Section 4: QUALIFICATION AND DISQUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS This section sets out the general conditions for disqualification for membership of School Boards and make certain specific provisions on qualification. Section 4(1) specifies the conditions under which a person is disqualified from seeking election to, or for being a member of, a School Board, by reference to provisions in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 dealing with disqualification for membership of local authorities and education authorities. The subsection therefore generally provides that if a person is disqualified from seeking election to a local authority or from being a member of the education authority, then that person is disqualified from seeking election to, or for being a member of, a School Board. Section 31(1)(a) of the 1973 Act (which would have the effect of disqualifying education authority employees for membership of School Boards) is not applied. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 5 of the 1988 School Boards Act qualify this general provision. The Director of Education, education authority officials who represent the authority at Board meetings, and the headteacher, cannot be members of the Board. Paragraph (a), applies to sections 31(1)(b) and (c), (2) and (3) of the 1973 Act. These relate to disqualification by virtue of sequestration, bankruptcy, or criminal conviction leading to a sentence of imprisonment of not less than 3 months passed within the previous 5 years. Paragraph (b), applies section 31(1)(d) of the 1973 Act. This relates to disqualification under Part III of the Representation of the People Act 1983. Sections 159 and 160 of the 1983 Act provide that anyone who has been found guilty of an offence in connection with an election to public office will be disqualified for voting in or standing for election to any public office for a number of years. The period of disqualification is dependent on the nature of the offence and is specified in the 1983 Act. Section 4(2) enables a young person to be co-opted to a School Board. A "young person" is defined in section 135(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 as someone between the ages of 16 and 18 years of age. Thus a senior pupil of a secondary school could be co-opted to the Board for that school if the other Board members wished. Section 4(3) makes is clear that subject to the provision in section 4(2) for young persons to be capable of membership of a School Board, any person who is subject to legal incapacity is not eligible to be elected or become a member of a Board. Section 4(4) provides that there need be no fixed limit to the number of terms any Board member may serve. A retiring member could, however, be elected or co-opted for a further term only if he or she is still eligible for membership and has not been disqualified. |