Families at Chryston Primary highlighted their concerns about plans to introduce a shared management role for their school by staging a protest walk around the area “looking for our missing head teacher”.
Parents and pupils also then demonstrated at the headquarters of North Lanarkshire Council, protesting at controversial plans to introduce one joint headship for both the primary school and Chryston High – while an opposition attempt to debate the subject at a council meeting was refused.
More than 100 people took part in the Chryston protest, while 1500 have signed an online petition – with primary school parents saying the 15-month head teacher vacancy at their school is negatively impacting youngsters.
Chryston mum Debs Fraser called the consultation to date “laughable” and said: “Our children have now gone 451 days without a headteacher – it’s completely unacceptable and unfair.
“The children are at a disadvantage compared to other schools; there’s been little Covid recovery because no-one is leading the school and the model has caused a huge amount of upheaval and disruption for children and staff.
“North Lanarkshire has failed to provide one good reason for implementing their plan; there’s no educational rationale and the last 15 months have shown it doesn’t work for the Chryston school community.
Action group member Levi White, mum of pupils Kade, nine, and Alba, six, said: “All of us are making a stand against this damaging proposal – our children need a headteacher and they need one now.
“We have evidence from a Freedom of Information request that shows the leadership model is doing damage to our children’s education, yet the council refuse to stop their plans.
“Cuts should not be leading the educational agenda, it should be what is best for our children.”
Gartcosh, Glenboig & Moodiesburn councillor Greg Lennon, who has children at both schools, had submitted a motion alongside independent ward colleague Willie Doolan asking for a review of the plans.
It highlighted “significant challenges in executing the executive headship model, growing public concern at the lack of communication [of] the pilot process [and] a lack of meaningful consultation” and called for a full options appraisal and for the issue to be considered at a future council meeting.
However, it was not added to the agenda for Thursday’s assembly after a majority of councillors voted against allowing the issue – approved as recently as February through the Labour adminstration’s budget – to be revisited within less than six months.
SNP representative Councillor Lennon says the decision to create the interim dual role was taken during a period of Covid restrictions and disruption, and highlighed a “lack of consultation” plus concern from teaching unions.
He said: “I have seen first-hand the impact this pilot has had on our children’s education and with the added pressures of the pandemic, it’s clear that a fundamental change in circumstance has occurred since the pilot was first proposed under executive powers.
“No elected member can plead ignorance to the Chryston parents’ concerns given the volume of correspondence each and every one of us has received over the past few weeks; the evidence provided over the consultation process alone should allow for the matter to be debated and not shut down.
He called the refusal of permission to debate the issue at last week’s meeting “a sad day for local democracy”, indicating that “communities across the authority have no mechanism or right to reply when dealing with matters of such significance”.
Councillor Lennon added: “The motion I presented merely aims to highlight parents’ legitimate concerns and ask that a review of the consultation process be undertaken to ensure that they, pupils and teachers are fully engaged and their concerns are listened to.”
North Lanarkshire leader Jim Logue told Lanarkshire Live that multi-establishment leadership has been trialled at other local schools and that similar posts covering the 3-18 age range exist elsewhere in Scotland.
He said: “Shared headship isn’t a new concept; we’ve had some in Airdrie primaries and it’s common up north and in the Borders – and there’s no evidence that there’s any detriment to attainment.
“Education Scotland, who are responsible for maintaining standards in schools, have never raised any issues and are comfortable with the model; if they had serious issues [about the impact on] learning and teaching, they would have said so and corrective action would be taken.
“Like every authority, we’re struggling to attract head teachers – it’s a pattern which officers have highlighted for three or four years and it’s a national issue across every authority, not just a local challenge.”
A council spokesperson previously told Lanarkshire Live how the multi-establishment leadership was approved in May 2020 with “cross-party approval” and said: “The process initially started at Chryston primary and high schools when, following the primary head teacher’s retirement, we were unable to appoint a replacement.
“We agreed that the head teacher for the secondary school would assume the role [for] both the primary and secondary schools as a short-term solution [and] are currently undertaking a consultation process to explore the possibility of implementing the full multi-establishment headship model across the two schools.
“No decisions will be taken on the future leadership of the two schools until the consultation closes and we would encourage all parents to take part in the online survey.”
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