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If anyone can tell us why the government couldn’t ‘call in’ the closure of the 22 schools last year, but can call in these closures, please let us know.
From the BBC
Plans by Scotland’s largest council to close three schools have been “called in” by the Scottish government.
Education Secretary Mike Russell made the decision after education inspectors voiced concerns over the moves by Glasgow City Council.
The proposed closures of Stonedyke Primary, St Joan of Arc School and St Aidan’s School have now been halted.
Glasgow City Council said the call in was a “political decision” taken for “bogus reasons”.
The authority has been asked to provide more information to allow ministers to make a final decision.
Stonedyke Primary teaches youngsters from the Drumchapel and Summerhill areas of the city.
Under the council’s plans, pupils would transfer to two other primary schools.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) said there were a “number of issues to be addressed by the council” before it would be clear that the move would have educational benefits.
St Joan of Arc and St Aidan’s schools cater for youngsters aged 11 to 18 with additional support needs, with both schools having a number of pupils with autism.
Under the plans, most of these students would go to a new school, with a few transferring to a small specialist unit in John Paul Academy in Glasgow.
An HMIE report said: “Given the relative lack of detail about proposed modifications, it is presently difficult to be sure that the council’s proposal will lead to improvements in the educational experience of, and outcomes for, young people who are currently in St Aidan’s and St Joan of Arc.”
Speaking about his decision to call in the closure plans, Mr Russell said: “I do not believe the educational benefits of the proposal are set out in sufficient detail, as HMIE make clear in their reports and I have therefore decided this proposal requires further scrutiny.
Minister ‘embarrassed’
“In each of these three schools, education inspectors have raised concerns over Glasgow City Council’s plans. These concerns are focused on how the education of the pupils will be improved in their new schools.
“In their official report into the plans, the inspectors have called on Glasgow to provide more information. It is right and proper that we take the time to allow this information to be provided and considered before allowing the closure to go ahead.”
Councillor Jean McFadden, executive member for education at Glasgow City Council, said: “This is an entirely political decision which has been taken for entirely bogus reasons.
“The minister is desperately thrashing around looking for something to cover his understandable embarrassment about Crossroads Primary in Ayrshire.”
Councillor McFadden’s comments refer to the Scottish government’s decision not to call in the closure of Crossroads Primary by East Ayrshire Council.
The move was criticised by the Rural Schools Network who said the closure “flew in the face” of laws created to protect smaller schools.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Fiona Hyslop, glasgow city council, save our schools, SNP
From the Herald
The disgraced former leader of Glasgow City Council helped arrange access to a top official for two Labour-supporting developers who later gave him a job.
Ex-Labour boss Steven Purcell helped tee up meetings between the pair’s lawyer and the council’s chief executive, and asked a second senior official to examine their business proposals.
Last week the duo, Allan Stewart and Stephen McKenna, announced they had given Purcell a post with their charitable foundation.
The businessmen are behind several housing projects in and around Glasgow. In 2007, shortly after the council agreed to pay them £1.7 million for a plot of land, one of their firms gave £5000 to Scottish Labour.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Allan Stewart, corruption, glasgow city council, Stephen McKenna, steven purcell, Stewart and McKenna
Ruth Black
From the the Herald
A councillor embroiled in allegations of drugs and cronyism linked to former leader Steven Purcell has been suspended by the Labour Party and funding to her gay and lesbian centre axed after serious financial irregularities were uncovered.
The suspension of Ruth Black follows a meeting with the new leader of Glasgow City Council, Gordon Matheson, who removed the Labour whip from her after the authority’s internal auditors uncovered a raft of financial irregularities at the Castro Centre she runs with her long-term partner, Jeanie McDougall.
A second meeting yesterday between former Solidarity Party member Black and the council’s head of finance saw Castro’s £50,000 grant from the authority cancelled with immediate effect, in a move that is expected to see the Glasgow centre close.
Irregularities include non-payment of tax and National Insurance for staff, despite deductions made from wages, the employment of a relative, McDougall’s son, which runs contrary to council grant rules, and operating with no public and employee liability insurance. The centre’s building insurance has been withdrawn due to non-payment. Further checks were conducted into concerns about massive phone bills, irregularities over payments to and from gaming machines, and the use of the grant to pay for a car.
Castro has debts of £44,000 and although Black has said the centre will continue trading without the grant, senior sources within the council insist that would mean Castro trading insolvently as less than £20,000 of the grant has been paid.
HMRC is also investigating non-payment for seven months, while board member Robert Tamburrini, a senior figure in the social housing sector, has quit after the scale of the irregularities became clear.
Background info at SSY (Parental Guidance advised)
WAHEY!!! I got caught taking cocaine, and now I'm under police invistagation on several counts of corruption. Isn't life just grrreat?
From the Daily Record
Jul 5 2010 Keith Mcleod
DISGRACED former Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell is to take up a role with a leading Scottish charity.
Purcell resigned from his high-profile role in March amid drug and potential blackmail issues.
But he will begin work for the Stewart and McKenna Foundation before the police probe into his activities is completed.
The Daily Record exclusively revealed Purcell’s links to a Glasgow drop-in centre, The Castro gay and lesbian centre, on Saturday.
It is frequented by convicted gun runner Paul Ferris and has other links to the Glasgow underworld.
In the wake of his resigna-tion Purcell, 37, admitted to having “dabbled” with cocaine and underwent treatment at a rehab clinic.
