School board

A school board is a body representing teachers, students and parents in accordance with the Lower Saxony School Act as amended on July 12, 2007. The concept is similar to that of school conferences in other federal states.

In Switzerland , the term school board is used according to the "Law on Vocational and Continuing Education (GBW)" as a designation for a supervisory body for vocational schools . In Hamburg, the term school board also refers exclusively to vocational schools.

There were and still are school boards at schools that are not owned by a state or a municipality.

In the 19th century and up to the first half of the 20th century, school boards existed in many municipalities in Germany as the supervisory bodies of the municipalities over the schools they were responsible for.

In some German texts, the term used in several English-speaking countries is Board of Education with school board translated.

Occasionally the term school board is used to refer to individuals.

Existing or required school boards at public schools

Germany

Lower Saxony

With the introduction of the “self-responsible school” (for the concept of this, see the “Final report of the“ Self-responsible School Working Group ”” in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs from February 24, 2005), the institution of the school board was newly created in Lower Saxony. Its tasks result from § 38a of the Lower Saxony School Act in the version of July 12, 2007, its composition from § 38b.

The school board decides

• on the use of the decision-making latitude granted to the schools by the highest school authority with regard to their own responsibility,
• the plan for the use of the budget and the discharge of the headmistress,
• Applications to the school authorities for approval of a special organization,
• cooperation with other schools,
• the management of an entrance level,
• the proposals to the school authorities to fill the position of the head teacher, the position of the permanent representative and other promotion agencies,
• the submission of statements on the establishment of behavior when filling the position of the school principal and when filling the position of the permanent representative,
• the design of the lesson table,
• School partnerships,
• the participation decisions to be made by the school when giving the name,
• Applications to the school authorities for approval of school experiments and principles for

a) the activities of educational staff in primary schools,

b) the implementation of project weeks,

c) advertising and sponsorship in the school and

d) the annual review of the school's work.

The school board consists of eight, twelve or sixteen members, depending on the size of the school. Half of it is made up of teachers (including the headmistress) and representatives of the parents (a quarter) and the student body (also a quarter). In schools whose student body does not allow the position of student or parent representatives (e.g. pure elementary schools or vocational schools ), the respective seats are occupied by representatives of the remaining group. All representatives on the school board (with the exception of the headmistress) are elected for a two-year term.

Hamburg

Section 76 of the Hamburg Schools Act stipulates that there must be school boards at vocational schools in the Hanseatic City. At general schools in Hamburg there are school conferences , but no school boards.

Hesse

As part of the model project “Self-Responsibility Plus”, the school board at 17 project schools in the state has replaced the school conference as a strategic decision-making center since 2007 . The project was developed by vocational schools in the state of Hesse.

Schleswig-Holstein

The parliamentary group of the Greens in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament calls for the institution of the "school board" to be introduced in Schleswig-Holstein.

Switzerland

According to Section 15 of the “Law on Vocational and Continuing Education (GBW)”, the respective bodies responsible for the vocational schools - cantons, municipalities or OdA - elect a school board as the supervisory body for each school. They regulate its tasks, the school operation and the respective responsibilities in an organizational statute.

According to § 16 GBW, the school board as the appointing authority is responsible, among other things, for issuing regulations, establishing and terminating employment relationships, setting wages and setting a probationary period.

School boards at other schools

At many schools sponsored by the Christian churches , by other religious communities (especially at Jewish schools) and at other schools that do not have a German federal state or a political community as the school authority , there are school boards that represent the interests of the school authority or one of them represented by this cooperating sponsoring association.

Examples:

• The school board of the Evangelical Primary School Frankenthal (Saxony) consists of the school priest and six other people who are appointed by the board of the Evangelical School Association for a period of six years. Only adult members of the Ev.-Luth. Regional Church of Saxony, which are also members of the Evangelical School Association, are called.
• At Waldorf schools , the respective school boards are elected by the school associations assigned to the school.

At German (i.e. German-speaking) schools abroad, too, the interests of the provider are taken into account by school boards.

Example: Germany, Austria and Switzerland jointly operate the Michael Grzimek School in Nairobi ( Kenya ) through a school association . A school board oversees school activities for the association

Historical school boards

Bodies

In the states of Germany before 1871 and in the German Reich there were school boards in many, but not in all, municipalities. In 1906, for example, the municipality of Marl refrained from convening a school board for the newly founded commercial training school. The regulations within Germany differed from country to country.

