“Laughing stock” council reopens school for pupils 27/6/08
A “laughing stock” Western Isles Council is making urgent arrangements to reopen Bayble secondary to pupils after councillors staged a last minute U-turn.
The stay of execution came after most of its seven unique two-year rural secondary schools - at Bayble, Paible, Lochs and Daliburgh - had been voted shut.
On a chaotic Wednesday night councillors decided to shut Back only to give it and the rest a temporary reprieve over an hour later.
The turning point came near midnight when councillors agreed to delay closure of Shawbost and Lionel to see if the disputed Curriculum for Excellence can be delivered in these two schools. In an effort to treat all areas fairly it will consider upgrading all threatened schools to S3.
Saving cash to pay for five new centralised schools was the main driving factor for the planed closures. Reduced government funding, falling pupil numbers and the changing curriculum were other reasons to get rid of all seven secondary units.
Public pressure from voters forced councillors to change their minds despite exposing themselves to ridicule including convenor Alex Macdonald who confessed he "was taken to task by my electorate" in a show of strength he never experienced in the past 25 years on the council.
Education vice-chair Catriona Stewart also upset parents by pushing her committee’s line for closures of the schools but then insisting Back school in her own ward was a special case.
Vice-convener Angus Campbell told his colleagues: “It is time we have principles and vision to show we know what we are doing, otherwise we become a laughing stock.”
Numerous councillors demanded consistency but apparently declined to practice what they preached. Education chairperson Morag Munro was the only member not to be inconsistent throughout the year-long debacle abstained in the deferral vote while the rest agreed the U-turn.
All Primary 7 pupils in the three primary schools in Point in Lewis have already been enrolled into the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway as Bayble school was shut to them next session. Now they can expect letters over the weekend telling them it will be re-opened.
Bayble campaigner Iain Don Maciver said the council went the wrong way about things and then "carried out so many U-turns and back flips they are like Olympic gymnasts. The council is a laughing stock. Its credibility is shot to pieces."
Back school protestor Gordon "Diesel" Maclennan said: "They were going to transfer children to a school they didn't know where and they didn't know when."
Councillor Donald John Macsween said the council acted like "the Grand Old Duke of York going up to the top of the hill and then marching back down. This is no way to run education in the Western Isles."
