Governors - opinions please

[grumpygov]

have namechanged so I can rant.

I'm a parent governor at a struggling school. We have an interim HT who will sort of be around for a while and they aim to convert us into an academy.

The HT is awful. Horrible. Effective but not especially nice I can cope with, but this one is not . They discuss the parents/families with utter contempt, has made some frankly immoral decisions and is shitting on people left right and centre. Bullying the staff, bullshitting everyone.

I have gone from a strong dislike to...I don't know. Something much bigger.

Anyhow, has anyone been in this position and got any advice. I am currently undecided about whether to a) continue b) resign and get my DCs on waiting lists for other schools (which would be never, we are the only under-subscribed school locally) c)resign and be a PITA parent instead.

I have one DC in infants and one going to yrR in September.

Continue, it's the only way to be an influence and the head won't be there for ever. You can still put your DCs on a waiting list.

What's your relationship with Chair of govs? Governors should be performance managing the head, if you're not happy, start keeping a record and discussing with the chair/vice/other govs.

Hmm. That's a very sensible idea.

I'm struggling to get past the urge to tell him to go forth and multiply, or stab him to death with a blunt fork right now.

Chair and vice are very old school and its very very cosy. No help there.

OP there should be a small group of Governors responsible for performance management - and best practice is that the Chair should not be one - you should be able to speak to these Governors about your concerns. You can also raise them at Gov Body meetings - ask the Clerk for an Agenda item or raise under the HT report. The HT should be reporting in writing once per term and if you have a second termly meeting it can be an oral report. In both cases Govs should ask questions - part of the challenge and support role.

I think the key to this is the word interim. If the school is going to become an academy this will presumably be in the Autumn term some time. At that point there will be plenty of change. Firstly the GB will have changes as the sponsor will be appointing the majority of the GB. Secondly they will almost for sure be looking to appoint a permanent head teacher. Whether that is the interim head teacher or not is for the "new" GB to decide.
I would stick with it, but you need to be holding the interim head to account. You need to establish who else on the GB is not happy with the interim head. If there a number of you then it is possible to start asking the awkward questions that sound as though they need to be being asked about the conduct of this person.

We have the new HT appointed and ready to start in the next term. The interim HT will still be very involved when it becomes an academy as they are strongly connected to the sponsor. Tries desperately not to out us

As far as I can see it will only get worse.

I didn't know that it was best practice for the Chair not to be doing the PM for the HT, that is very interesting, Chair and Vice are very much a double act though, IYKWIM.

We do get regular HT reports at Govs meetings. And we do support and challenge. But the staff (+chair and vice) who are Govs generally outnumber the LA/community/parent govs so things get passed and HT gets their way regardless.

Similar situation earlier this year - I resigned after 3 years of being a parent governor. Life really is too short.

If you can stay and still provide adequate challenge to the Head then do. I could not - the desire to punch both the Head's and the Chair's lights out was too strong! Our school is Good, desperately seeking Outstanding, so any challenge to the Head was seen by the Chair as an attack, as standards were rising.

Good luck with whatever you decide.