PARENTS THREATEN TO BOYCOTT MEETING

15 October 2005

Parents at a Swansea school earmarked for closure have threatened to boycott a meeting on its future. Swansea Council has called the meeting with parents and staff at Dylan Thomas Community School to discuss the proposals for its closure.
If the plans are given the go-ahead, council leaders will keep the school open for around five years while Bishop Gore school has a £20 million refit.
The meeting with parents is due to be held at the school on Tuesday, but parents are worried they have not been given enough information.
However, the council says that this first meeting is to inform parents about the plans.
Rob Lowe, parent governor at the school, said that details of the meeting came too late for them to prepare fully.
The agenda and proposals were sent to the school on Friday.
Mr Lowe said: "The new proposal regarding the change over wasn't published until Friday.
"The council did not send them out to parents and so it was down to the school to photocopy and send them back with pupils.
"The meeting has been called for Tuesday and in all likelihood many parents will not get to see the proposals until Monday. That is not enough time for us to fully understand what will be a fairly complex document.
"It's their meeting, they have called it and have facts. We will probably not find out what the full proposals are until the day before.
"It's supposed to be our chance to ask questions about the transition period, but we will not have all the information.
"The only thing I can think is that they are deliberately trying to keep parents in the dark so that we can't ask any tricky questions.
"It looks like a case of divide and rule.
"Our only option may be to boycott the meeting because we do not have the information we need."
Fellow parent Sheila Lewis said: "The administration is insulting our intelligence. How do they expect parents to consult by Tuesday?"
A council spokesman said today: "Parents, teachers, governors and pupils at Dylan Thomas Community School and Bishop Gore school will have ample time to consider this consultation on the transition phase.
"The purpose of the meetings is to give information about the transition phase. The closing date for feedback on the consultation is not until November 16. Therefore those who wish to comment will have almost a month to prepare and return their comments to the council following the meeting.
"Cabinet will consider the feedback in December and will decide at that time whether or not to proceed with the proposals."