School Board Issues

Hello everyone,

My mom works for a school that was owned by a church. This year, DepEd ordered that the school should be separated from the church for some reasons. They followed, and right now, we think that the school stands on its own.

However, the church then decided to appoint a Board of Trustees in the said school. These members are from the church, the former board members of it, including the chairman. The employees are now wondering why they did not even include the school principal in the members, and the board has meeting whenever they want, and then order the principal to have some programs at school, and he even orders them to renovate some facilities the school is less likely to use (eg. a conference room with two air conditioners that is being used once a month other than renovating a leaking ceiling in a classroom).

The problem is, now, the school board members are not educators. I am wondering if that is allowed, because as far as I can remember, leaders of a school should be educators, or at least have knowledge in education. Also, the board members ordered the school to sell mandatory tickets to "donate" for the daughter church (that was hit by Yolanda) of the church the school belonged to in the past. The school got P95,000 for that, but parents were raged because it was mandatory (tickets were priced P200 each). Now the board ordered the school again to donate another P300,000 for the rehabilitation of the said daughter church -- again. Now employees are complaining about why they should give such an amount if they are no longer affiliated with the church. The money will be from the school account, but of course, employees are worried that the school money will be spent in purposes that are not for the school itself. Some even say that the reason why this board chairperson wants some money for the daughter church is that he is the project head of the said rehabilitation program.

What are the legal issues here? What are the legal things the school can do to avoid illegal actions, if there are any? Are there some issues here that they should know?

Thank you so much for your time, and I know I can get helpful answers from you.

Yours,
alji

Hello!
You should raise the issue to the school board itself first and at the same time Write a letter po to the DepEd informing them of the forced contributions for them to investigate on the matter..
No student should be compelled to buy tickets for the school as the said ticket are not part of their tuition fees. Unless they were informed of the said ticket/forced donation at the time of enrollment, the school has no right to collect.

Hello po, thanks for the immediate reply.

Is it alright if the principal would negate what the Board says?

Hello!

I wonder if it is possible for a school recently separated from a church to attach "Inc." after its name? DepEd ordered to have it separated from the church, they followed, but the church appointed a board of trustees who are members of the church. Also, they added "Inc." to the school name, but there are no stock holders.

The school should stand alone now but the church appointed board of trustees. Employees find it unfair or unreasonable because it is not under the church anymore... May I know what's wrong in this situation? Thank you!!