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Schools decisions wrong
• WILL the resignation of Councillor John Bryant from his executive position finally start the bells ringing with the Tory/Lib Dem coalition, as they have been doing with parents and school governors since the start of the amazingly flawed Building Schools for the Future consultation process?
The current administration have been handed a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform education in the borough through the government’s BSF programme, but what have they done with it?
Instead of building on the legacy of excellent schools and the goodwill that already existed in Camden’s education community, the Tories and Lib Dems chose to rush full tilt for the short-term political gains, exposed by Cllr Bryant’s now infamous memo, trampling on the needs of children in the south of the borough and the ‘soft target’ of three schools for children with special needs in the process.
Did they really think parents and governors from Jack Taylor School would simply roll over and see their school close without a fight? The debacle over Frank Barnes School should have warned them that this would not be the case.
The children schools and families scrutiny committee working group will report on their recommendations regarding the future of Frank Barnes.
These have been made after taking careful note of a wide range of evidence and views from the deaf community.
Why was this type work and meaningful consultation not undertaken by the executive committee before announcing plans for a new academy on the Swiss Cottage site, thus ensuring all the schools involved were assured of their future?
Cllr Bryant can give mealy-mouthed reasons for resigning that concentrate on improving his own future, but isn’t it about time he admitted that he got it wrong, the Lib Dems and Tories put political gain first and that it’s time for this administration to look at what is best for education in Camden as a whole?
Cllr Heather Johnson
Labour, Regent’s Park Ward
Chair Children Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee
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