In the European School of Alicante (ESA), for many years, the extracurricular activities for nursery and primary school, canteen, and school transport services have been organised jointly with the school and AMPA. The contracts with service providers were signed by all three parties and the responsibilities and rights of each party were defined in the Collaboration Agreement signed by the School Director and AMPA President.

In December 2022, the Board of Governors (BoG) of the European Schools voted to approve amendments to the General Rules concerning Safety and Security (Art. 5, 14, 15, 35, 38), which have substantial adverse implications for the legal responsibilities and obligations of Parents’ Associations in their activities. The Decision introduces modifications that prohibit any kind of shared responsibility for organising different services in the school premises. InterParents filed an appeal against this decision, however, the Complaints Board rejected the appeal in July 2023.

As a consequence of this decision, AMPA MC has decided that as an organization composed of volunteer parents, it cannot take sole responsibility for organizing these three important services; especially because of lack of the time of volunteers but also because of the administrative and legal obligations, and most importantly, possible financial and penal consequences.

After negotiations with the school management, it was agreed that according to the Decision of the BoG of December 2021 on Management of the canteens in the European Schools, from 01/09/2023, the canteen will be outsourced by the School via concession contract. Also, the organization of the extracurricular activities will be outsourced by analogy, via concession contract, from 01/01/2025. Both internal decisions have been approved by the Administrative Board of the ESA.

At the last Administrative Board meeting, held on 20/09/2024, AMPA President asked for clarification about the future of the transport service and whether this can be outsourced the same way as other two services (via concession contract) and underlined once again that AMPA cannot take sole responsibility of the organisation of this service. The Chair of the Administrative Board suggested the school consult with the legal services of the Office of the Secretary General (OSG) before taking any decision on the matter.

On 02/10/2024, the Director of the School informed AMPA MC of following:

“I consulted the Legal Service at the Office of the Secretary General regarding the possibility of the school awarding a concession for the transport service. Unfortunately, the response was that while awarding a concession is an option for the parents (should they wish to do so), it is not an option for the school. This would, in fact, contradict the position that the European Schools are defending, which has been upheld by rulings from the Board of Appeal. Since 1975, the Board of Governors has decided:

Transport des élèves: Le Conseil supérieur décide que l’organisation et la surveillance du transport des élèves relève de la responsabilité des parents d’élèves. Elles ne peuvent pas entraîner de conséquences financières pour l’École. Toutefois, celle-ci peut accorder aux parents une assistance administrative. Les frais résultant de l’organisation et de la surveillance des transports ne pourront pas être à la charge de l’École. Le Conseil supérieur charge les Conseils d’administration de rechercher les moyens de résoudre les problèmes de transports qui se posent dans chaque école.

Which in English should roughly give:

**Transport of pupils** «The Board of Governors (BoG) decides that the organisation and supervision of pupil transport is the responsibility of the parents. It cannot result in financial consequences for the school. However, the school may provide administrative assistance to the parents. The costs associated with the organisation and supervision of transport cannot be borne by the school. The BoG tasks the Administrative Boards with finding ways to address transport issues in each school.»

This decision is hardly compatible with the idea of the school awarding a concession, as the maximum the school can do is provide administrative assistance. Given this situation, I wonder if AMPA would be willing to oversee the process of awarding a concession for the transport service from September 2025.”

At the meeting of AMPA MC on 24/10/2024, after previous legal consultations, following a debate within the MC and taking into account

• Article 38 of the General Rules stating: The organisation and management of school transport are the responsibility of pupils’ legal representatives, whether acting individually as pupils’ parents or through the intermediary of any group or third party.
• The organisation of the transport service in other European Schools.
• Less than 20% of the families are using the transport service in ESA

the following options were discussed:

1) No transport service as of 01/09/2025.

2) AMPA will organise the transport service. That means in practical terms that the AMPA Presidency would have in addition to the current responsibilities of running the Parents’ Association the added responsibility of organising the transport service and facing the possible legal consequences in case of accidents or legal actions. The treasurer and responsible for transport WG 2023/2024 proposed to sign the contract on behalf of AMPA, assuming all civil, legal and possible penal risks (as previously agreed at the AMPA MC meeting on 12/01/2024). However, as the ultimate responsibility lies always on the AMPA Presidency, the current President and Vice President are not willing to assume the legal responsibilities of AMPA organising the transport service. Therefore, a new Presidency will need to be appointed.

3) The service will be managed by a new separate entity (association or foundation) created by transport users.

It was underlined that any of the options would require a change in the AMPA Statutes and it was agreed that the final decision should be made at the AMPA MC meeting on 21/11/2024 latest.

On 21/11/2024 the decision within the Management Committee was taken as follows:

• 13 votes for a new separate entity
• 1 vote for AMPA running the service
• 1 abstention
• 1 MC member did not vote

The decision shall be presented for adoption at the next Extraordinary General Assembly.