What Would Sir Thomas Say?

Interesting full page letter in The Llanelli Herald this week from the governing bodies of Sir Thomas Picton and Tasker Milward schools. The upshot is that they do not want to be forced into an environment they do not want to be in. The open letter states that with a collective 200 years experience in the governing of schools in Pembrokeshire, that they know what is in the best interests of the parents, children and staff of Pembrokeshire's schools. It seems the people those same parents and governors elect as councillors (and many are actually governors) see it differently and choose to ignore the concerns. Here are some of the terms used in the letter; 'not in the best interests of the current and future pupils, their parents and indeed the wider community.' 'extremely concerned that the consultation proposal, if adopted will result in diminution of academic and personal development.' 'We believe that some of the performance data published in the public consultation document is selective, biased and consequentially misleading.' We believe that the proposal is discriminatory to the pupils of the area.' 'We are deeply suspicious.' 'the consultation document has an air of political gerrymandering with many councillors with apparent conflicts of interest.' I could go on but it is advisable to read the letter if you are a pupil or parent at any of these schools. One thing is certain. You have a choice. You have an opportunity to ensure that these people are held to account for their actions. Communities need to rid themselves of these dinosaurs who assume that they know best just because they have walked into a position of minor power as a councillor. Vote them off and start again. This time make sure that the community interviews these people and make sure that they can only serve as councillors rather than sitting on and acting as gatekeepers on every possible organisation or committee. There should be no conflicts of interest.