“All the darkness in the world can’t snuff out the light from one single candle” (Mother Theresa of Calcutta) I hope no one is offended by me quoting a deeply religious person but I think the Lady quoted transcends all religions and none, so much so that even someone like me who is not the greatest example of religion still feels comfortable with the quote. There is something about candlelit vigils which make them very poignant indeed and true to form the battling forces of South Primary School agree with that, their picture in today’s Paisley Daily Express of the candlelit vigil outside South Primary will surely put the Council and the SNP to shame, I defy Cllr. Cameron and the education committee to look at those children’s faces and not feel a deep sense of remorse.
The faces of the young children ask the question far more eloquently than I ever could, Cllr. Cameron, “do I matter”? “do you care”? “why were we not allowed to put on an exhibition of our work, why are you treating us like this”? Can there be anyone left outwith the SNP who doesn’t support these children and their school, does anyone believe that a council with a budget of hundreds of millions of pounds can’t find a sum of less than £190,000 a year to save this school, I find that hard to believe. It’s not too late to save the school the SNP can still see sense and show some compassion, stop listening to the bean counting officers and do the decent thing, keep the school open.
Again I urge everyone who supports the fight to save South Primary to contact their councillors, by email at the council, or letter, or telephone, or fax or best of all find them and speak to them personally, go to their surgeries and make the case. Don’t allow this act of educational sabotage to take place, these children deserve to be educated at their own local school, you would want nothing less for your children and so would the SNP for their children all the parents want is the same treatment that the SNP would want for their own kids, is that too much to ask ?
Write to first minister Salmond (the spiv) who has already gone back on his word to come to see them at the school, the mountain must now go to Mohamad, they have to got to go see him in Edinburgh. Tell him that you want to see the school saved, he will be hoping that the parents don't go and that it will all go away, he underestimates these parents who are fighting for their children's futures, they deserve to win.
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28 comments:
Sorry, Terry,
Ms Cameron & the Education Committee have no shame.
Ms Cameron plucked form obscurity given responsibility beyond her years will tow McKay’s line.
Terry,
Please believe me they have no shame, you have gone up in the publics estimations, honestly you have, these spivs are in disarray, thanks to you and yours, please Terry when CllR McKay invites you to his office for tea and sponge cake, take it with a pinch of salt, I have heard on the grape vine that the Nat's intend buying you off with trinkets, cobblets and shiny items, they want this blog site off air or off line, so please, please Terry, be on your guard, flowers, after shave and nice items are on their way to you, Mr Gibson, Renfrewshire Council has been told to fill Santa' McKay’s Sack and send it to Cllr Terry Kelly.
Terry, please don't sell us out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is another side to this argument which is probably being ignored.
My wife and I and many single people have chosen not to have a family.
Whilst I fully understand that everyone must contribute to the education system for the benefit of today's children, I do feel aggreived if this money is being wasted on schools that are not only two-thirds empty but where half of the remaining one third of children attending do not even come that schools catchment area.
This is blatant wastage.
Over the while we have watched the previous council consistently hike up our council tax far beyond the rate of inflation and we are now paying almost double the council tax that we were paying 9 years ago when we bought our current house.
At the same time we seen no value for that money and we have watched the council let the town of Paisley slip into almost ghetto status.
If there were many more increases ,my wife and I would be forced to sell our house as we are reaching our retirement.
That, I am afraid is more important to us than keeping open a two-thirds empty school.
The South Primary children will all be relocated locally and will receive as good an education as most other children in Renfrewshire. Not a big problem as far as I can see.
I think that it is very poignant that this is the first year that we have not had a council tax rise and whilst I understand that it may not be convenient for some parents to travel another few hundred yards to another school, I think the whole thing is completely blown out of proportion.
I have followed this story recently in the Paisley Express and I have now read your blog extensively and I feel that you are exploiting the children for political gain.
Having read many of your posts and replies, I am sure that you will come back with your standard reply that I am an uncaring SNP supporter, however, this is not the case and I did not vote for them at the last election.
I am pleased, however, to see that they are addressing the "free for all spending without thought" policy of the previous council.
D McNaught
Terry,
I see that in England and Wales, the caring peoples party,Labour, are currently proposing to close some 300 schools.
Many of these are in rural areas and the vast majority of children attending will be faced with very long journeys each day
The reason given is that the small numbers attending make them uneconomical.
Hmmmm !! something stinks
486 Primary Schools closed by Labour since 1997.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-559719/Lost-Labour-486-primary-schools--despite-highest-birth-rate-26-years.html
Speaks for itself.
