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| Where are you Commissioner Jones? |
As this unhappy situation seemingly rumbles on and on endlessly, and with parents now threatening to withdraw their children from the school, one would be entirely justified in asking why Anglesey County Council has not acted quicker and more decisively to end the dispute. Afterall the Welsh Assembly withdrew executive power from our elected County Councillors back in March and replaced them with five Commissioners who are able to act with unfettered executive power. Each is paid handsomely at £500 a day for their services to the Island and have a hotline direct to Cardiff Bay. Yet despite this, the shambles in Benllech continues with no resolution in sight before the Summer holidays.
Interestingly the Commissioner who holds the portfolio for Education and is therefore responsible for sorting out the problems at Ysgol Goronwy Owen, former AM Gareth Jones, is also the Commissioner who is apparently least frequently seen at the Council... Is there a connection?
36 comments:
Welcome back Paul, the silence your end has been deafening!
Sack the lot.
No private school would tolerate such nonsense. It is disgusting that our children’s education is being sacrificed in this manner. The education portfolio holder should show positive leadership and resolve the situation forthwith or in its absence just close it down. Enough is enough.
Nonsense, Gareth's 4x4 is almost habitually parked outside the CC's office. Get your facts right. He's about the only full time Commissioner we have.
Ysgol Benllech is without a shred of doubt the most publicised 'mutiny' in the ranks involving a school, but I can assure you it's not the only one.
I would well advise Commissioner Jones to look much deeper above school level.
And yes, I speak from bitter experience.
Anon 00:48 Not sure you have your own facts right. I rarely see Gareth Jones and he infrequently attends the commissioners meetings.
What is the problem with this school and its staff?
And how can we, as taxpayers, allow such a situation to continue for even one day let alone weeks or months.
Someone needs to start refunding us, and that refund needs to start now.
The real losers here are the children. The original problems that were obvioulsy so bad that 5 teachers had to leave have now been surpassed by: the Governors and Council not being able to make a decision to sort this out; and the fact that parents have lost confidence in the management of the school. Indecisions are killing the school, making children have to move schools and the tension and anxiety at the school gate is making parents ill.
Things will change very soon
I've heard that the teachers have gone off sick with "stress" with the way the Headmistress runs the school. It's a case of personality clashes and any proper teacher would not let the kids down....selfish teachers looking after themselves again! Would be easier to close the school and move kids to the next village if this is what happens. Again tarnishing the reputation of the Island!
@Anonymous 17:10
That regime is occurring at another Anglesey school; while the teachers there don't publicly let off steam or go off sick with stress, it's very stressful and does, contrary to what you suggest, have an effect on the pupils' education.
People who are paid such a high amount per day should have the balls to act and do something about this . It is about time for something to be done .If they won't do it they should step down and let someone else take the reins. In any other industry if your not up to the task ,well simply you get fired.
What's the score Druid? If you aren't going to post a comment then say so. Or is it that you only want to post ones you agree with?
Perhaps we need a team from Whitehall to check up on what the Commissioners are doing.
Anon 16:31 - there are a number of comments I have not posted because they generally make (in some cases serious) accusations about named persons. It has long been a policy of this blog that such comments will not be posted.
(If Druid will allow this to be put up; I've redacted identifying names from this rather poor quality 'copy'.)
This DOES NOT relate to Ysgol Goronwy Owen; it relates to another Anglesey school.
http://goo.gl/LGujB
It's time we got rid of this wasteful, under performing, comprehensive education system.
If parents had to directly pay for their kids to be educated we would never again see this kind of nonsense. No parent would ever stand for it.
As for the county council, the less involvement it has in anything the better!
I see Paul's point about keeping potentially libellous material off this blog.
But when we censor (albeit justifiably to avoid legal action) and, worse still, when contributors themselves start self-censoring, then this conceeds victory to those who would seek to silence free comment and criticism.
Paul's concerns about being sued in the courts are part of a much bigger picture. With the closure of the News of the World - and the inevitably tighter restrictions which will now be applied to the press at large - we are now entering a new Dark Age where no one dares expose the truth.
They have won.
Does show one thing the well note is not working in labours welfare reforms, I suspect they are all off due to stress.
"suspended without prejudice pending investigation"
I can't of course, with the new draconian druidic sensorship, reveal WHO is suspended nor why, nor how it all unfolded nor the decade long history, nor Governor involvement, nor LEA involvement nor Political involvement, nor Police involvement, nor Children's Commissioner involvement, nor ESTYN involvement, nor NSPCC involvement nor County Councillor involvement nor JP involvement nor the Information Commissioner involvement nor the Department of Education involvement nor Ministerial involvement nor BBC involvement nor the lies, evasions and pathetic childishness of some of our nameless leading citizens.
