Under the 'School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988', there should have been elections for the new school board as soon as the Academy was established.
Section 1 - (5) A School Board shall cease to exist when the school for which they are established is discontinued.
Section 2 - (9) In relation to schools (including combined schools) which come into existence after the commencement of section 1 of this Act, the first elections under this Act shall (subject to section 20) be held as soon as is practicable after pupils first attend the school.
Section 7 - (4) An Interim Board shall cease to exist when a School Board have been established for the combined school.
I am aware that 'The Parental Involvement Act' became law on 12th September 2006 and there is a transition period.
Currently, the make-up of the Interim board is not allowed under the 'School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988' as it has too many members per pupil count.
Also the Act states - it is the duty of the board to...
...ascertain the views of parents on matters which are the responsibility of the Board.
This did not happen - when the Council planned to vote on moving the Academy site away from that chosen by public consultation parents were not consulted.
The current Interim board joint chairs wrote a letter, that other board members and parents did not see, that the Council later quoted in a press release to support their decision to build the school on the Thomas Muir site (against public consultation). The letter had been written before that vote and, to this day, I cannot understand how you can agree with a decision before it was made (behind closed doors).
It is my view that the current board are not working within the Act and should be replaced.
The School Board Act (Scotland) 1988
The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 this is a pdf download
2 comments:
Having read the Act, this part needs further investigation...
4.—(1) Persons who would be disqualified for seeking election as, or for being—
(b) members of the education authority for the area within which the school is situated by virtue of section 31(1)(d) of that Act,
Should be interesting!
I understand that on Monday evening while parents were at the Academy to view plans of the new school, the School Board (intrerim) held it's usual meeting. Why was no attempt apparently made by the Board to inform parents...I do hope there is no reason they would not like parents to attend their meeting...especially parents who are keen to see the plans of the school?
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