Last Monday evening we made our way to the hustings organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union at the Riverside Centre in Newport.
Some interesting questions were raised by members of the public with equally interesting answers from the candidates on the panel, Jill Wareham (Lib Dem), Vanessa Churchman (Independent), Roger Mazillius (Conservative), Geoff Lumley (Labour) and Nick Chaffey (No to EU, Yes to Democracy).
Back us or sack us – so says Cllr Mazillius
On the subject of the school reorganisation, we were surprised to hear Cllr Roger Mazillius use the term ‘back us or sack us.’
Having not heard this phrase directly from an Island Conservative, or indeed mentioned for some time (well, pretty much since David Pugh stated back in July last year that education reforms would hinge on election results), we questioned Cllr Mazillius on what the party were doing to make the electorate aware of this ‘back us or sack us’ stance.
Many parents think that school reforms are going ahead
A large proportion of parents that we have spoken to over the last year are under the distinct impression that the reforms from the current three-tier structure to a new two-tier structure are a done deal and will be going ahead regardless of who is in power at County Hall.
They weren’t aware of the statement made by the Conservatives last year when they agreed that they would hold off making the final decisions on school closures until after the election, effectively saying ‘Back Us or Sack Us,’ as labelled by Michael Coombes on IW Radio.
They also hadn’t realised that if the Conservatives aren’t voted back into power that the school changes might not go ahead.
Equally, they were oblivious to other candidates such as the Independents who hope to find other ways of improving standards in schools, rather than closing middle schools judged as “outstanding” and removing other schools from small communities.
Confusion
Cllr Mazillius assured the audience that his party had made it clear that they would not be making changes until after the election, but that message hasn’t got through.
It’s not the impression we get from speaking to people on the ground and it’s certainly not spelt out clearly in the election material we’ve seen from the Conservatives.
What do you think?