Nevertheless someone somewhere has done bad things and been protected by some people somewhere who are lower than a rattlesnakes scrotum and now something has happened to Him/Her.
Anon 2200
I can't get anything on your link. Could you try again?
There we go then, another comment not seeing the light of day. Paul, you are no longer "The Druid: Fighting for Anglesey" you are "The Druid: Farting in fear of litigation"
And another comment not seeing the light of day, re: who was suspended today. Why Druid?
18:56 - The rules are clear.
"I can't get anything on your link. Could you try again?"
Clicking on the link doesn't work for me either for some reason.
What did work for me was to bring up another browser and copy+paste the address to go to. It took me to scribd.
Worth doing.
Hope the holday was OK Druid and why did you not send a postcard? Piccies to follow I hope.
This business with the school will only be sorted when Anglesey Council realise they are over a barrel. They are either going to have to make the head redundant/early retirement or they are going to have to make the other teachers redundant. Which one they pick is up to them but it's going to have to be one way or the other and the longer this goes on the more it's going to cost.
As for anons complaining about posts not being displayed etc the answer is simple. Post your full name and address along with the accusation. Druid can then check it's genuine and post it complete with your details then if there's any litigation, you get it. Not a problem I trust?
Peter Rogers affair.
What a wanton waste of public money.
As a total incompetent and waste of space The Ombudsman should resign
@Anon 14:07 (and Anon 19:20 in a way)
Sorry, http://goo.gl/LGujB links to http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/59552803?access_key=key-de4xzzwnlri5hk47utk I thought it would be easier after being shortened, but I was wrong.
Basically it's a letter by a certain trade union notifying its members that they deemed what one Anglesey headteacher did last year (2010) amounted to "serious intimidation".
The identifying parts have been redacted (for obvious reasons), but I will again emphasise it DOES NOT relate to Ysgol Goronwy Owen.
Google still fails to identify the link
Works for me, but then I posted it!
The URL is case sensitive so you must keep the L, G, and B in UPPER CASE, and the u and j in lower case, i.e keep it as LGujB
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/59552803?access_key=key-de4xzzwnlri5hk47utk
or try:-
http://tinyurl.com/serious-intimidation
Thanks - URL (1) posted by Anon 00:58 works fine - I am aware of case sensitivity with PCs.
"... am aware of case sensitivity with PCs...."
Glad to see that you recognise that PCs are sensitive.
Given what was supposed to have happened at Holyhad Copshop we are now aware that WDCs are sensitive as well!!
Unfortunately they breed a far more sensitive bunch nowadays - you mustn't say 'boo' to some of them in case they get frightened and upset.
But they too are entitled to be treated with respect - they are after all only doing their jobs - whether they believe the allegations or not.
There would be many on this blog who would have criticised the police had they dismissed the allegations out of hand including, I sure, some members of the Police Authority.
Reading anon 11:55 - had to laugh.
All police Officers are sensitive just that some are more so than others.
PS Next time I'll use "computers" as a term.
Druid; is it acceptable to link to a Daily Post article or do you want to run it past your legal people?
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2011/07/09/headteacher-at-crisis-school-on-anglesey-is-suspended-55578-29021029/
Can I link to WAG FOI results?
http://wales.gov.uk/publications/accessinfo/disclosurelogs/premay10disclosures/dl2400/disclog2499/;jsessionid=hcPvNtrL18qwHLjTSX0TRsrX28YJ6BkWRlQnVxJzqhTDjpxLpG1p!-36623044?lang=en&ts=4
What about Ministerial Decision Notices?
http://wales.gov.uk/publications/accessinfo/drnewhomepage/educationdrs2/educationdrs2009/ygoiod/;jsessionid=J9J1NQ8p2Y2KqvGSznnz2vzYpvYh1ZbpM2Yb6t3Hhz4yZfm4Py4r!685038706?lang=en
The trouble is that open comment blogs can be a force for good in this beleagured Island of ours...but only if the Blog operator demonstrates a modicum of COURAGE.
The problem for parents is that there are repercussions for their school age children if they are identified. Don't think for a minute that School Governors are fine upstanding Citizens. Many are dull, self important low-lifes with a suit and an inflated idea of their own importance.
The Daily Post vaguely reported that someone had threatened to have Barrie Durkin assassinated.
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