Open letter from ARSN on the school closures in Argyll &Bute
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:20 pmPlease find an open letter from ARSN on the subject of school closures in Argyll & Bute. The Council meets on 19th April to decide which schools go forward for closure.
Best wishes,
Tim McIntyre, Argyll Rural Schools Network representative.
Dear Sir,
The members of the Argyll Rural Schools Network (ARSN) were delighted that on the 5th of January, Argyll & Bute Council abandoned their flawed proposals to close 25 primary schools. We hoped that lessons had been learned and the Council’s future actions in relation to our schools would be fair, open and competent. ARSN cooperated with the Council in attempting to ensure that any future proposals would be compliant with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, with school closures being very much the last resort after all other alternatives had been exhausted.
Hope turned to anger when no fewer than 12 schools were listed on the 3rd of March as candidates for closure. This list was produced by the Council’s Education spokesperson, Cllr Morton, but despite frequent requests, she has refused to explain how she chose these schools. Her interference in the Council’s operational matters is a clear and serious breach of the Councillor’s Code of Conduct. ARSN raised a formal complaint over this which remains unanswered. Any residual trust we had in the Council's probity evaporated when the Scottish Rural Schools Network (SRSN) provided definitive evidence that Mr Sneddon, the Executive Director of Community Services, misled councillors on the rationale for school closures by withholding and manipulating advice from the General Register of Scotland regarding proper use of population predictions.
Anger was then compounded with dismay when the Council’s pre-consultation documentation was recently presented to parent councils and community groups. The mélange of misleading information and opinion masquerading as facts that blighted the original documents is still being shamelessly punted as a case to close perfectly good schools. We have now seen the Council publishing incompetent closure proposals for consideration at the next Council meeting. These proposals will inevitably fail, wasting yet again large amounts of money and prolonging further the cruel stress on the children, parents and teachers of the affected schools.
We wish all of Argyll and Bute’s citizens to recognize that the future of our children’s education is being driven by a council that does not operate within the expected pillars of honesty, transparency, integrity and objectivity. We call upon our elected councillors to end this debacle by refusing to progress any proposals for closure on the 19th of April and back the call from many councillors for an urgent, independent enquiry into the conduct of the Council’s Executive.
Yours sincerely
ARSN
Best wishes,
Tim McIntyre, Argyll Rural Schools Network representative.
Dear Sir,
The members of the Argyll Rural Schools Network (ARSN) were delighted that on the 5th of January, Argyll & Bute Council abandoned their flawed proposals to close 25 primary schools. We hoped that lessons had been learned and the Council’s future actions in relation to our schools would be fair, open and competent. ARSN cooperated with the Council in attempting to ensure that any future proposals would be compliant with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, with school closures being very much the last resort after all other alternatives had been exhausted.
Hope turned to anger when no fewer than 12 schools were listed on the 3rd of March as candidates for closure. This list was produced by the Council’s Education spokesperson, Cllr Morton, but despite frequent requests, she has refused to explain how she chose these schools. Her interference in the Council’s operational matters is a clear and serious breach of the Councillor’s Code of Conduct. ARSN raised a formal complaint over this which remains unanswered. Any residual trust we had in the Council's probity evaporated when the Scottish Rural Schools Network (SRSN) provided definitive evidence that Mr Sneddon, the Executive Director of Community Services, misled councillors on the rationale for school closures by withholding and manipulating advice from the General Register of Scotland regarding proper use of population predictions.
Anger was then compounded with dismay when the Council’s pre-consultation documentation was recently presented to parent councils and community groups. The mélange of misleading information and opinion masquerading as facts that blighted the original documents is still being shamelessly punted as a case to close perfectly good schools. We have now seen the Council publishing incompetent closure proposals for consideration at the next Council meeting. These proposals will inevitably fail, wasting yet again large amounts of money and prolonging further the cruel stress on the children, parents and teachers of the affected schools.
We wish all of Argyll and Bute’s citizens to recognize that the future of our children’s education is being driven by a council that does not operate within the expected pillars of honesty, transparency, integrity and objectivity. We call upon our elected councillors to end this debacle by refusing to progress any proposals for closure on the 19th of April and back the call from many councillors for an urgent, independent enquiry into the conduct of the Council’s Executive.
Yours sincerely
ARSN