PARENTS fighting to keep their primary school open have accused Scottish ministers of “leading them up the garden path”.
The accusation came after yet another delay to a decision over the future of St Joseph’s Primary School, on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Campaigners submitted plans to take over the running of the state-funded Catholic primary in January last year after East Dunbartonshire Council moved to close it.
But despite telling parents they would be given a decision in 2016, ministers have still not responded.
And last week John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said no decision would be made until after the local government elections in May.
Writing in The Herald, Paula Speirs, from the Keep St Joseph’s in Milngavie campaign, said: “Optimism from our parents and wider community has begun to turn to disappointment and frustration at the lack of any real response to our proposal.
“Over the past few years we have met twice with the First Minister, two Education Ministers and a team of senior civil servants and government advisers. We have also provided detailed responses to specific questions.
“We appreciate that the wheels of government move slower than we might like, but surely the Scottish Government needs to balance the pace of change with the impact locally of no decision making.”
The delay also means others bids for autonomous school status, including one from the Al-Qalam Muslim school in Glasgow, will also have to wait.
Bill Nicol, a spokesman for the Hometown Foundation, a charity which helped draft the business plan for the Al-Qalam school, said: “We have spent a considerable amount of time and effort working with parent and teacher groups to prepare and submit business plans for autonomous schools.
“We have been extremely disappointed and frustrated at the time that it has taken for these plans to be considered, with no feedback.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are fully aware of parents’ concerns about the future of St Joseph’s Primary School and we have been in regular contact with them.
“The proposal from St Joseph’s raises fundamental questions about the principles of school governance in Scotland and ministers have made clear to parents that this should be considered as part of the wider review of education governance, not in isolation.
“The governance review received more than 1,000 responses from parents, teachers, headteachers, members of the public, charities and other organisations.
“All responses are now being considered as part of our aim to put schools and communities at the heart of the education system.”
Under the St Joseph’s proposal the school would be funded by the state with the ability to attract further investment from third and private sector organisations.
The Scottish Government already funds several schools which are not run by local authorities including Jordanhill, in the west end of Glasgow, and a number of specialist schools such as Donaldson’s School, in Linlithgow, which caters for deaf pupils.
However, the move would be highly controversial because a previous attempt to allow schools to opt-out by the Conservatives was seen as a politically-motivated attempt to undermine councils.
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