Sometimes it is curious to see how the local press interprets things.
In this weeks Mercury there is an item headed "Councillors urged to be school governors" that covers a problem Broxbourne Council has with filling 3 school governor posts for which it holds "nomination rights".
Now, it is important to understand that this means the Council can nominate any borough resident to these posts - they are not reserved for Borough councillors.
However, reading the story one gets the impression that these are posts that Borough Councillors should fill.
The journalist has interpreted Moyra O'Neill's speech at last weeks full Council as saying that councillors should fill these roles - the expression used is that Councillors should "step up to the plate"
My interpretation is that Moyra said it was regrettable that the roles couldn't be filled and that being a school governor was very rewarding.
She certainly didn't say that her colleagues on the council should "step up to the plate" - I thought she was saying that Borough residents should consider putting themselves forward.
I think if the Mercury asked local councillors about being school governors they may be surprised to find how many already are already doing this.
There is no doubt that there is a huge national problem with finding candidates who are willing to take up the challenge of being school governors - it isn't just a local problem.
The Broxbourne vacancies have been around a lot longer than the period mentioned in The Mercury & unfortunately nobody from the local community has come forward to offer their services.
For the record, Judi & myself have been governors at Fairfields School in Rosedale since January 2008 and have just become governors at Arlesdene Nursery School & Childrens Centre in Cheshunt Central.
