In this week’s article, I consider the role of the board of management in relation to the principal and teachers of the public secondary school.
One question that has been raised in my discussions on the subject is whether the board can exercise disciplinary control over the principal or teachers.
The Education Act and regulations specifically empower the board to employ the non-teaching staff of the school and give it the authority to “dismiss and otherwise exercise disciplinary control over those persons” (see Section 17 (c) of the Education Act).
In the absence of any provision in the act or regulations conferring any similar power with respect to teaching staff, the inevitable conclusion is that the boards of management have no authority to appoint or exercise disciplinary control over principals or teachers.
The boards of management are creatures of the Education Act and Regulations and any powers that they exercise must be granted expressly or impliedly by those two pieces of legislation. Permanently appointed teachers (who, as I have pointed out previously, are public officers) are subject to the disciplinary rules and procedures as set out in the Public Service Act, 2007 and the Service Commission Public Service Regulations, 1978 insofar as they are not inconsistent with the Public Service Act, 2007.
Discipinary control
It is reasonable to ask whether given the fact that disciplinary control resides elsewhere, the boards of management are powerless if they are of the view that a principal or a teacher should be disciplined in some way.
It seems to me that the options open to the board include the following:
(i) “the board is empowered to make ecommendations to the minister with regard to any matter directly or indirectly affecting any school”.
It seems that the board may use this power to recommend to the minister actions that the minister is empowered to take with respect to the school.
(ii) Section 3 of the regulations gives to the Minister of Education power to engage the board in carrying out an investigation where it appears to the minister that there is any serious defect in the work of any school.
A board of management may be able to persuade a minister that the powers conferred by Section 3 should be exercised by him.
(iii) The board is required to report any contravention of the Education Act, or the regulations.
If a principal or a teacher has contravened either of the above, then that can be reported to the Minister of Education.
(iv) There are areas of school administration and management that have been placed under the authority of the board.
For example, Section 5 of the regulations provides that the board shall supervise the buildings and premises of the school and shall be responsible for their use for community activities and other activities that are not under the control of the school. The board clearly has power to direct the principal with respect to the use of such premises for activities not under the control of the school.
The Education Act and regulations permit the board to supervise the principal with respect to those matters over which the board has been given control.
Secondly, the principal has the power to supervise teachers generally and is given power with respect to some matters, for example, allocation of duties to staff.
However, in relation to discipline with respect to appointed teachers, the rules that govern the public service apply. On some occasion in the future, I will address the specifics of those rules.
• Cecil McCarthy is a Queen’s Counsel. Send your letters to: Everyday Law, Nation House, Fontabelle, St Michael. Send your email to cnmcc@caribsurf.com