Facts about Ex-officio Managers and Preparation of IMC Meetings

The information note entitled “IMC Meetings” prepared by the EDB states that managers should receive the following documents before an IMC meeting:
• an agenda;
• minutes of the last meeting; and
• documents relating to specific agenda items.

For details, please refer to the information note entitled “IMC Meetings” prepared by the EDB.

Section 40AL(2)(b) of the Education Ordinance stipulates that an ex-officio manager shall be the principal of a school, and a principal is defined as a substantive principal under the Education Ordinance.

Section 40AK(1)(a) of the Education Ordinance stipulates that the supervisor of a school shall preside over the IMC meetings of the school.

Section 40AS(6) of the Education Ordinance stipulates that for the purposes of establishing a quorum of an IMC meeting –
(a) an alternate sponsoring body manager of the school shall not be counted unless there is a vacancy of sponsoring body manager of the school for the time being;
(b) an alternate teacher manager of the school shall not be counted unless no teacher manager of the school is present at the meeting; and
(c) an alternate parent manager of the school shall not be counted unless no parent manager of the school is present at the meeting.

According to the above-mentioned provisions, as the 3 alternate managers shall not be counted in establishing the quorum, there remains 12 managers and the quorum is 6 (i.e. half of the 12 managers).

Having regard to section 40AS(6) of the Education Ordinance as well as the managers present at the meeting, the following 7 managers shall be counted for the purposes of establishing the quorum of the meeting:
• the supervisor;
• the principal (ex-officio manager);
• 2 sponsoring body managers;
• 1 independent manager;
• 1 teacher manager; and
• 1 alternate parent manager.

Section 40AJ(3) of the Education Ordinance stipulates that if the supervisor of a school is unable to perform his functions during a period of not less than 28 days due to absence from Hong Kong or illness –
(a) (in the case of an appointed supervisor) the sponsoring body of the school shall appoint another manager of the school as the acting supervisor to act in the place of the supervisor during the period;
(b) (in the case of an elected supervisor) the other managers shall elect amongst themselves an acting supervisor to act in the place of the supervisor during the period.

As stipulated in section 31(1)(g) of the Education Ordinance, the Permanent Secretary for Education may cancel the registration of a manager of a school if a notice in writing is received from the IMC of the school that (i) the manager has been absent without the consent of the IMC from all IMC meetings in a school year, and (ii) the manager has been given due notice to attend those meetings.

In principle, managers of all categories should take part in the discussion of all items at IMC meetings. If a manager has direct or indirect interest in a discussion item, the manager should, in accordance with section 40BG of the Education Ordinance, disclose the interest before or at the meeting and withdraw from the discussion. If no interest is involved, managers should take part in the discussion in compliance with the code of ethics without the need to withdraw from the meeting.

For the code of ethics, please refer to Section 4 of the School Managers’ Handbook prepared by the EDB.

In resolving a matter by means of circulation of papers, the IMC should note the relevant provisions in the Education Ordinance and the IMC constitution, particularly those specifying what kinds of matters could not be resolved by circulation of papers. Since regulation 76(2) of the Education Regulations stipulates that the dismissal of any teacher shall be approved by the majority of the managers of the school at an IMC meeting, the dismissal of a teacher in the establishment should not be handled by means of circulation of papers. Besides, according to the IMC constitution, it is incumbent upon the IMC to decide at a meeting whether a proposed amendment to the constitution should be lodged with the Permanent Secretary. As such, amendments to an IMC constitution should not be resolved by means of circulation of papers.