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It is astonishing how often you get this sort of bullying in an establishment like a school board of governors. The point of a board of governers is to maintain quality, bring in new ideas, provide a reference point, but inevitably one little hitler will get in there and ruin things.
About thirty years ago now I was asked by my then local authority to join a Trust acting for the council. What they didn't tell me was that the council had lost control, and things were out of hand. When I went to my first meeting I was made to sit on a footstool and given a dressing down as a council spy, and quite violent threats made against me. I had to research what was going on (something I'm good at doing, uncovering every aspect) and systemmatically expose the whole structure, which got me called all kinds of names, but within three months the Chair and Secretary had been removed.
The Board of Governors cannot function if that kind of corruption is going on. No-one on a properly constututed Board of Governors should be shouted down or bullied. Something is wrong with that school. Hard as it will be it needs to be investigated and exposed as running badly.
Bullying surveys are tricky. One county about ten years ago carried out a bullying survey (interviews and observation) in three different types of school. Two of the schools came out of it well but the public school came off badly. The public school then raised various legal obstructions to the report being released, which ruined the whole exercise.
You can always expect that the upper echelons will inflict standards on others, but never accept they themselves are guilty, even when the only ones guilty, and guilty of the worst conduct.
It is astonishing how often you get this sort of bullying in an establishment like a school board of governors. The point of a board of governers is to maintain quality, bring in new ideas, provide a reference point, but inevitably one little hitler will get in there and ruin things.
About thirty years ago now I was asked by my then local authority to join a Trust acting for the council. What they didn't tell me was that the council had lost control, and things were out of hand. When I went to my first meeting I was made to sit on a footstool and given a dressing down as a council spy, and quite violent threats made against me. I had to research what was going on (something I'm good at doing, uncovering every aspect) and systemmatically expose the whole structure, which got me called all kinds of names, but within three months the Chair and Secretary had been removed.
The Board of Governors cannot function if that kind of corruption is going on. No-one on a properly constututed Board of Governors should be shouted down or bullied. Something is wrong with that school. Hard as it will be it needs to be investigated and exposed as running badly.
Bullying surveys are tricky. One county about ten years ago carried out a bullying survey (interviews and observation) in three different types of school. Two of the schools came out of it well but the public school came off badly. The public school then raised various legal obstructions to the report being released, which ruined the whole exercise.
You can always expect that the upper echelons will inflict standards on others, but never accept they themselves are guilty, even when the only ones guilty, and guilty of the worst conduct.
