Beyond PMSA Process Update

Beyond PMSA was established a mere 23 weeks ago.

In that short space of time we have progressed a range of actions which have aimed to keep a spotlight on the need for change in the 100 year old governance structure of our four schools.

As a solution to the challenges created by the PMSA has not yet been achieved, the Beyond PMSA Executive met on the weekend to discuss how we can best keep our community of supporters up to date on all the streams of activity that we hope will converge over time to successfully deliver world class governance for our schools.

Moving forward we are going to start providing a regular “Progress Update” blog. We’ll aim to keep it snappy and to the point.

Rest assured, we are not going away.

The “streams” of activity we will aim to provide updates on include:

• Discussions with the Churches

• What we’re hearing about the AICD review

• What we’re hearing about the Chesterman Review

• Progress on legal/political discussions and investigations by regulatory authorities

• “Other” interesting things that emerged during the month

April “Progress Update”

Discussions with the Churches

Everald Compton is continuing his efforts to engage and work with the Churches to try and find a constructive path through the current deadlock with the full support of Beyond PMSA.

We understand that he has been in contact with the PMSA in his own capacity.

We are also aware of other senior members of the community who have appealed to both the Uniting and Presbyterian Churches to assist in leading the way for world class governance reform for our schools.

Beyond PMSA has made its own direct and respectful appeals to the Uniting Church to meet with us so that we can explore options to break the current deadlock with the PMSA. Our desire is to move the debate into constructive territory. The Church has expressed their faith in the ability of the PMSA and its Councillors to deliver acceptable reform through the AICD assisted review process and they continue to request that Beyond PMSA address its concerns with the PMSA directly. Our only purpose in seeking to engage with the Churches is to examine “how” this can meaningfully occur so that positive steps can be taken by all stakeholders to build collaborative community support around a broadly accepted framework and agenda for reform that can be delivered through the PMSA. We respect the position of the Churches, but we continue to hope and pray that they will change their stance to enable us to do precisely what they (and the PMSA) are asking of us. Beyond PMSA does want to help build collaborative community support behind genuine change that involves constitutional reform, and which goes beyond the current deficient AICD work scope. That must necessarily include an examination of the appropriateness of the PMSA continuing to operate under Letters Patent. Beyond PMSA is not averse to seeking a change to its mandate from our community of supporters which may see it engage directly and constructively with the PMSA in those circumstances, provided that we can do so in a transparent manner. This sentiment has already been conveyed to the PMSA. (Please see our comments in relation to this below).

In summary, whilst we hold a difference of opinion on the sufficiency of the current scope of the AICD assisted reform process, we are not blocking either the Churches or the PMSA from engaging with us in constructive deliberations to deliver world class governance reform in the circumstances that we have just described. We are active in our efforts and they are continuing with parallel involvement from Mr Compton. We intend to provide progress updates to the community on these matters more frequently.

AICD Review

We continue to hear reports from stakeholders that they will not be attending or participating because the forums require them to be identified through pre-registration and pre-submitted questions.

Beyond PMSA maintains its position that the Terms of Reference for the Review are so narrow that it cannot deliver reform on the scale required to save our schools from the ongoing and unacceptable levels of risk they are exposed to through current governance arrangements. However, we encourage our supporters to attend the forums and establish for themselves if real change is on the agenda.

In particular, we encourage our supporters to actively question how the PMSA considers that world class governance can be achieved, and continue to evolve, despite the scope of the AICD review not addressing the existing structural and cultural deficiencies which are embedded in, and enabled by, the current constitutional and Letters Patent framework. We DON’T believe that it can, and we DON’T believe that our schools should be forced to settle for second best simply because doing this properly might take extra effort, or because it might take a little more time to achieve.

Chesterman ‘Healing Process’

We understand that the Review is not yet complete and that meetings were held with the Hon Chesterman at Somerville House last month.

Disappointingly, (for reasons of ‘confidentiality’) no one outside of the Somerville House Foundation Board, the SH P&F Executive, the SH Old Girls Association Executive and the PMSA itself has been permitted to have any visibility as to the content of the discussions of last month’s meetings.

No announcement has been made as to Mr Chesterman’s findings from his review of the extensive submissions made last year. There is no indication that a meaningful summary of the findings will be made public, but we hope that they will.

It is understood that the participants in last month’s meetings moderated by Mr Chesterman are currently experiencing challenges in being able to reach a consensus on the agreed outcomes. None of us know what those outcomes are, but as the process was intended to ‘heal’ the significant wounds that were inflicted upon the school last year, we hope that the delays do not reflect a continuation of embedded cultural attitudes to governance reform and an unwillingness to embrace much needed change.

