Groningen administration disappears and relocates six schools elsewhere
The Groningen school board OPOS with six public primary schools will no longer exist as of January 1, 2020. The six primary schools will be transferred to a total of three different school foundations in the region. “OPOS was lying on its ass and is too small”, says interim director Jan Paul ten Brink of OPOS. “We are opting for large, stable school foundations with future prospects.”
Picture: Type tank
This week OPOS made the intended decision known. Three primary schools will be given the new boss by the public schools foundation Ultiem, two schools will be transferred to the OPRON, which is also a public foundation. The Meeroevers Collaborative School joins the Christian foundation VCOG in the city of Groningen and will thus receive a general-special denomination. This is in line with the school's collaborative concept. “The schools could choose a foundation themselves,” says Ten Brink.
Administrative crisis
The transition was necessary, according to the interim director, because OPOS is too small and is in a shrinking area. In addition, last March there was a governance crisis whereby the supervisory board eventually resigned under pressure from a manifesto from the staff. Before the manifesto, there had been unrest within the school foundation for months and this increased because the director had suspended one of the school directors. The crisis was fought in the regional media. Interim director Ten Brink shouted in March to rest and went to look at the continuity of education.
When I came in, the OPOS board was really down
Stable driving
Ten Brink: "If you want to breathe new life into this, it would cost a lot of time and money and even then OPOS would remain too small. After much consultation, it was decided to go for large stable boards with a future perspective where employees, for example, have sufficient training opportunities. to have."
Also the AOb sat at the table during the meeting. AObDistrict administrator Marieke Homan says that the union has made every effort to ensure that schools could choose for themselves which foundation they want to transfer to. “We also wanted to give employees the opportunity to transfer to another school with a priority position if they don't like the new foundation. Education staff can indicate until March 2020 whether they want to make that switch.”
little change
In practice, little will change in the schools. Homan: “Employees get a new contract, but keep all the rights they have built up.” The interim director says that the OPOS school directors are already working with the new directors of the school foundations and that they will soon start thinking about the budget together. “Slowly they will join the new board.”
Employees receive a new contract, but retain all rights they have accrued
Agree
The participation councils of the six OPOS schools still have to approve the decision. And the supervisory board of OPOS also still has to approve it, as do the supervisory boards and the GMRs of the new school foundations. Ten Brink does not expect any problems, because he inventoried the wishes when he started last March. He thinks the approval for the autumn break is complete.
Homan is also confident. "The AOb will guide the mrs and answer the questions that there are as well as possible. We keep a finger on the pulse.”
