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review is divided into seven steps namely; identification of the problem, the establishment of goals and objectives, generation of alternatives, evaluation of alternatives, choosing an appropriate solution, converting the choice into effective action and evaluation of implementation. The results revealed that teachers, school board members, chairpersons as well as School Heads perceived decision making as the process. Furthermore, the majority of respondents confirmed that School Board have been identifying students’ indiscipline problem as the initial step in decision making process. This was also supported by Babyegeya (2002) and Teklemariam (2009) who suggested that in order to arrive at a decision a manager goes through a series of systematic related process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions.

These steps in decision making process could help School Board make extra deliberate thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining alternatives before arriving at conclusion. This approach could increase the chances that School Board chooses the most satisfying alternative as possible to the solution. The study also revealed that in some incidences students were given suspension

pending decisions made by School Boards. For example, the actions have been taken where an individual student has undergone pregnancy mandatory testing and been found positive. This finding is in line with Education Act No.25 of 1978 revised 2002 which directs the School Head to suspend a student for not more than twenty- one days pending to School Board decisions.

Research findings from sample secondary schools also confirmed that despite the problem of availability of Education Act and its regulations in most of visited schools, School Boards, to some extent, were able to look critically at numerous options. This enabled the School Board to avoid the possibility of their decisions to be nullified by higher authorities. This means that in many cases decisions made by School Board were critically considered the rule of law. This argument is supported by Education Act.No.25 of 1978 revised 2002 which directs school board making decision process to observe the government directives. A good number of teachers and members of the School Board agreed that decision reports over students’ indiscipline have been submitted to the office of Council Directors in form of minute meetings.

The majority of teachers and members of the school board confirmed that, to some extent, the School Board followed rational steps in decision making in managing students’ discipline depending on the nature of students’ indiscipline. This argument is supported by a conclusion made by Oduro (2007) that rational steps in decision making process regarding students discipline reflected the good governance. He further argued that the school board that follows rational decision process avoids the

unnecessary grievances from students and parents. This argument was also supported by Soneson (2005) who found that certain types of students’ problems required the particular rational process with adequate information to decision making.

However, this study established that formal disciplinary interviews for the suspected students by School Management have not been held in most of the schools before imposing the suspension. None of the copies of minutes School Management Team gave to the researcher reflected the description of students’ defensive statements. This means that sometimes decision made by the School Board without adequate offender’s information could end up in total dissatisfaction in schools. Thus, as a result this could be likely to develop anger among the students and lead to more acts of indiscipline, which may affect school climate negatively.

This study also established that in all sampled schools, after decisions by the School Board, Heads of School did not inform in the parents, the guardian or the students writing and neither were the students made aware of their right to appeal to Regional appeal board in case of dissatisfaction. This means that in most of the decisions passed, at times, accused students were not given an opportunity to address their dissatisfaction against that decision made by School Board. This would affect the well-being of the school community and its performance. This argument is supported by Hunt (2004) as well as Olorunsola and Olayami (2011) who argue that decision making process affects the performance of a school or school district and the welfare of its stakeholders such as students, teachers, parents, and the community.

Despite the fact that these decision making procedures employed by School Boards in sample area were not typically rational as suggested by Simon (1993), to some extent, they reflected the sense of rationality since in some occasions they adhered to the set of guiding rules of deduction and logic. The argument was also in line with von Neumann and Morgenstern (1947) who noted that rational decisions have been the product of careful thought among decision makers. On this basis, there were some considerable rational steps demonstrated by School Boards in decision making in sampled schools especially where the decisions over students’ indiscipline were adhering to Education Act and its directives. However, with the exception of a few secondary schools in all studied schools, copies of documents such as Education Act, Regulations and Circulars which guide decision making over students indiscipline were not available when requested by the researcher for documentary review during the field visit.