Tuesday, October 21, 2008

THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE SNP - THE BATTLE FOR SOUTH PRIMARY.

To South Primary School for the meeting of the parents and interested parties and the SNP Lib/Dem alliance who are going to shut the school.
Mr. Rooney and Mr. Naylor of the Education Dept. were also present to persuade the people that closing the school was a good thing. The meeting kicked off with a surprise, there in the chair was Cllr. Cameron of the SNP, the Convener of the Education Board, it really was her, puzzled members of the audience were asking who she was, she introduced herself to a sea of blank puzzled faces, this was a rare sighting indeed.

Over the past year there has been turmoil in the schools of Renfrewshire, children, parents and staff have been hammered by blow after blow by this SNP administration, cuts in the education budget have hit hard and the people involved have demanded answers and arranged public meetings to challenge the SNP who have avoided attending. Even the aforementioned Cllr. Cameron has trotted out excuses such as "I wasn’t invited" remember she is the Convener of the Education Board i.e. she is in charge, not a picture of someone who is entirely confident in her position I fear.

This was the quietest appearance I have ever heard Cllr. Cameron make, she displayed the body language of someone sitting in the dentist’s waiting room for a rather nasty procedure. The presentation by the officers was very predictable, reams of print outs, figures, charts and percentages were displayed and talked through rapidly which only served to annoy the parents. What did come across very strongly though was the panels concentration on money and how much the council could save by closing the school (£190,000 /Yr.) This is the same SNP council which gave senior officers a rise of £11, 500 a year , not an £11,500 a year salary an “11,500 a year rise ! this is the crowd who call themselves Scotland’s Party, they have no shame.

By contrast the parents facing the panel showed that their priority was what is best for the children, the panel at no time mentioned this, it was a glaring difference, they were clearly driven by money and not what is best for the children. The reason they got themselves into this position was the quality of the school which has just been given a great report by HMIe this report made it impossible to suggest that they would do better anywhere else and that in turn left them with the problem of the effect on the children of the closure of the school. None of them had the nerve to suggest that that, was not important, they were left saying that 'de facto' your children are going to suffer because we want to save money, not a comfortable place to be, it requires what we used to call a "brass neck" and the SNP certainly have that.

It’s possible that these children could go to a different school with an HMIe report which is as good as South Primary which would not be easy but, there is no doubt at all that dividing the children into three separate schools will be traumatic it will take them away from friends, cousins, familiar teachers and the environment which they love and feel safe in, the knock on effect will likely mean higher class sizes for the three schools involved, not lower as the SNP promised, a cruel betrayal which was not lost on the parents. They repeatedly threw the SNP manifesto promise of lower classes in their faces, much to the obvious anger of Cllr. Cameron and no doubt SNP Cllrs. Adam and Noon who were skulking around somewher at the back of the hall.

Make no mistake about this, this is an exercise in bean counting and the beans are pound notes, this is about money not what is best for the children, Mr. Rooney and Mr. Naylor’s comments confirmed this in a quite candid manner. The parents were angry and had channelled that anger into a disciplined campaign of opposition, they repeatedly wrong footed the officials with their questions and comments, had this been a fight the referee would have stopped it but, does it matter ? an impartial audience would have scored this debate 100 % to the parents and 0 % to the SNP administration with the SNP lucky to get 0 % but will it count ?

There is an element of cynicism about these procedures stoked up by statistics which show that the original proposals nearly always go through, consultations since the SNP came to power have been held on Warden Charges, Library Closures, Housing Area Office closures and many more, in each occasion the public wanted them kept but they closed anyway so will this be different ? I predict that all the people consulted will demand that South Primary stay open but it will close.

It’s a pity we did not get the chance to hear more from the uncharacteristically quite Cllr. Cameron because this, in the final analys is a political decision by the SNP. I wonder why she saw fit to remain silent ? maybe there is no defence, maybe her party and the officials have decided to follow the example of the American Republican Party and keep her, like Sarah Palin, out of it.

The fight isn’t over by a long way and the South School Parents proved themselves a formidable force, just in fact like any parent fighting for the well being of their children, there is nothing more important than that to a parent.

GOOD LUCK TO THEM, GIVE THEM YOUR SUPPORT ! write to the press, to your MP, to your MSP, your Euor MP, your councillor, to the Education Dept, to Cllr. Cameron etc. don't allow the SNP to get away with this.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Terry,

I have some breaking news, I have heard a rumour that Captain Calamity Derek McKay has told the troops “stop responding to "Kelly' blog site” he even had to tell the little trog Kenny (mags) McLaren to stop. Kenny sits at night and carefully responds to this blog site under various names other than his own. Even (Mags) McLaren is taking/ or was taking part, they are married honestly!!!!!!!!!

This SNP administration have no shame, Cllr Cameron's name is dirt in Glenburn, she has disappeared in Glenburn, many think she is going to sell her 3 Glenburn Homes and join Cllr McGee out in posh vile, can you imagine the neighbours faces when they see who is moving in! Talk about bring an area down.

I am glad to report though that Cllr Kelly's blog site is becoming more balanced in a long while.

Keep up the good work Cllr; you are Paisley South’s Champion.


Aye Yours Alex Blackford.
Paisley.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Alex Blackford.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 4:44:00 PM

Mr. Blackford, you would not expect me to comment in a personal way on the SNP people you mention, it is however obvious that they are very unpopular due to their willingness to cut anything that they are told to by the council officers.

They are incompitent and inexperienced and as such they are easy meat for the council officers to manipulate.

Anonymous said...

Counsellor Kelly,

I reside in Paisley North and have just received a news -letter through my door from a "Mags McLaren" is she the same person that is married to Counsellor Kentish McLaren who stays in Ralston and claims to be in love with Paisley North but doesn't stay here!, I and my neighbours put this c*** straight in the bin, the only time we see this funny looking little man is at election time, maybe Counsellor Kelly if you see him in the Factors Office you can tell him "that he can fool Paisley North some of the time but he can't fool Paisley North all of the time".

I think it is a disgrace what the SNP are doing to this once proud town, have they no shame, is there no end to the destruction that they will cause, I can't wait to the next elections and vote against them.

George Barton
Retired.

First time bloger!

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 22/10/08
I believe that Kenneth and Mags are a couple, perhaps the next Bill & Hilary who knows.
I can’t wait to get rid of them as well.

Anonymous said...

What a thoroughly enjoyable read! Sadly, whilst some of the actions of our glorious leaders are laughable, this is a very sad situation and our children are facing the consequences of an administration who are led by the officers of the council and who are failing to fulfill the promises that put them in office.

Pauline Riggens

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 10:42
Pauline – I have attended several of your meetings and have been very impressed by the fight you have organised.

I have been saddened by the actions of the officials at the meetings and particularly the chair Cllr. Cameron who has been in my opinion hostile to you since the start, the last meeting at Lochfield was outrageous.

It ain’t over until it’s over, keep fighting, remember voters have power over politicians, the public awareness is growing and it’s favourable to you.

The writer in the PDX who criticised you duped the paper into printing that letter, there is no such person on the voters roll, an SNP underhand trick is most likely.

Anonymous said...

Terry, I also happened upon that interesting fact regarding the author of the letter who openly criticised myself and my fellow parents for rmeoving our children form school. Sadly, had we not removed them we'd have been in more trouble given that it was in fact 3.15pm and school was finished for the day.

Ultimately the voters do hold the political power. Sadly, by the time the voters have a FAIR chance to have their voices heard, South Primary could be a development of luxury homes (but not family homes - after all, 11 primary places don;t go very far, do they?)

Pauline