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Presenter: Dr Muavia Gallie (PhD)

16 April 2012 muavia@mweb.co.za

Tshwane University of Technology Faculty of Humanities

Department of Education Studies Education Management 4

- Session 8 - �

Administrative facets in School Management�

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Content 1.  Introduction (defining); 2.  Legal requirements for meetings;

- Role of chair; - Secretary; - Members attending; - Formal documents; - Requirements for valid meetings - Procedural Rules

4.  Miscellaneous aspects in administration 5.  Conclusion.

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Introduction - Administration •  Executive activity which functions within the

structures of an organisation; •  Is subject to certain legal and policy

requirements •  Finalisation of programmed and routine

activities and decision making; •  Systemically executed in a well-ordered

manner by supporting personnel and mechanical resources under the supervision of manager

Administration, Management and Leadership

•  Administration - rules and regulations;

•  Management – relationships and networking;

•  Leadership - vision building, ideas, decision making and systems setup.

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Legal requirements for meetings •  Role of the chairperson (vice-chairperson in absence;

principal chair SMT and staff meetings; not chair of SGB); - Rights and duties of a chairperson (1. check notice of meeting; 2. quorum [%] before start; 3. control meeting; 4. maintain order; 5. conducted within the rules; 6. one to speak at a time; 7. resolutions express the will of meeting; 8. act impartial and give sufficient opportunity; 9. avoid digress; 10. may call on persons; 11. announcements and submission of reports subject to chair; 12. rule out of order motion which is contrary to procedure, illegal, frivolous or policy; 13. chair’s point of order rule is final; 14. remain member of meeting; 15. vacate chair to express personal opinion; 16. right to propose and vote for themselves; 17. second or casting vote [to break tie]; 18. can vote to make a tie; 19. impartially summarise the various views; 20. views can be disputed and rejected; 21. may adjourn a meeting; 22. warn a misbehaving member; 23. meeting may take decision against a disorderly member; 24. exclude member from meeting);

Legal requirements for meetings … cont. •  Role of the chairperson

- Rules to be observed by chair (1. Participation in discussion and the proposal of motion; 2. Tactic; 3. Separation of functions);

•  Secretary (1. Draft agenda with chair; 2. Keep register of members; 3. Draft notices of meeting and dispatch; 4. Provide requirements and requisites for meeting; 5. Draw attention of chair on quorum; 6. Read notice sent to meeting; 7. Draft minutes, read and amend them; 8. Act as chair; 9. Read correspondence; 10. Compile draft annual report with chair); - 1. Be impartial and loyal to chair; 2. Should not express opinion unless …; 3. Avoid clash of interest, serve association, work behind scenes)

•  Role of members attending a meeting (convenient time; adequate and timely notice; time to arrange and prepare for meeting; agenda in advance; resolutions adopted should be valid; non-attendance record in writing; rules of engagement: (i) address the chair as ‘chair’; (ii) refer to others in indirect form; (iii) stand while addressing unless … ; (iv) permission for chair before speaking; (v) interruption only through ‘point of order’; ensure professionalism; respect leadership positions and your own area of expertise);

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Legal requirements for meetings … cont. •  Formal documents of a meeting

- Agenda [things to be done] (1. Matters to be discussed are dealt with in particular order; 2. Members can prepare for and contribute; 3. Meeting stay on track) - points should be clear; deviation from sequence only with permission of meeting; 4. text of motions should appear in full on agenda; - Minutes (1. Content - concise, accurate, unambiguous and impartial report; 2. Record names of members present or absent and resolutions adopted; 3. Minutes are for future reference; secretary should report on: (i) date, time and venue; (ii) names of secretary and chair, and members in attendance and absent, and observers; (ii) proposals made with proponents and seconders; (iv) report of the meeting; (v) important rulings made by chair; (vi) names of persons voting for and against - may ask for special recording; 4. minute keeping: (i) write in present tense; (ii) not word-for-word account; (iii) proposals, motions and amendments must be in exact words; (iv) kept in book with page numbers; (v) not tamper with pages; (vi) if typed, chair must initial each page and sign the last page; * Approval of minutes (at next meeting; circulate copy before meeting - deem as read; sub-committee meeting minutes must be approved by management committee; secretary present minutes, chair ask for approval as correct reflection; approved by someone who was present in previous meeting; may debate incorrectness of minutes but not content; if correct, chair dates and signs minutes; secretary my voluntarily amends or be compelled by resolution to amend minutes); * Evidential value of minutes (legal standing; prima facie proof); * Safekeeping of minutes (confidential; give to principal at end of SGB term); * Access to minutes (may refuse if possibility of misuse)

Legal requirements for meetings … cont. •  Requirements for a valid meeting (cont.)

