asked the Minister for Education if she will amend the regulations governing primary schools to ensure that boards of management share authority with managers.
Written Answers. - Primary Schools Regulations.
324.
The booklet Constitution of Boards and Rules of Procedure sets out the procedures by which boards of management of national schools must operate and defines the term manager as the person or body of persons nominated by the patron and recognised as manager by the Minister. In the vast majority of these schools, the function of management is carried out by a board of management consisting of a chairperson and nominees of the patron, members elected by parents and representatives of the teaching staff.
If the Deputy's question relates to the functions of a school board of management as a collective body vis-á-vis the functions applicable to the chairperson as an individual, the rules of procedure indicate the particular duties of the chairperson but also state that “the Board may authorise the chairperson and/or another member in respect of a particular function or functions to act on its behalf for a specified period of time”.
It is not considered feasible to regulate in the Rules of Procedure the functions to be allocated to individual members of the board and to the board as a collective body.