City leaders spend £20k to contest blind school fees costing..£20k

Published on Wednesday 31 March 2010 09:50

THE cost to the taxpayer of appealing a decision to send a blind teenager to a specialist school will run to almost £20,000 – the same amount it would cost to pay the youngster's fees for half a year.

City chiefs are refusing to pay the costs to send Ciara McGearey, 13, to the Royal Blind School, despite an independent tribunal ruling that is the best place for her to attend.

They have launched a legal battle against the decision by taking the case to the Court of Session, with the total costs expected to reach around 19,000.

If the council loses the case, it would also be liable to pay the legal costs of Ciara's parents, Mac and Rosie.

This cost to the taxpayer has been condemned as "lamentable" by one local councillor who has been helping the family with their fight.

Council chiefs have already spent 3,850 on costs associated with the independent tribunal hearing, which ruled Ciara should go to the Blind School.

On top of that, they have spent 2,000 on obtaining advice and lodging the appeal to the Court of Session, with a further 1,000 expected to be added to that particular bill.

The two-day appeal in the Court of Session is expected to cost between 9,000 and 12,000 depending on the extent of preparation needed.

Sending Ciara to the Blind School for a year would cost 38,000. Her father, a serving soldier with the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, has already raised enough money to send his daughter to the school until the summer after completing a 500-mile sponsored walk across Scotland.

The council's education department wants Ciara, who lost her sight when she was only three days old after suffering meningitis, to go to the council-run Oaklands Special School, which does not specialise in blindness.

A tribunal, which was set up under the Additional Support for Learning Act, ruled in November that the Blind School was the best option for Ciara.

A council spokesman said: "The council's general policy is to find an appropriate place in one of our own schools.

"Oaklands School provides a high standard of education for children with a wide range of complex needs.

"The school has been commended by HMIE as an example of good practice for its use of sensory approaches, in providing a relevant and appropriate focus for learning and for the way staff, parents and children are involved in setting and working through learning targets."

Colinton and Fairmilehead councillor Jason Rust, has been trying to help the family. He said: "It is lamentable that the council remain intent on spending thousands of pounds appealing this case, not to mention the costs to the family involved."

Cllr Rust added: "People will be shocked that their council tax is being wasted in this way."