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SvPO founder hands over schools to new board

Founder Misha van Denderen officially handed over the Schools for Personal Education (SvPO) to a five-member interim board - including Dirck van Bennekom, Rogier Straathof and Yolande Ulenaers - that was nominated by Minister Dennis Wiersma. The transfer does not apply to the private foundation that houses the publicly financed real estate of four SvPO branches.

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Image: Editors Education Magazine

The temporary board that has to put things in order consists of well-known names from administrative secondary education: Dirck van Bennekom (chairman of the Secondary Education Alliance for many years until his retirement in 2015, after which he was involved in a merger process of Zeeland-Flemish schools), interim managers Rogier Straathof and Yolande Ulenaers, Hein van Asseldonk (until recently Vice-Chairman of the Secondary Education Council) and Marcel van der Knaap (who, among others, took charge of the Avicenna College). The latter two fulfill a supervisory role.

Shoulders

Nothing has been released about the agreements made with the retired director Van Denderen. The transfer of management follows an instruction from education minister Wiersma to resign after the Education Inspectorate had financial mismanagement detected† Wiersma announced the transfer in a brief to the House of Representatives - without mentioning the new directors by name. 'Now quickly put our shoulders together under good education and rest in the tent for all students and teachers of SvpO!', tweeted him last night.

A long-awaited debate on SvPO in the House of Representatives, which was to take place today, was removed from the agenda around the same time

A long-awaited debate about SvPO in the House of Representatives, which was to take place today, was removed from the agenda around the same time via an e-mail procedure at the suggestion of the coalition party CDA and with the support of the VVD, among others. This to frustration by SP MP Peter Kwint, who did not hide his displeasure last night.

Get to work

There are still plenty of questions. In addition to the worrying quality of education - three SvPO schools are rated very weak, of which the Utrecht school twice in a row - the interim board will also have to deal with real estate and financing. For example, the housing of four schools in Hurdegaryp, Geldermalsen, Hoorn and Deventer in hands of the private foundation for personal education, chaired by Van Denderen. According to the Education Inspectorate, almost 16 million euros in education money has been unlawfully invested in these real estate projects. Furthermore, three of these schools are bound by long-term lease contracts, whereby the educational institutions have to transfer money to the private foundation for thirty years. Also pale recently that Van Denderen owns the rights to use the brand name SvPO.

The appointment of the interim board puts an end to uncertain weeks for staff, parents and students. Van Denderen initially hinted that he felt more in favor of an alternative board that would have reported to him. Both the school leaders and the participation councils collectively urged the SvPO director to transfer the helm to the 'OCW board' with immediate effect. Yesterday morning he already said goodbye in an email to parents.

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