Patronage forum attempts to establish ‘transparent’ process

THE decision on whether or which schools should be divested to new patrons should not be decided by a simple local vote, parents and Catholic bishops appeared to agree yesterday.

The Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector is trying to establish the most transparent ways to decide what areas such transfers might take place in. But deciding how the schools are picked will also be a vital part of its recommendations to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

The forum advisory group chairman Professor John Coolahan suggested to representatives of the Catholic bishops, patrons to almost 90% of the country’s’ 3,300 primary schools, that they could take greater leadership.

But Fr Michael Drumm who is head of the Catholic Schools Partnership, a joint initiative of the bishops and religious orders, said discussions had previously taken place about particular schools being divested to pilot a new system.

“Those schools felt very set upon, that they were being subjected to a national agenda being imposed on them locally. Patrons who tried to [do that] suggest it won’t work [and would] create difficulty in the relationship between patrons and boards of management,” he said.

Bishop Brendan Kelly of Achonry, chair of the education council of the bishops’ conference, said a consultative and collaborative approach is needed involving parents, teachers and local communities, rather than patrons imposing decisions.

“We’re thinking about old accusations of bishops issuing edicts and deciding, we don’t want to proceed that way,” he said.

The CSP has almost completed a major consultation process, including views on how local opinions could best be gathered.

The bishops’ view of a need for a mix of qualitative and quantitative research was shared by the National Parents Council-Primary, whose chief executive Áine Lynch said surveys give an indication of local feeling but can also be open to question.

“We need to open discussions to the whole community, not just parents or potential parents. But what might need to be decided is the weight given to the views of different groups,” she said.

Forum advisory group member Dr Caroline Hussey, welcomed the suggestion by the Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools that certain groups might trigger the process where consultations might begin on possible divesting of one local school. It proposed a national body to set guidelines for the decision-making process, but said the impetus for local discussions might come from the existing patron of a school, another patron interested in local involvement, the board of a local school, a group of parents or another group in the community.

The Board of Education of the Church of Ireland said it has had positive experience of divesting some schools under the patronage of its bishops in the past. But, its secretary Ken Fennelly said, it would be important that the local church community be assured that the faith needs of their children be catered for under any new patron.