Image: Front cover of Independent newspaper’s Education section in 2008 during previous school reorganisation plans.
On Tuesday 4th March, five education unions, representing significant numbers within the Island education sector, sent a joint email letter to all eight Isle of Wight council Cabinet members.
In it, they express their deep concerns over school place planning and the forthcoming Cabinet vote. Valid concerns raised repeatedly by unions and Islanders of all ages and groups.
These unions are anxiously fretting about “a potentially catastrophic and crucially irreversible decision, (affecting thousands of children’s lives; making hundreds of staff redundant; and damaging, perhaps irrevocably, five communities on the Island)” on the basis of a process they believe is flawed.
Shreeve: They should ensure that lightning does not strike twice
Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary, IW National Education Union, said,
“We are acutely aware that Island education had tremendous upheaval during the 3-to-2 tier reorganisation. The promised improvement failed to match the then leader’s optimism.
“Certain Cabinet members may recall that event and feel it did not do well. They might even suggest that Island education is still trying to recover.
“In which case, when voting, they should ensure that lightning does not strike twice.”
The letter sent to Cabinet members is based on the opinion of the letter writers.
Dear Councillor and Cabinet member
We are writing to you again, this time in your role as a Cabinet member, ahead of the forthcoming Cabinet meeting, which is to make a decision on school place planning. We are the representatives of all school-based unions and represent thousands of school workers on the Island. Hundreds of these are in jobs which are now under threat.
Since we last wrote to you the full Council has discussed the school place planning issue but, in its indicative votes, it failed to give a clear mandate to proceed with the proposed closures. It is clear that, should you decide to proceed, the decision will rest entirely on Cabinet members and since you were unable to persuade the council at large it follows that it would be inappropriate to proceed with the current proposals.
Following requests from our members, unions are now in the process of initiating indicative/consultative ballots for industrial action in a number of the schools proposed for closure.
We reiterate that we believe that the selection of the schools, the initial consultation and the report put to Cabinet based on that consultation are all flawed and open to legal challenge. We are in agreement with the rationale laid out by the Diocese in their letter and believe, as they do, that the consultation process has not been of sufficient rigour, has lacked detail and transparency, has made factual inaccuracies and conflated these at times with others and has not undertaken the necessary due process for any decision to be able to stand.
We call on you not to make such a potentially catastrophic and crucially irreversible decision, (affecting thousands of children’s lives; making hundreds of staff redundant; and damaging, perhaps irrevocably, five communities on the Island) on the basis of a process we believe is flawed.
In terms of the initial selection of schools to consult on, and despite the consultation being declared a whole Island process, the report and all the presentations are based on planning areas. The criteria are unequally applied across the different planning areas. The selection seems to have been made with half a mind to the future use of the site. This is entirely inappropriate, and the Council subsequently had to row back from comments on the sites’ potential use. At the start of the process our members were assured by Councillor Bacon that academies were included in the process, but it subsequently became clear they could not be, as the Council does not have the ability to close academies. Councillors were assured, again by Councillor Bacon, that the Diocese were fully involved but it is clear they were not as evidenced by their letter pursuant to action which the council has received. Most significantly of all there, are no minutes of the meeting that made the decision and therefore it cannot be assured that the necessary scrutiny and transparency have taken place in order for this decision to withstand challenge.
Once the report of the officers was issued it was not fit for purpose nor of the professional standard that the Island’s residents have a right to expect. It codified all the mistakes outlined above and added its own additional errors. Much of the data was simply wrong. It contained arguments for the closure of some schools based on them being merged with others, an option that the same report was ruling out. The report didn’t even seem to appreciate how Primary schools operate, arguing that if schools weren’t closed ‘Teachers may be required to teach a wide range of subjects.” (In reality, of course, all Primary teachers teach all subjects!)
As a consequence of this we ask that the cabinet instigate an immediate review to look at the proper resourcing of education on the Island to protect and improve the education of children. That the report generated by this review be submitted to full council for debate on the recommendations it has made. Further, that any future proposals are discussed and negotiated with the unions in good time to protect the jobs or our members and the skills and professionalism they deliver educating the children on the Island.
We believe, as other stakeholders do, that the current process has been irreparably flawed and that therefore any conclusions or actions from it would be out of order. We ask that you give your support to voting against the current proposal and instead put forward the remedy of a review as described above.
Yours sincerely,
Duncan Morrison, Branch Secretary, Isle of Wight NEU
Mark Chiverton, Branch Secretary, UNISON Isle of Wight Local Government
Mark Dickinson, Junior Vice President, NASUWT
Dom Kingsmill-Stocker, NAHT, Regional Officer, South Central
Liam Cumming, Branch Secretary, GMB Isle of Wight
News shared by Peter on behalf of Isle of Wight NEU. Ed
