Parents lose their say over which schools face the axe

Published on Tuesday 14 April 2009 09:37

PARENTS are to lose their say in deciding which schools are next in line to face the axe as the council prepares to unveil its new hit list.

The forum set up to review the school estate – which originally consisted of three parent representatives – is set to be scrapped, leaving future decisions on which schools should face closure to be taken by the council's education committee alone.

It is understood that education bosses will bring new proposals on school closures to the next committee meeting in June. With no representation on the education committee, parents will lose their voice in shaping the future of the school estate in Edinburgh, and will only get the chance to have their say once the official consultation process has started.

Education leader Marilyne MacLaren believes the forum's "work is done".

However, the move has angered parents and members of the forum, who believe it worked well to have an "added level of consultation" with parents before any proposals were made public.

The council has previously said it will need to close four primary schools and a secondary school by 2011, on top of closing Bonnington and Lismore primaries at Christmas and Westburn this summer, to save money.

Tracy Rendall, who was the representative for primary schools during the last round of closures, said she had not been informed about the forum's future.

She said: "I would be very disappointed if it is being completely disbanded, especially without any consultation or discussion and especially if there's going to be a working programme of closures.

"There's no other input we are going to get now."

The rationalisation forum came under fire last year when details of closures were leaked to the News. Councillor MacLaren blamed parent representative Lynda Flex and removed her from the forum.

Mrs Flex denied the allegations and complained to the Standards Commission about Cllr MacLaren's conduct. She was later cleared, but criticised for "an error of judgement".

One forum member, who has been told that the forum will not continue, said: "Having the parent reps has obviously caused her some discomfort in the past and I suspect that's probably what's behind scrapping the forum.

Cllr MacLaren said a report will go before the education committee to update members on the rationalisation process.

She added: "The forum actually did a lot of work last year, but my view is that its work is done."