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Parents lose their say over which schools face the axe

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Published Date: 14 April 2009
By GEMMA FRASER
PARENTS are to lose their say in deciding which schools are next in line to face the axe as the council prepares to unveil its new hit list.
The forum set up to review the school estate – which originally consisted of three parent representatives – is set to be scrapped, leaving future decisions on which schools should face closure to be taken by the council's education committee alone.

It is understood that education bosses will bring new proposals on school closures to the next committee meeting in June. With no representation on the education committee, parents will lose their voice in shaping the future of the school estate in Edinburgh, and will only get the chance to have their say once the official consultation process has started.

Education leader Marilyne MacLaren believes the forum's "work is done".

However, the move has angered parents and members of the forum, who believe it worked well to have an "added level of consultation" with parents before any proposals were made public.

The council has previously said it will need to close four primary schools and a secondary school by 2011, on top of closing Bonnington and Lismore primaries at Christmas and Westburn this summer, to save money.

Tracy Rendall, who was the representative for primary schools during the last round of closures, said she had not been informed about the forum's future.

She said: "I would be very disappointed if it is being completely disbanded, especially without any consultation or discussion and especially if there's going to be a working programme of closures.

"There's no other input we are going to get now."

The rationalisation forum came under fire last year when details of closures were leaked to the News. Councillor MacLaren blamed parent representative Lynda Flex and removed her from the forum.

Mrs Flex denied the allegations and complained to the Standards Commission about Cllr MacLaren's conduct. She was later cleared, but criticised for "an error of judgement".

One forum member, who has been told that the forum will not continue, said: "Having the parent reps has obviously caused her some discomfort in the past and I suspect that's probably what's behind scrapping the forum.

Cllr MacLaren said a report will go before the education committee to update members on the rationalisation process.

She added: "The forum actually did a lot of work last year, but my view is that its work is done."





The full article contains 411 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

 
1

alfonsa pedrosa,

embra 14/04/2009 12:22:47
Once again the council refuses to listen to thoses who matter.
2

Duncan in Edinburgh,

14/04/2009 12:22:53
How is MacLaren still in post? She's grotesquely incompetent.
3

Lil Miss,

14/04/2009 12:24:33
This is very concerning as we already know Westburn was closed wrongly after the wrong information was given to the forum. I definitely feel we need an education convenor who has a knowledge of education and knows what is important.
4

me150,

14/04/2009 13:01:55
Parents are the LEAST likely people to be able to determine which schools should be closed. Forgetting the technicalities and hundreds of of decision variables, emotion has far too impact on a parents decision.
5

Jams,

Edinburgh 14/04/2009 13:39:52
How very CEC. Take a stand and introduce a policy of consultation and inclusion. Don't like what the electorate are telling you? Sling them out and go back to the old ways.

Parents may not understand all of the technical reasons for closing a school but they are in touch with the community - does that count for nothing ?
6

Statsman,

Edinburgh 14/04/2009 14:50:07
The council never listens to anyone. They just shove their fingers in their ears and shout 'la la la' whenever any of the electorate talks.

Why do they need to listen anyway? All of the major parties have basically the same policies.
7

CRAGman,

14/04/2009 15:39:53
... re-open Lismore Primary School now.
8

go boil ur heid,

14/04/2009 15:53:18
if you want your schools to stay open make sure your kids pretend to be stupid, as the liberals need poor white scots to look down at whilst at the checkouts
9

reincarnated,

Edinburgh 14/04/2009 16:56:42
Quite right too. Parents should not be allowed any say.

They have a vested interest.

Leave it to our elected council.
10

archie12,

14/04/2009 17:30:35
What an act of revenge by the Dowager Duchess MacLaren, an ocean-going buffooness!! So she was successfully challenged (well, as successful as the awful PubLic Standards investigators -huh! - will ever permit a complaint against a politician to get) by the spiky Mrs Flex. So now MacLaren "flex"es her political muscles and slams the door in the face of public accountability.
Amazingly, I agree with Duncan.
11

Yeti No.9,

Edinburgh 14/04/2009 17:47:57
I have to concur with me150. It is an emotive issue and for better or worse our elected officials are best placed to make the decisions having access to specialist advice, the facts and budgets etc. My kids went to one of the schools on the last 'hitlist' (another emotive word) and all the mums and dads were up in arms about it waving placards and getting on the news and I have to admit I got a bit swept up in it as well but actually the school was pretty poor and I think it had been getting tun down for a while in anticipation. Our kids now go to a much better school, brighter and more stimulating. So at the risk of having my head bitten off, Shut the Schools (well, some of them at least and save some money).
12

fedup edinburgh mum,

14/04/2009 21:58:42
Once again Mrs MacLaren isn't getting her own way and getting rid of everyone around her that is NOT frightned to speak up to her. When are these so called politicians going to wake up and realise that they are merely pawns in Marilyne's game of destroying
the heart of communities in Edinburgh. I feel the time has now come for all parents in Edinburgh to now stand up and campaign for Education to be disbanded from C + F and stand alone. No one in the Education Department can tell us which schools are running at a loss and by how much. Surely this is a fairer way to judge schools performance as to who is not complying with budgets and which schools are running at a cost detrimental to others, it then gives a better arguement for closure. If this were to happen the true extent of the vulnerable children, secure placements etc will be revealed, as no-one is willing to submit this information to the public, it's all hidden under C + F's umbrella.

 

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