Welsh School With No Pupils Remains Open With Paid Headmaster
THERE are no children at Capel Iwan School in Carmarthenshire, near Newcastle Emlyn. In July 2010, 12 children left the school.
The children left behind a headmaster, who remains in her job on full pay. The school remains open. Before the school can be shut ‘the procedure’ must be followed. The Welsh Assembly says it must be followed, so followed it must be.
What this procedure is, we cannot divulge. But if you picture in your mind a room containing a dozen bright red balloons with felt tip faces and hair, and a woman deliberately pricking them one by one with a cane as she recites the school hymn (Eat Ye Meat), you might not be far off the mark. A caretaker, who also remains in work, will clear up the debris.
Until the procedure is complete – and talk is of it taking up to a year – the school will remain open.
Councillor Gwynne Woolridge, a lady responsible for education on the executive of Carmarthenshire council, explains:
“When situations like this arise, it is very difficult. It does cost us money and you have just got to carry on with the consultation process and keep the school open until that process is finished.”
The procedure is all important.
A spokesperson for the assembly government confirmed adds:
“If a local authority wants to close a school they must follow statutory procedures.”
Procedures. Plural.
“The closure of the school without such procedures would be unlawful.”
Quite so. The procedure knows best…
Posted: 13th, August 2010 | In: Strange But True Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
