School boards, and individual trustees, are elected to act in an independent, stewardship role on behalf of those who cannot sit around the board table. The representation role includes effective succession planning, options for governing, and the importance of effective and meaningful community consultation and engagement.
Hautu, Maori enjoying and achieving education success as Maori
This module introduces Ka Hikitia (a Ministry of Education strategy) and the importance of Māori enjoying and achieving education success as Māori. It also introduces Hautū-Māori cultural responsiveness self review tool for boards of trustees which has been designed to support English medium schools boards of trustees to self-assess their own cultural responsiveness.
The purpose of Hautū is to allow boards of trustees in English medium schools to determine their levels of cultural responsiveness and to identify priorities fro development.
Haepapa
This module assists understanding of effective governance in Māori medium schools
Becoming a Trustee
How to become a student trustee
What is the process for a student to become a student trustee on the board?
What does a board do when there is parent trustee vacancy?
Each board of trustees is required to have a trustee preside over the meetings. In this module, you will learn about a process to appoint or elect such a chairperson.
The role of the returning officer
The board of trustees works with the returning officer to ensure that the returning officer (R.O.) has the specific dates and requirements for the trustee elections.
Make sure the R.O. for your elections has registered as a Returning Officer on the NZSTA trustee elections website.
Before an election can take place, the rolls of those who are eligible to vote must be made. For triennial elections, these rolls are for both the parent representative and the staff representative elections. It is the responsibility of the returning officer to prepare a roll that contains the name and address of every person entitled to vote. This roll is referred to as the main roll and after it closes a supplementary roll needs to be opened.
The returning officer is required to call for, accept and record valid nominations. Communication with the board chair is important at this stage especially if there are insufficient valid nominations where the board will need to promote the elections further.
A voting election is required when there are more valid nominations received than the number of positions advertised. Voting papers must be posted or personally delivered to everyone on the electoral roll after nominations close and by nine days before the election date.
Find out more in this module.
Voting closes at noon on election day. Find out more about the role of the returning officer at this point and their role in the declaration of the results.
State Integrated Schools
This module contains information about state integrated schools and the makeup and responsibilities of their boards.
This module contains further information about state integrated school boards and their responsibilities.
Approving Board Minutes
School boards are required to have written records of their meetings. How does this process occur? Learn more here.
How does your board handle requests from the public to have speaking rights at your board meetings? What are some approaches and strategies that can be used? Find out more here.
School boards of trustees are crown entities subject to the Official Information Act 1982. What does this mean for your board if you receive an information request? How do you respond? Find out more here.
From time to time concerns and complaints arise in a school environment. What policies and processes does the board and school have in place to effectively manage these? Find out more here.