- Convening a meeting (1. By an authorised official; 2. Dispatch a written notice of meeting to all registered members; 3. Procedure rules of body will determine how long before and in what matter to send notices;4. Sometimes the information is in the constitution; - Constitution of the meeting (1. There should be a chair and quorum of members; 2. Quorum should be present for the entire duration of meeting; 3. Wait for 15 minutes to make quorum - if not, adjourn and reconvene (normally 7 days later at same time, venue; 4. Members present will be the quorum; 5. Quorum sometimes a problem when convening SGB meetings; - Constitution of organisation (should contain procedural rules for meetings);

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Legal requirements for meetings … cont. •  Procedural rules relating to proposals

- Proposals (1. Any member can make a proposal [except chair]; 2. A seconder is necessary when stated by procedural rules; 3. Just to determine whether there is prima facia support for proposal;4. Can’t withdraw seconded proposal without meeting permission; 5. Deal with one proposal at a time); - Motions (1. First a motion, then resolution when adopted; 2. Motions are place on table for discussion and vote; 3. Procedural motion deals with conduct of meeting; 4. Substantive motion is when something needs to be done); - Counter-proposal (when opposite motion is put on table for discussion - members vote for one of the two); - New proposal (when counter-proposals are not entertained by rules); - Debating (when proposal is on the table, members debate the issue; proposer normally makes the last comment); - Amendments (to adjust the original proposal or motion; proposer must accept the amendments, otherwise a new proposal; if amendments are accepted, it is put to vote as an amended and substantial proposal); - Formal motions (intended to end discussion; could indicate that issue should be voted on; formal motions is then open for discussion);

Legal requirements for meetings … cont. •  Procedural rules

- Voting (1. Chair put proposal for voting after it has been properly discussed; 2. Request members to vote FOR or AGAINST; 3. Voting can be by (i) show of hands,(ii) by verbal assent, (iii) by ballot ;4. Chair announce the results which is final and closes the voting; 5. Any member can object to the results and demand recount; 6. Subsequent announcement of results will be final and conclusive; 7. A motion is either accepted or defeated; 8. Voting works on one-personone-vote; 9. An ordinary majority will carry a motion unless otherwise stated in rules; 10. Resolution results are deemed to be binding on all; 11. Can rescind a decision from previous meeting; 12. Voting might be problematic in schools with people of unequal status);

- Validity of resolutions (1. Certain procedural rules have been followed; 2. Other rules and/or principles from constitution must also be taken into account);

- Validity of resolutions subsequent to irregular procedure (1. Sometimes a decision made during an irregular procedure might not be valid; 2. Example, when the decision represents the will of the majority in meeting; 3. When irregular, it can be corrected through a ‘point of order’; 4. Chair must follow procedures meticulously);

- Subsequent approval (1. Sometimes a decision can be attained without having a formal meeting; 2. Such unanimous assent must be approved at a subsequent formal meeting; 3. If a single member was missed, it could render the decision invalid);

- Amendment and recall of resolutions (1. Resolutions may neither be amended nor repealed during same meeting; 2. Procedure to recall and amend an adopted resolution: (i) after conclusion of vote, member give verbal notice that the resolution will be reviewed at following meeting; (ii) notice of review is automatically placed on agenda of next meeting; (iii) member gives notice of review also - must be timeously);

- Suspension of procedure (1. To save time, members can suspend a procedure; 2. Example, where the constitution requires a vote through ballot);

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Legal requirements for meetings … cont. •  Miscellaneous procedural rules

- Order motions (1. Example: (i) members present do not constitute a quorum,(ii) proceedings are contrary to the procedural rules, (iii) discussions deviates from the subject at hand, (iv) a speaker or member misbehaves); - Adjournments (1. Meeting may be adjourned to any time and venue under certain circumstances; 2. Example: (i) there is no longer a quorum, (ii) decision made by the chair or the meeting); - Postponements (1. Meeting may be postponed after notice of meeting has been given, but before it has been convened); - Closure (1. Chair closes the meeting after all matters have been dealt with);

Miscellaneous aspects of Administration

•  Contracts - Ascertain the exact responsibility of the school; - Nature of assets and equipment in the contract; - Type of contract: instalment sale, lease, HP; - Manner of payment (negotiate interest-free payments); - Software contracts: clear specifications;

•  Copyright - Don’t copy software illegally;

•  Documents and electronic media - Original document has to be produced; - 2. Duplicate (carbon copy) is also regarded as original;

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Thank You!