At the beginning of the 19th century, school boards, as church and school boards, were largely identical to the boards of the associated parish. For Prussia in 1834: “Every school had to have a school board; in the denominational schools it was mostly the local chaplain and two appointed citizens. Above it stood the school caretaker, also a clergyman of the relevant denomination, and above it the state school council. The school was therefore committed to the church and the state; the teachers were sworn in, from 1834 by the pastor. "

In the Duchy of Nassau , the school board was the direct supervisory body for the school in the 19th century: “For the next supervision of the elementary schools, special school boards from the local clergy and the mayor will be established as permanent, and according to the population from two to three non-permanent members from Community board of directors or the field court and subordinated to the school inspectors. ”Thus, the local school boards were the direct supervisors of the teacher. The school board administered and supervised the external and internal school affairs, it was responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the school building, the administration of the school assets, the setting of the teaching time and the holidays, the school attendance of the children, had the right to participate in the filling of the teaching position and could in Take a look at the curriculum and the textbooks as part of co-supervision and, if agreed, also take part in lessons. As a rule, the business was conducted by the chairman of the school board (often referred to as the "local school board conductor").

About the school board of the trade school in Eilenburg ( Saxony ) around 1900 it says: “The school board consisted of 6 people. It was formed: from the member of the Chamber of Commerce residing in Eilenburg, from a member of the magistrate's college, from a member of the city council, from the head of the school and from two representatives of the merchants who did not belong to the named corporations (guild, professional association) and which elected by the merchants for 3 years. The election of these representatives was done by the traders entitled to vote by the entry in the commercial register after their public invitation under the direction of a member of the business community commissioned by the magistrate by voting paper with an absolute majority of the votes. […] In
general, the school board was responsible for the best of the school. In particular, he was obliged to inform himself about the spirit prevailing in the school, the state of school discipline, the degree of approximation to the set learning goals, etc. He could ask the head of the school to report it orally and in writing. The members were entitled to take part in the school celebration to be organized. "

In Bremen the influence of the Protestant church shrank until 1889: “The year 1889, which saw the separation of the church from the political community, reduced the influence of the church on schools to a minimum. At that time the local priests were only given a seat and vote on the school board, but even this last modest position could not be maintained over the years. "In Hohen Neuendorf ( Brandenburg ) in 1919 it was reported:" In 1919 the school board was also re-elected in accordance with the new era. All parties of the local community council sent their representatives to him. The following belonged to him: the community leader Wildberg, the respective school principal, the pastor Lehmann (the latter resigned his office at the request of the teaching staff. He has not participated in any meeting since then), Mr. Dahms, Mrs. Springer, Mr. Dittberner, Mrs. Rheinsberg, Mr. Schweitzer, Mrs. Valdiz. It was important that only men and women are elected to the school board who send children to primary school. It is the first time that women and socialists are on the school boards. For the elementary school, this has been a blessing in part. "

In the period immediately after the Second World War , the term “school board” was still used, but was largely replaced by the term “ school committee ”.

Individuals

In some countries of southern Germany, until the time of the Weimar Republic, people with school principals were given the title of “school board”.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ http://www.g18.de/download/HIBB_Schulvorstand.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ http://bildungsklick.de/pm/51896/kultusministerin-karin-wolff-zur-kern-schulverfassung-im-rahmen-des-modellprojekts-selbstverendung-plus/
4. ↑ Schools need air to breathe . Speech by chairman Karl-Martin Hentschel on October 11, 2006. http://www.sh.gruene-fraktion.de/cms/presse/dok/151/151246.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ http://www.bbaktuell.ch/pdf/bba3541b.pdf
6. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ The school board of the "Waldorf School Dresden" describes its founding in September 1990 in: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ http://www.kgs-am-stadion.de/grundschule/1804_-_1844.htm
11. ↑ Astrid Pötz: School and Society - from the 'power of the church' to 'the organization of the state'. Purpose of the lower school system. Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ http://www.eilenburger-bilder.de/rathausnews/Druckansicht_Das-Schulwesen-um-1900_1133.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ http://www.borgfeld.schule.bremen.de/index.php?id=10  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
15. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.