Commentary on Sections Section 5 – Parent Forum and Parent Council
18.For the purposes of the Act the parents of pupils at a public school are to be known as the “Parent Forum”. Parents may be represented by a “Parent Council” established by the Parent Forum at that school. In general terms Parent Councils replace the arrangements for parental representation by school boards established under the 1988 Act.
19.Education authorities are required to promote the establishment of a Parent Council at each school, and thereafter to support the operation of such councils. Section 5(4) qualifies these requirements in relation to those schools which decide to establish a Combined Parent Council for two or more schools, rather than one council for each school (see section 16).