It is disappointing for the Somerville House school community that this has taken so long and that the pathway to a consensus and healing seems bound in process. We do not expect any announcement until the parties are able to agree on outcomes, but will be very interested in examining the substance of any public statement which may be made in the future. Like many members of the school communities, we continue to remain sceptical. However, despite the unnecessarily technical nature of the process, we do hope that it is capable of delivering the much needed ‘healing’ that it promises.

It seems to us that if a genuine spirit of compromise and openness can not be successfully delivered as an output from the Chesterman review, then that would be a failure that would be a clear indicator of risk to the success of any future community ‘consultations’ about governance reform, including the AICD assisted process. It should therefore not be lost on any of us (especially the PMSA) that there is quite a lot riding on perceptions about what this ‘healing’ process actually delivers and how respectfully and compassionately that healing is administered to the affected school community, particularly given what has transpired.

Legal/Political/Regulatory

We are continuing to fundraise for next stage of legal assistance from Corrs Chambers Westgarth – thankyou to those who have already contributed.

We continue to hope that initiating legal remedies, such as making an application to revoke the Letters Patent, will not be required to force meaningful change, but we are well progressed in preparing for this and for being able to launch such an application swiftly if a condensed timeline and appetite for genuine structural reform does not emerge soon.

Such action may become necessary, and whilst these actions would push the debate for reform into the public arena and shine a spotlight on the inability of the school’s governing body to manage its own governance crisis, if that is what is required to help direct the path for reform to achieve world’s best practice, then we will do so in a professional and respectful manner, and with the backing of our supporters. We hope that common sense will prevail. If you can contribute to this cause, please make your donation here:

https://www.beyondpmsa.com/donate

As shared on our Facebook Page – we have submitted our paper to the Review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission legislation. Our submission in the most part supported the ACNC’s own submission to obtain broader regulatory powers than they currently have. The changes that we advocated for will allow the ACNC to be more transparent in their compliance activity, something we believe will lead to a more sustainable not-for-profit sector. Most importantly, within the submission we have highlighted the governance issues with the PMSA and how the lack of some of these regulatory powers have contributed to these problems.

We are pleased to report that we are making progress in getting our voice heard by the ACNC and are looking forward to providing a positive update in next month’s progress report.

We await responses from the ATO and NSSAB regarding the progress of our applications for intervention and/or investigation. We will update you as we are ourselves updated.

Other things that happened this last month …

We have recently been approached by intermediaries seeking to facilitate discussions between the PMSA and Beyond PMSA. Despite public misconceptions to the contrary, we do share a common desire for a constructive solution, and so, in the interests of remaining open to all avenues that might result in positive change, our response has been that we would welcome meeting directly with them to better understand the PMSA’s position, provided that we can do so openly.

That does not mean an immediate change to our position on direct engagement. However, if the PMSA can demonstrate to us that there is a genuine desire from the PMSA and the Churches to initiate and lead a process that involves meaningful structural reform in tandem with (or in replacement for) the currently constrained AICD process, then we would consider approaching supporters to change our mandate on engagement with the PMSA and help build community support around an acceptable solution.

Our continuing hope is that open engagement can become a feature in whatever arrangements are eventually achieved for our schools.

What can you do to help?

Go to our website where we outline how you can get involved and help, by talking to others, making representations to the Churches and writing to the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board and the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.We have all the details here:

https://www.beyondpmsa.com/get_involved

Please make your voice heard – we are committed to moderating our Facebook page diligently and will not tolerate bullying or harassment online – we need more moderate voices in the discussion and call on everyone who is concerned to play an active role.

Please talk about the governance of our schools by the PMSA with your families and friends – we want this resolved fast and with minimal further reputational damage to our much-loved schools – pretending it will go away will not make it happen faster.

For those who feel safe to have their opinion heard through the AICD process please do – our view about the minimum acceptable change in any solution going forward is:

1. Abolition of the Letters Patent Structure to force appropriate reporting and transparency

2. Overhaul of the Constitution of the PMSA and School Councils to allow for transparency of governance

3. In the event that the PMSA structure remains, a complete spill and fill of current members who, perhaps despite good intentions, have proven themselves ill equipped to direct and understand the true role of a governing body in the management of multiple high performing schools and their communities, together with all of the attendant expectations of stakeholders in a modern, 21st century educational environment.

Thank you for your support, it is greatly appreciated.