Is this fair? School governors

[MrsNeil]

I was scheduled to have an interview for a school governor position last night at 7pm, at nearly 8pm I received an email telling me that they already had someone with my skill mix on the governing body and therefore would not be interviewing me. I’ve probably been a bit of pain to the school - setting up a parents Facebook page and raising the odd concern over the 10 years or so that I’ve had children there but I thought I could add value. The governing body didn’t ask for my skills prior to offering me an interview, but I did outline some of my specific skills that were mentioned in one of the documents they sent me in my reply to their invitation - if that makes sense. I’m almost sure they didn’t ask the other person that was being interviewed for their skills. Does this sound right?

OP, several people have asked you but you haven't completely clarified: is this a Parent Governor position? You said the other candidate was also a parent, but not what the exact vacancy was.

If it is a parent governor post, you must have a an election.

If it is another type of governor, such as co-opted or foundation, the governing board can select the candidate. Although many co-opted governors are also parents, some schools prefer not to recruit parents (of children at their school) into these roles.

If it’s a parent governor and more than one parent has applied then there has to be a parental vote and the governing body gets no say (and similarly if only one parent applies then they are appointed regardless of skill set or what the Governors think of them)

There should not be any interviews for parent governors as such although we always have one of our governors talk to any parents interested just to ensure they understand the role and time commitment etc before applying and also have them talk to another parent governor if possible (to understand what it’s like to be both parent and governor - can be challenging at times!)

The Clerk to governors is responsible for ensuring the correct process - ours is very strict about this - might be a good idea to contact the Clerk and raise the issue there?