Mass U-turn to reprieve closed schools 26/6/08
In a mass midnight U-turn by the council, all the closed Western Isles rural secondary schools are to remain open until further notice.
After a late night vote, councillors reversed earlier decisions to shut the islands’ S1/ S2 schools.
The reprieve came at nearly midnight - just two hours after the same councillors took the conflicting action to shut Back secondary.
Reduced government funding, falling pupil numbers and the changing curriculum have been hailed as importance reasons to get rid of all seven secondary units.
In a lengthy night, individual attempts were being made to win reprieves and re-examine if the disputed new Curriculum for Excellence could be delivered in the threatened schools.
They voted to shut Back school but delay closure at Lionel and Shawbost. Immediately after the final vote - Shawbost - councillors voted to reprieve all the schools.
Now councillors will wait for reports on effectively extending each rural secondary to a S3 unit. They will also examine if the new and disputed Curriculum for Excellence can be delivered in the schools.
Norman M Macleod seconded by Donald John Macsween successfully moved to delay all the closures until more information on the Curriculum for Excellence comes forward.
Their intervention occurred after individual postponements was voted through for Lionel and Shawbost schools.
A separate motion by the SNP group to conduct a “proper review” of the islands schools only gained the support of the four SNP councillors.
Even though the earlier separate Lionel and Shawbost votes were very tight - around half the councillors voted to shut both schools - the later decision to reprieve the same and other schools was unanimous though education chairperson Morag Munro abstained.
Though Angus McCormack voted for the mass reprieve he warned: “This have serious consequences for the future of education and I am very upset about it.
He said that asking the education department to compile such reports for “seven schools will take a long time when (the department ) should be setting in train the new education strategy for the Outer Hebrides.”
Education chair Morag Munro agreed: “This is going to have repercussions because it will take a long time to get this information out. I am very unhappy about what has happened tonight.”
Archie Campbell who like many of his colleagues had steadfastly insisted that there was no way the rural schools were suitable for the new Curriculum said: “If it is possible to run it in S1 S3 then lets run it across all the schools.”
Norman M Macleod said this was an “opportunity for this to be done fairly right across the islands.
“In the interest of fairness and openness and transparency this is the way forward. We are trying to connect our communities back together and see if there is a way forward.”
