Board Of Trustee Election Mistakes Identified

New Zealand Parent Teacher Association

Board Of Trustee Election Mistakes.

“A very disturbing problem has come to our notice which could prevent some parents from having their names put forward for the Board of Trustee election which are to take place next month,” says Diane O'Sullivan, Secretary of the New Zealand Parent Teacher Association.

“Apparently the Returning Officer is required to POST out the nomination forms – for which money is supplied by the Government.

Some schools – we believe more than 200 – have made errors in this and have sent the forms home with the children rather than posting them – and have all schools notified the New Zealand School Trustees Association?

We all know that sometimes we find important matter from the school at the bottom of our children’s school bag – along with the squashed pears – and this could be the fate of the nomination form from your school.

The most concerning part of these errors, is that nothing will be done unless someone in the school lodges a protest. This has been done at one school and the elections have been delayed to enable the school to do it properly. How many schools who know things aren’t quite right have chosen to put things right? How many other schools who have made the same mistake and haven’t had a protest will do nothing to fully inform the parents?

What happens if someone protests after going through the whole process of elections, or worse still, if someone misses out on being nominated or elected because they weren’t properly informed?

Parents who are interested in the Board of Trustee elections – and that should be everyone as they are supposed to be YOUR representatives – should make sure that they have received a nomination form in the post and make enquiries at the school if they haven’t.

The material produced by NZSTA for the elections was excellent. It would be a shame if that effort was wasted in some schools because they couldn’t follow directions.

PTAs and Parent Groups in the school work closely with Board of Trustees in a supporting role, and often Board members come from these ranks. It would be a very unfortunate if some parents were denied their opportunity to be part of the Board.”

Diane O'Sullivan, Secretary.

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