E-Scéal 125: Circular 79/07 - The Principal as Secretary to the BoM
- Published: 05 September 2007
The Principal and the Board of Management
Circular 79/2007, dealing with the payment of an allowance to Principal Teachers who act as secretaries to Boards of Management, concerns the area of Pay and Conditions and as such IPPN was not a party to these negotiations. It is deeply disappointing that the level of the allowance in no way reflects the centrality of the role of the Principal Teacher in carrying out the executive function of the Board. The scaling of the allowance according to the size of the school contradicts the reality that the duties and responsibilities of the Secretary to the Board of Management are broadly similar in all schools. However, this circular is indeed a first step towards valuing the role of the Principal Teacher as the "Chief Executive Officer" of the Board of Management.
Recording Secretary vs. Secretary to the Board of Management.
There appears to be confusion between the roles of Recording Secretary and Secretary to the Board of Management. The term Recording Secretary (as referred to in previous Board of Management documentation) dealt only with the task of taking minutes of meetings, whereas Secretary to the Board of Management is a new term and is described below in the revised Constitution for Boards of Management 2007.
"The Secretary
In circumstances where the Principal Teacher acts as Secretary to the Board of Management and is in receipt of an allowance to act as Secretary to that Board, the requirement for a Recording Secretary will not apply. Duties of Principal Teachers acting as Secretary to Boards of Management are outlined in Circular 0079/2007.
However, in the circumstances where the Principal Teacher of a school does not take up the allowance payable for acting as Secretary to a Board of Management;
(a)The Board shall elect a Recording Secretary from amongst its members.
(b)It shall be the duty of the Recording Secretary to:
(i) Keep minutes of each meeting in an appropriate form to be retained in a safe place and to be available on request to representatives of the Patron, the Trustees and the Department of Education and Science.
(ii)Set the agenda for meetings in consultation with the Chairperson of the Board and the Principal.
(iii)Record in the minute's decisions reached at meetings including the numbers of those voting for or against a motion.
Points to consider
The dynamics of Boards of Management vary from Board to Board. Most Principals are already fulfilling the functions of Secretary to the Board of Management as set out in the circular with the possible exception of being the person who records the minutes at the meeting. The reason for this is that the Principal Teacher acts as the main source of information and chief advisor to the Board and, as such, must be in a position to contribute to each and every item on the Agenda. To fulfil these functions effectively and keep an accurate account of the meeting at the same time is demanding too much of the Principal. Many Principals are fortunate enough to have a Board member volunteer to record the events of the meeting thus leaving the principal free to contribute to the discussion on all items. Some Principals on the other hand have chosen to record the minutes themselves in order to protect the accuracy of the records.
Should a Board of Management insist on a Principal Teacher actually taking the minutes of the meeting in order to receive the allowance, the Principal has two options:
a)The Principal can reserve the right not to receive the allowance thereby necessitating the BoM to "elect" somebody else to take the minutes of the meeting. The elected person will not be paid the allowance in such an arrangement.
b)Under Circular 79/2007 the Principal can opt to be Secretary to the Board of Management including taking the minutes of the Board meetings and receive the allowance. It would be advisable for the Principal to have this Circular discussed at the first Board of Management meeting of the new school year.
Recording Minutes
Minutes, which can be recorded on a template, should only report topics discussed, decisions taken and actions required. Reporting the detail of discussions at meetings is neither necessary nor wise. To avoid unnecessary duplication it would be an advantage if the Treasurer's Report and the Principal's Report were presented in written format enabling them to become attached to the Minutes Template.
The following is a sample template of the minutes of a Board of Management meeting is available to download from the following link
Is sinne le meas,
Seán Cottrell, Tomás O Slatara
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