Parent governor taking children out of school in term time?

[SocialButterfly]

Would this annoy you? Our parent governor has taken his two children out of school to go to Disneyland Paris for the week. I think this is not on and he of all people should be following the rules even if he doesn't agree with them.

Nono, it isn't disputed that he had no choice over the policy. however he did have a choice about if he chose to take his own child out of school in term time. All governors have this choice. Most don't need to resign because they have no reason to, because they have not compromised their positions.
Are you asking if he should resign because he disagrees with the government policy? Well, that is up to him. f he feels so strongly that it is wrong, then yes. However I would not expect governors to resign every time they disliked a government policy, because as you say, we would have none left. Most just grumble (privately) and get on with applying it. This is where the governor in question is different.

So, he should resign then.

Agree.

If you feel that strongly about it you should make a formal complaint. It's what I do if I feel strongly about something.
It does seem unfair, but there may be extenuating circumstances you don't know about. He may have permission, or a hell of a nerve

The governors HAD NO CHOICE over this policy.

So, what should he do, resign? Then I think every school in the country would lose their entire governing body.

This exactly. We certainly wouldn't have any parent governors in our school!

Btw one of our parent govs is about to take dcs out of school for a holiday - it was booked before the change in policy was announced by the government. The absence is being dealt with in the same way it would be for any family - the policy has been applied.

It's certainly made me think twice about taking my own dcs out of school again. But if I really wanted to I would and if you reckon that makes me a hypocrite and I should resign then great - I look forward to handing over the huge amount of unpaid work I do driving up standards in our school.

ShoeWhore, I'm sure you do great work as a governor and its appreciated that its voluntary. But why do you think you can pick and choose which laws to support? I'm sure you do lots of good, but for a governor to blatantly flout this term time holiday policy does damage and undermines the hard work put in by schools and government to change the culture that says it is okay to go on holiday whenever you like. There's another thread running at the moment about this and as lots of people point out there, time away is to be encouraged and families are given 13 weeks to take it.

Would not annoy me as I would not know what their circumstances are and why they had made this decision. I know several families who have taken term time holidays due to various work and other reasons. Also most governors do a huge amount of work for their schools with little to no thanks.

I can't see why it would annoy you more than any other parent doing it. His private circumstances are his own business. His job, as Shoewhore says, is to drive up standards, not to be a role model for other parents or a cheerleader for Gove. I'm a parent governor who often hears people talking about taking term-time holidays. Should I be sticking my beak in there, do you reckon? I don't, and wouldn't appreciate a lecture about my own decisions on that front either, thanks.

Maybe his wife has cancer, maybe he has a recent MS diagnosis.

How would you know?

Stop bloody judging. As long as he has it authorised or pays the fine and doesn't tell you not to moan about a fine for doing it, then parent govenor doesn't come into it.

Thanks all, so pretty much a 50/50 split of opinions. I do know their circumstances pretty well and know there are no extenuating circumstances apart from the price difference in the holiday. I did say to the head teacher I wasn't impressed and she said she couldn't discuss individual cases ( fair enough) but that she does not authorise any holiday in term time and if someone took it they would be fined.

One of the standards you are obliged to 'drive up' is the attendance figure. You can't pick and choose which standards you fancy driving and which you'd like to be instrumental in driving down.

I don't think he should-but I don't think anyone generally should.

However there may be circumstances you don't know. A friend of mine took her dc out of school to go to Disneyland, Florida. A certain amount of huffing went on.
What people didn't know was that one of her dc had been diagnosed with an illness that meant he would go blind in roughly 6 months, and this was something he was offered (no choice of timing) through a charity. It was their last holiday while he could see.
6 months later there were a lot of people who'd loudly given their opinions that looked very mean. They felt they should have been told why that family was going, but it was none of their business.

I'm a parent governor, and I've done this with no extenuating circumstances other than the prohibitive cost of the holiday otherwise. It did make me feel awkward in conversations about attendance. However, I feel strongly that time in school isn't the be all and end all of education, and that other life experiences can add an enormous amount to a child's education. The term time holidays we've taken are skiing holidays - clearly they're not essential, but I think my elder daughter in particular gains a huge amount from them, and we couldn't afford to go on them outside term time.

I certainly don't feel that being a governor requires me to sign up to every policy the DfE decides to impose - I'd be out of there PDQ if it did! I give a substantial amount of my time to helping make the school a better place for every child there, and personally I feel that's the most important thing.

Well, I personally have considered resigning as a governor because I disagree with most of what the DfE is doing. I have no idea whatsoever why anyone would want to be a school governor any more, except to oversee the dismantling of the education system.

Because lots of what schools do is still within their control, however it might feel sometimes, and having passionate, clued-up people on board is important.

There's also one hell of a lot schools do in order to be seen to jump through hoops, attendance included - b*gger all thought given to the individual when it comes to statistics.

I'm a PG, and I don't feel I can. But I think it depends on circumstances - I can afford to take my kids on holiday in school holidays, for example.

I wouldn't judge a fellow PG who couldn't, or who's partner was on active duty, etc etc.

I certainly don't feel I can go against school policy as a parent governor. However, I wouldn't judge others, because I think there is something small minded and nasty about judging others' behaviour on the assumption I know all the circumstances.