THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE SNP - THE BATTLE FOR SOUTH PRIMARY SCHOOL - (PART 3)

To West Primary School on Thursday in the teeth of a biblical storm, to find that the same determined hardy souls from the under threat South Primary School are once again out in numbers, I’ve commented on most of the meeting but I have two more things to say which I have not yet reported, one of these things should ring alarm bells for everyone in Renfrewshire who is concerned about the damage being done to education by the SNP and particularly the primary Sector at the moment.

The first thing is my contention that the consultation is flawed. The reason I say this is because the organisers of the process claim that it is and has to be, open to everyone, and they have failed to do this. At the time of this meeting at West Primary School another consultation was taking place about changes to nursery provision at Springbank Nursery which is in the same council ward. I was therefore prevented from attending one of the consultation meetings because of the scheduling, other councillors were in the same boat and so might some others, despite all my talents I can't be in two places at once, that means it's a flawed consultation.

The second thing which is quite explosive takes me back to my earlier comments by the officers about school numbers and numbers of schools. Mr Rooney Education Director said “we have 51 schools and not enough children to fill them” when he was asked how many schools we needed he actually said and was noted as saying that we needed “40 schools” in the school I went to that means we have 11 too many ! Hence my warning to other primary parents, kids and staff not to be complacent don’t make the mistake of thinking that it won’t happen to your school. It might not be 11 closures but, we have already seen the completely callous nature of the SNP when it comes to cutting services. You all have to ask if you can ignore the plight of South Primary, if South Primary is picked off who will be next ?

If South Primary closes we will, according to the Director of Education Mr. Rooney still have 10 too many, Mr. Rooney is to be commended for his courage and honesty but for the primary sector the dark clouds are gathering, this is the time for solidarity between schools, time to stand together for the good of your children as well as the good of everyone else’s children, don’t let the SNP get away with this.