn't move dd from that school they would of allowed the bullying to continue.

I will never agree to a meeting with governors ever again. I even had staff telling me these people were bullying various children but obviously I had to protect the staff.

Get your dc out of there. If they are denying the problem they will allow it to continue.

Well I'm a parent gov and chair. I've just dealt with a complaint long term biullying plus specific incidents that weren't dealt with properly.
I've written to the parent admitting this, apologised and although they don't know this but disciplinary action is being considered.
I've told them its being dealt with but not what is being done.
As a governor you are limited by how truthful the head is and how much you like an easy life, but personally I would never deliberately collude with a head to distort the truth.
That's my role critical friend supportive but impartial and sometimes needing to take hard choices. Any governor who doesn't do that should give up.

IDontDoIroning and I could be twins! Also dealt with a similar issue as chair of Govs and agree with th PE comment about the HT. when I first became a governor, the HT would tell the Govs what she was planning to do & they all nodded their heads in agreement. No way was that going to continue with me on board and I found I had to be incredibly sneaky to act as the critical friend. The bullying case I dealt with was in the second school where I was a governor and the HT was open & honest. Policies were no properly followed and we were able to placate the parent and ensure the child was no linger a victim of bullying!

I wish you luck OP and suggest you talk to your local education authority. For the sake of your child, this matter must end now.