LABOUR VOTE TO CLOSE WIGAN HIGH SCHOOL.
REASON - FALLING NUMBERS HENCE LOWER CLASS SIZES
http://www.wigantoday.net/wigannews/School-closure-battle-is-lost.4136022.jp
Hmmmm!
(Anonymous) 27/11/08
Thank you for your kind comments but, “tea and sponge cake” with Derek Mackay, I feel this is unlikely.
(David) 11:49
“this money is being wasted on schools that are not only two-thirds empty”
“Over the while we have watched the previous council consistently hike up our council tax”
“we have watched the council let the town of Paisley slip into almost ghetto status.”
“I think that it is very poignant that this is the first year that we have not had a council tax rise”
“I feel that you are exploiting the children for political gain”
“Having read many of your posts and replies, I am sure that you will come back with your standard reply that I am an uncaring SNP supporter, however, this is not the case and I did not vote for them at the last election”
“I am pleased, however, to see that they are addressing the "free for all spending without thought" policy of the previous council”
Well now, I suppose I should be glad that you are not as you say, an SNP supporter, right ? It’s notable that you thought it necessary to tell us that. I wonder why.
What might you have said if you were an SNP supporter? can you people not at least try to be a bit more subtle ?
(Alan) 12:12
Let me try to help you here, you will save time by not having to look for more examples of schools that close under Labour and I will save time not having to read the drivel that you write.
Labour has closed schools. Labour will close schools in the future.
Now can you please make your point. It would be helpful if you addressed South Primary, I’m sure some of the parents would like to hear your reasons for closing it. Saying that Labour have also closed schools I’m afraid is not a good enough reason.
See reply to post at 12.12 pm
See reply to post at 12.12 pm
My point is that Most of these school closures made by Labour were being actioned for much the same reasons that South Primary School is being closed.
How can Labour stand in oppostion to this closure wehen they are doing the self same thing elsewhere.
The parents of South Primary should be aware that your opposition to this action is purely politically motivated and if Labour did get back into power you are just as likely to close the school as this has been your policy elsewhere.
Nuff said!
(Alan) 14:38
I thought that might be your point and it’s a pretty predictable and weak one, South Primary like any other school should be decided on it’s own merits, not what happens elsewhere. There are schools in Renfrewshire with poorer numbers than South Primary so your theory is pretty useless isn’t it.
The last Labour administration built 3 new secondary schools and 4 new primary schools, as well as committing tens of millions of pounds for refurbishment of other schools, that is a record on education which I am proud of.
“your opposition to this action is purely politically motivated”
My locus in this matter is that a primary school which will have bigger class sizes instead of smaller as promised by the SNP if South closes is in my ward, another useless theory from you then.
Did you know that the last Labour administration were asked to look at the possible closure of South Primary and we said no, you have not been doing your homework have you ? have another go, go on.
Terry,
Poor Allan is trying his best, I was wondering if this Alan was Alan Noon of the SNP, then I remembered that Alan Noon aka shaky hands, hardly said one word in eight years in the Council, so my conclusions are that this Alan is not Cllr Alan Noon, aka the invisible man.
Cheers
Tom.
(Anonymous) 09:44
I have no time for what Alan Noon represents, can’t stand his nationalism and all its poisonous baggage but, these are political matters. There are some councillors who prefer to keep a low profile in the main arena he is not unique in that sense.
As an individual he has never been anything other than cordial with me, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to reconcile his membership of the ‘mob’ that is the SNP in Renfrewshire.
THE PEOPLE V THE SNP - THE FIGHT FOR SOUTH PRIMARY... (1)
Labour built and refurbished these schools with private finance.
Not exactly an acheivement councillor.
The long term cost to the taxpayer is horrific.
(Anonymous) 12:50
The finance deal for these schools is the same as the SNP are now adopting by another name.
The rest of your post has been deleted but if you want it reprinted then resend it identifying yourself and I'll take it from there.
No need for you to reprint.
Watch the press this week for an exposure of your party's lies and how you have expoited the parents and children
Terry for goodness sake, you have a person (David), giving you an honest comment and you resort to your usual 'smart'(sarcasm there in case you did not notice) remarks.
Not everyone cares about weans and schools. Some do I admit, and you must also admit some of the parents should never have been allowed to procreate.
(Anonymous) 29/11/08
“No need for you to reprint”
I didn’t expect to have to reprint because you are a coward.
I invited you to repeat that I was a liar in public without cowering under your stone and you couldn’t do it, what does that tell us about you ?
