Parent Forums to replace school boards

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL PARENTS!! The Scottish Executive today launched a consultation on the draft Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill. The plan is to replace outdated school boards with more flexible representative bodies. Go to "read more" to find out the details.

The Scottish Executive has just launched a consultation and draft bill on its proposals to abolish school boards and replace them with parent forums. The new forums will have the powers of existing boards in terms of getting information, making representations on behalf of parents and being involved in the appointment of headteachers and deputes. They may also, if they wish, carry out the social and fundraising functions normally associated with PTAs.

So what is different?
The big difference from boards is that all the parents in the school will be free to design the parents’ forum that they want to have. (This contrasts with the current situation where board membership, terms of office and election processes are determined by legislation). It means that different schools can make different decisions. They might, for example, choose to have more parents involved; they might choose to have one or two representatives from each year group; they might choose to have one-year terms of office with the option of reappointment. They might choose to operate with a single large committee to carry out traditional school board and PTA activities; or they might chose to continue with two quite separate committees. The big plus is that it will be for parents to decide. Moreover, parents will be able to change the arrangements in the future if they decide that something different would suit them better.

How will the new forums to be set up?
The local authority will contact parents about setting up a parent forum. The authority may offer a range of different options. The parents can choose to adopt one of these or design their own body. Because the forums will be different in different schools, it will be necessary to write a constitution. However, as with PTAs, this is merely a written-down description of the organisation that’s wanted. It is not a fixed proposal that the new bodies will have to comply with.

How will all this be done?
The Executive is running a public consultation until 7th June. Every parent will be sent a leaflet outlining the proposals and telling them how they can participate. All schools have copies of the full consultation which is entitled Making the difference – improving parents involvement in schools. It is also available from the Scottish Executive (0131 244 4485) or on the Parentzone website www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk

There will also be a series of open public meetings to discuss the proposals including some organised by SPTC - keep an eye on the website for more news

Who should be involved? These changes will affect all parents, not just school boards and PTA committees. They are designed to help more parents get involved in the life of the school and for parents to have more opportunities to raise issues that are of interest to them. We hope you will get involved, pass the information on and support these very positive changes.