He had been touted as a political “star” and a possible future Labour leader in Scotland.
Police began a probe in April but as yet no charges have been brought.
Purcell has expressed an interest in doing voluntary work for charitable causes.
The foundation was begun in 2004 by property developers Stephen McKenna and Allan Stewart.
It funds charitable and social schemes in Burundi, Malawi, Kenya and even Moldova.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged steven purcell, glasgow city council, save our schools, blackmail, Ruth Black, Castro, Stewart and McKenna
Uploaded on the 16th of June 2010
25 Jun 2010
Five more parents have joined a sit-in at a Lanarkshire school despite a dawn raid by council staff and police.
A father and grandfather were occupying Gartsherrie Primary School in Coatbridge until yesterday when officers broke into the building.
But the 4am raid made campaigners more determined to sit tight and as a result extra people have joined the protest.
Kirk Elwood, 48, said the campaigners were determined not to move.
He said: “We are sitting tight.”
More than 20 police entered the school at 11pm last night to lockdown the building, including barring access to toilets.
Protesters are fighting the decision by North Lanarkshire Council to shut Gartsherrie school.
It is one of four schools axed by the council which has blamed falling role numbers.
From December 2009
North Lanarkshire Council leader Jim McCabe
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Well done to all those involved. It takes a bit of nerve standing up to the council. Especially seeing as they’ve ask the police to get involved. Normally the police are quite friendly and supportive towards people occupying schools or community centres, and don’t get involved except to check that everyone is OK. Please take some to contact the council by clicking on the logo below and give them some of you thoughts.
Parents protesting for Gartsherrie Primary in Coatbridge
From the BBC
Police and council officials have moved in to try to end a protest at a closure-threatened primary school in North Lanarkshire.
Parents at Gartsherrie Primary in Coatbridge have been staging a sit-in since the start of June.
The protesters said two people, including a grandfather, remained in the building.
Police officers were blocking the entrances to prevent others from entering.
The school is among four primaries in the region due to shut permanently when the current term ends on Friday.
The council approved the closures in March.
Parents at Gartsherrie have set up an action group to fight the decision.
Since March they have staged a series of marches, signed petitions and mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge against the decision.
Pupils have been bussed to a nearby secondary for lessons while the sit-in was going on.
The council confirmed it had taken action to secure the Gartsherrrie building.
Outling the reasons for the action Councillor Jim Logue, convener of learning and leisure services, said: “We have a duty to the public purse and we have been heating and lighting the building for three weeks with no young people being educated on the premises.
“This is an unsustainable position.
“There are many thousands of pounds worth of educational materials and resources within the building which we now need to have in our possession so that these can be redeployed.”
He added: “Teachers’ personal possessions are also inside and they have a right to have those back.
“The Gartsherrie building is now surplus to requirements and we have a duty to make it secure.”
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Coatbridge, Gartsherrie Primary, Jim Logue, North Lanarkshire Council, Occupation, Police, PROTEST, save our schools, sit-in
See below for protest this Saturday – 26th of June.
From the BBC
Scotland’s largest council is warning that cuts in spending will be “harder, faster and deeper” than it had originally expected.
Glasgow City Council said it would have to find £40m more in savings next year than it had planned for.
This is likely to lead to bigger cuts in services.
The authority now expects to have to save a total of £115m between 2011 and 2013. It had hoped to delay some savings for longer.
Council officials will now have to find ways of achieving the cuts and balancing its books. The authority is already well on the way to cutting 2,800 jobs over the next three years through retirements and voluntary redundancies.
The budget forecasts are contained in a document circulated to councillors.
Councils across Scotland will not know for sure how much money they will have next year until late in the year. Around 80% of their funding comes from the Scottish Government.
Glasgow City Council is predicting that it will receive nearly £38m less from the government next year. While it expects its main grant to fall by £45m it anticipates getting nearly £8m more so that the council tax can be frozen again.
Finding more ways to save money quickly could prove difficult for the council which has already made significant cuts.
The council is already trying to cut 2,800 jobs over the next three years – many other councils have still to say how many jobs they expect to go. Pay is the single biggest cost which councils can control.
One option may be to try to persuade those who have expressed an interest in voluntary redundancy or retirement to leave more quickly.
More at link.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, BUDGET CUTS, cuts, glasgow city council, redundancies, save our schools, scotland, services
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From the Scotsman
The group of 13 have been occupying Gartsherrie Primary School in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, in an attempt to reverse a closure decision.
The local authority made the decision in March to shut the school at the end of this current term, sparking angry opposition from concerned parents.
Fiona Dingwall, of Coatbridge, who has been inside the school since 2 June, said:
“It’s like Big Brother in here a little bit but everyone’s spirits are still high and we are determined to see it through. Our main aim is not to keep the school open permanently. We just want it to be postponed long enough that the children won’t be pushed from one place to another.”
Another parent added:
“There is a piano in the classroom and we have been singing along to our favourite tunes. We shall not be moved is certainly one of them.”
Jim Logue, convener of Learning and Leisure Services for North Lanarkshire Council, said:
“Delaying the decision on the proposed closure till late 2011 would not be in the best interests of the school and would merely extend the disruption and stress.”
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Coatbridge, Fiona Dingwall, Gartsherrie Primary School, Jim Logue, Occupation, Parents, save our schools, Scotsman