Dealing with the press is a bit like being in a boxing ring, “you can run but you can’t hide” (Jack Dempsey)
I predict that if any story of this kind appears there will be no reference to me being a liar, you don’t have the bottle for it, let’s wait and see.
THE PEOPLE V THE SNP - THE FIGHT FOR SOUTH PRIMARY... (1)
(Anonymous) 29/11/08
I think it’s unfair to blame me if ‘David’ and indeed you are as subtle as “a bull in a china shop” if you or he don’t want ridicule, you must try harder.
I would also suggest that anyone who suggests that the parents of South Primary should not be allowed to procreate is a particularly rancid piece of work, that's the kind of thing that nationalists have always been fond of saying. Best to remain anonymous eh?
Why are you anonymous? That’s a new one on me, a political party with no names, please explain.
Terry, You are a worrying individual. Paranoid and prone to extreme flights of fancy - never mind your obvious physical problems.
Your family have my sympathy.
(Anonymous) 19:55
Even if what you say is true I would still prefer being me to being one who skulks and hides, someone who is afraid even to say their own name, what kind of person is that ? what kind of self respect is that ? what degree of cowardice ?
David - As a taxpayer I have grave concerns that Renfrewshire Council plan to spend £5million refurbishing an old school, whilst closing a 22 year-old school in the same area. But then, that doesn't fit in with your little rant so you won't have given that any consideration, will you? Just as my children are not your concern or responsibility, your mortgage is not mine. So forgive me for now looking for some sort of return on my Council Tax. Forgive me for refusing to sit back whilst Renfrewshire Council attempts to take the easy way out, instead of looking at a range of options and going for the most financially viable.
Alan - You're just getting boring now. If you think the South Parents live in some kind of cuckoo land where no other party ever closed a school then you are sadly mistaken. We are well aware of the facts, but as we are a community group and not a political party I'm sure you'll understand why we are not greatly interested in this tit-for-tat business.
We are not a sub-group of the labour party, nor are we anyones fools. Our children have not been exploited. Why? Because we, as parents, are responsible for ensuring that doesn't happen.
I have not campaigned for South School for accolade, fame or the Labour Party. I have a career, small children, a husband and a life - given the choice, I'd stay well out of this. But I don't have the luxury of a choice. My little boy loves his school; he is thriving there and has blossomed into a confident and bright child. And that is the only reason I did not pluck him straight from school and move him before we have to join the long queue of placing requests.
Anonymous, if I hadn't had the right to procreate, I would never have become involved with South School and subsequently I would never have had the good fortune to read words of wisdom from the likes of yourself. Your insightful words have brightened my day - I am now joyful and thankful that I turned out the way I did instead of someone who resorts to cheap insults whilst hiding behind anonymity because he has n othing of any note or interest to say.
THE PEOPLE V THE SNP - THE FIGHT FOR SOUTH PRIMARY... (1)
(Anonymous) 01/12/08
The accusations of political bias against you and the parents are no surprise to anyone who has dealt with these people before, it will continue because they have lost the argument and are running away from you and your group, suggesting that you are gullible and can be conned by politicians is an insult and could only come from those with their own agenda which is not to the children’s benefit or from those who have not met you.
I know it’s difficult to maintain discipline when one of these people decides to stoop to vicious insults like the jibe about procreation but, that is the measure of the people you are dealing with, I have already deleted stuff from them which was unprintable, vicious callous and poisonous, that’s what some of them are but, rest assured you have got them well and truly rattled, hence the personal abuse.
If they upset you, count to ten and remember why this is happening, you did not choose this fight, you had no option, you had no option because, quite simply; you are parents, remember the children when they get vicious.
I'm not upset. It takes a lot more than some spineless politicians and their devoted followers to upset me. Insults, negativity and cheap lies do not upset me. Broken promises, contradiction, questions which are avoided, and hiding politicians leave me outraged, but not upset.
It's fairly easy to explain why. When you take the moral high ground, and have an educated argument, there's nothing to be upset about. I, we, are better than that.
(Anonymous) 15:10
I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to add anything to that.
Well said.
According to goverment statistics there are only 3 schools in Renfrewshire that have less than 50% roll against capacity.
South Primary has 36% which means that it is in the bottom 3.
Unable to find out the identity of the others, however, if we have 10 schools to many then I can't see any justification for keeping South Primary open.
(Anonymous) 12:30
I said I would admit if I was wrong but it seems I was right, you were wrong. Mr. Rooney said we need 40 schools and we have 51 he was clearly referring to numbers of pupils and desks, it’s a wee bit more complicated than you think, if indeed you do think.
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