School govenors could be asked to do more

Schools individual identities could be lost in Powys so that governing bodies can oversee more than one school and address the shortage of volunteers for the vital role.

The potential future changes to school governing bodies were brought up during an extraordinary Powys County Council meeting on Thursday, April 10.

This follows the publication a damning Estyn inspection report into the council’s education service.

Estyn gave the council four recommendations to address, and councillors heard how the Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet intend responding to the crisis.

At the meeting Powys Independents Cllr Jeremy Pugh brought up the issue of school governors having been one for eight years.

Cllr Pugh said: “You’re asked to take responsibility for all of it, yet you have no say in it, any person who wants to put themselves forward in the present process as a governor would be a fool.”

“The whole system is broken and needs altering; that’s the real problem.”

His Powys Independents colleague Cllr Gareth D Jones (Llanfair Caereinion and Llanerfyl) pointed out to the heavy workload put on the shoulders of school governors.

Cllr Jones said: “We’re struggling to attract them.

“I know within my own governing body (Ysgol Bro Caereinion all through school) last week they had a meeting at 5pm which finished at 11.30pm and governors were in all of the next day.

“The portfolio holder was thinking of targeting some good school governors and asking them to do more schools.

“How is he going to take that forward because it scares me asking school governors to do more.”

Education portfolio holder Liberal Democrat Cllr Pete Roberts said: “We might need to look at the structures of schools so that we have fewer governing bodies, and a smaller number of school entities as opposed to physical schools.”

He said that this would allow “more experienced governors” to look at one school budget for multiple sites.

Cllr Roberts explains that the challenges to find school governors mirrors that of town and community councils all across Powys who also struggle to find volunteers to take up the role.

Cllr Roberts said: “We have so many governing bodies and community councils that the number of people we expect to come forward (as volunteers) from Powys as a whole is very high compared to population of the county.

“We may need to look at how we reduce school entities, so we have a need for fewer governors.

He added that he had not suggested that someone should sit on to “four or five” different school governing bodies.

Cllr Roberts said: “With the workloads and the changing nature (of the role)  that would be a ridiculous suggestion unless we pay school governors.”

School governing bodies have a vital role in running schools.

They provide the planning and strategic direction of the school, oversee its finances, hold the headteacher and school leadership to account as well as monitor and evaluate progress in schools.