SCHOOL GOVERNORS MEET TO DECIDE BATTLE PLAN

15 June 2005

Governors from Swansea's under-threat Dylan Thomas School are meeting tonight to draw up their battle plans to keep it open. The angry board are due to put the final touches to a crucial document detailing their opposition to the controversial school reorganisation plans.

It will be presented to Swansea Council after the draft is agreed as the school's complete argument to keep its doors open. And when the official objection is handed over governors hope it will help win the school a stay of execution after the council's formal consultation gets under way.

Education bosses want to close the Cockett community school and send its 500-plus pupils to Bishop Gore in September 2007. Plans to do so were given the go-ahead by councillors at a packed cabinet meeting last week.

A group of parents fighting the closure turned up to voice their opposition to the decision. It was announced as part of a major decade-long shake-up of Swansea's education system which is set to affect every school in the city.

But the fight to keep it open looks set to continue.

Governors have already threatened not to appoint a new head teacher when the current head, Malcolm Willis, leaves in September.

And under local authority rules once the governors' objection is made and consultation completed, the final decision will rest with the Assembly. That means protesters will be able to lobby the Assembly, which also has to carry out a period of consultation, to reverse Swansea Council's decision.

It is hoped this process could take until next year, delaying any planned closure.

Chairman of Dylan Thomas school governors Dereck Roberts said he had been overwhelmed by support."

We are receiving terrific support not just from people in Swansea but also from other schools across the UK facing closure," he said."

The council must now know we will not give up. Dylan Thomas School is here to stay."