General

Svpo takes a blunt court about inspection reports

The Education Inspectorate does not have to adjust critical passages in the reports on three Schools for Personal Education (Svpo), the judge in The Hague ruled yesterday in summary proceedings instituted by the school board.

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Image: Editors Education Magazine /AOb

These are recent reports on the Svpo schools in Kapelle, hardegaripe en Geldermalsen, the 'oldest' three locations in the network of eight schools for personal education. The Svpo board demanded that the inspectorate remove the reports from its site, but caught bone on all challenged parts.

Conflict of interest

One of these concerns dealing with conflicts of interest in the good governance code. According to the Svpo, the company's own code, which states that board members must report possible conflicts of interest to the supervisory authority. According to the inspectorate, that is not enough. "However, a conflict of interest in itself is not ruled out, nor is it regulated how a report of a potential conflict of interest is dealt with," the reports said.

The Svpo board demanded that the inspectorate remove the reports from the site, but was unsuccessful in court

The judge finds the inspectorate's reasoning that the code is inadequate "in every way justifiable. Svpo cannot hide behind a number of general provisions from the Civil Code, according to the judgment. 'With a view to the provision of information to stakeholders, such as parents, those provisions should rather be a reason to explicitly include the policy to be followed in the code of good governance.'

Each school for personal education has the same footing and is part of a foundation with its own board, whereby the boards of all schools are identical. The Education Magazine recently researched the remarkable financing constructions within the network of public and private foundations. Click on the image.

active

Another part concerns employee participation, which, according to the inspectorate, does not comply with the School Participation Act (Wms). The school board employs a so-called 'participation collective', in which all parents, students and staff can vote on submitted proposals via a digital portal. According to the school board, this does not detract from the fact that the participation council (mr) can also vote on matters.

In its report, the inspectorate concludes that the board does not organize any objection as referred to in the law. For example, the mr is not asked to agree to intended decisions: 'However, consent is an active act, stimulated and desired by the director', according to the inspectorate.

According to the court, the Inspectorate was 'reasonably able to conclude that participation in decision-making at the schools (still) does not function adequately and that the way in which this is organized at the schools is in conflict with the Wms'. In the judgement, the judge also notes that it can in any case be established that the MRs 'play anything but an active role in the schools and that the boards of the schools do not encourage the MRs to do so either.'

The Inspectorate was reasonably able to conclude that participation in decision-making at the schools (still) does not function adequately

Strictly speaking, the judge in summary proceedings only limits himself to the question of whether the Inspectorate has reached its conclusions 'in reason'. The fundamental question of whether the participation is acceptable, belongs to another judge, according to the judgment.

Appeal

That question will most likely also end up on the table. An appeal is still pending, based on earlier versions of the reports last fall even though they were involved in summary proceedings. The judge then ruled that the inspectorate had to adjust the text on a number of parts before they could be made public. The Inspectorate has lodged an appeal on aspects, including the functioning of the employee participation body. That procedure is still ongoing.

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