Question: If parents have complaints about the head and the chair, whom do the complaints go to if there is no vice-chair and hasn’t been for nearly a year. The head and the chair have taken it upon themselves to make decisions without consulting the rest of the governors. Where do we stand if one of these decisions is bad?

Joan Sallis replies: You can still write to the chair even if he or she is the one complained about. But strictly speaking it is other members of the governing body who are also to blame if decisions are being made without their consent - after all, you elected the parent governors to represent you and the staff elected their elected representatives. The likelihood is that they are too timid and allow themselves to be ignored but you can still try to get them to take their responsibilities more seriously if indeed they agree that bad decisions have been made.