Board of Management

Procedures for Re-election of Members

Procedure for the nomination/election of a person who will be nominated to the patron for appointment as teacher representative.

  1. A staff meeting should be held for the purpose of selecting the teacher who will be nominated to the patron for appointment as teacher representative on the board of management. At least ten days’ notice of such a meeting shall be given in writing to each person entitled to vote at such a meeting.
  2. At the meeting, nominations shall be invited from among the authorised teaching staff. For this purpose teaching staff shall be taken to include:
    • Those serving in a permanent capacity in the school.
    • Those serving in a temporary capacity where the term of appointment is six months or greater.
  3. Substitute teachers or teachers on career break or service overseas are NOT eligible.
  4. Each nomination must be seconded.
  5. If there is only one nomination, the person nominated shall be deemed to be elected.
  6. If there is more than one nomination, a secret ballot shall be held at the meeting, in which case two tellers shall be appointed.
  7. The vote shall be counted in public at the meeting and the result of the ballot shall be notified to the staff and to the patron’s representative.
  8. In the event of a tied vote between nominees, the election of the teacher representative shall be determined by the drawing of lots.
  9. In the case of a two teacher school, the classroom teacher automatically becomes the nominee to the patron for appointment as teacher representative, unless the school is a base school for a resource or learning support teacher, in which case the procedure set out at 1-8 above applies.
  10. In relation to the two teacher-members on boards of management for convent and monastery schools the position shall be that if the principal teacher be a Religious, the elected teacher-member shall be a lay person and, if the principal teacher be a lay person, it is recommended that the elected teacher-member shall be a Religious.
  11. The procedure set out at 1-9 above shall be used to fill any vacancy.

Procedures for the nomination/election of a parent(s) for appointment by the patron as parent representative(s) on the Board.

Note:

The method of election of parent representatives shall be determined in consultation with the parent representatives on the outgoing board and any parents’ association in the school.

When a vacancy occurs among parent representatives, the board of management having consulted with the parents’ association may recommend to the patron either:

  1. The co-option as a replacement the person with the next highest number of votes from among those not elected to the board initially or;
  2. The board of management may recommend a by-election to replace the parent representative.

This procedure should be used for the initial selection of a parent representative(s) and in the case of any by-election held following consultation with the parent association.

There is a choice of two procedures which can apply and are as set out in options 1 and 2.

Procedure for the selection of two members from the community for appointment to the Board of Management.

  1. The patron’s representative shall convene a meeting of the two nominees of the patron, the two elected parent representatives, the elected teacher representative and the principal.
  2. This meeting shall be convened within seven days of the completion of the election processes set out in the procedures.
  3. At this meeting, having discussed the skill needs of the board, in line with the criteria set out at 4 below, for the effective management of the school, the members shall propose two extra members from the wider community, agreed unanimously amongst them, to the patron for appointment. These discussions shall conclude within seven days. It would be expedient for the members to identify those other persons who might be approached in the event that those initially selected decline the invitation. The members should determine the order in which the persons selected will be approached. The period for agreement on the selection of the two extra members may be extended from seven days to an absolute maximum of fourteen days but only where the two persons initially selected decline.
  4. The criteria to be applied in selecting persons to act as board members from the community shall be:
    • In the case of Roman Catholic primary schools.
    • Persons nominated shall have a commitment to the ethos of the school and the community/parish served by the school and shall have an understanding of and commitment to Catholic education as outlined in the Deed of Trust for Catholic Schools.
    • Persons nominated shall possess skills complementary to the board’s skill requirements.
    • Persons shall be nominated with a consciousness of having a gender balance on the board.
    • Persons nominated shall be interested in education and its promotion but would not normally be parents of pupils attending the school.
    • In the case of Roman Catholic Gaeltacht schools, people nominated shall also have an understanding of and commitment to the ethos of the school. It is also expected that those nominated shall have a good knowledge of the Irish language.

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