Question: Is there a standard time frame for electing a new teacher-governor following a resignation? We have a full governors meeting in less than two weeks and the head hasn't done anything about initiating official procedure. He refuses to accept that only one person wants to stand and that everyone is happy about this. Surely the staff are not being fairly represented at the upcoming meeting if he hasn't made it possible for us to vote.

Joan Sallis replies: I don’t think you can do better than ‘reasonable’ in most cases of this kind, but affected parties can always invoke the governing body and ultimately the LEA if they consider that the procedures adopted are unsatisfactory, and unreasonable delay might well come into that category.

If, for instance, an elected governor, parent or teacher had resigned soon after a regular meeting and nothing was done for, say, three months just before the next meeting was due, then I would not consider that reasonable, given that governors have roles independently of scheduled meetings. The head may well consider that a contest would be desirable and may well indeed be right in that, but it is not up to the head to delay the election just because there is only one nomination.