martonschool.myfreeforum.org

Alan Veale · Master of Posters Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 118

Most of you will not have had any personal contact with David Lund, Director of Children’s Services at the Blackpool Education Authority. Until I became aware of the problems besetting Marton Primary School, neither had I. What I did know was that, if I was not to receive a satisfactory answer to my complaints to the school, or to the Chairman of Governors, then he was the next person in line that I should approach. So when I first wrote to Mrs Coupe, complaining about the standards of education at the school, and questioning her own influence, I copied my letter to both the Chairman of Governors and David Lund. While I never have had a response to my letter from the Chairman of Governors, David Lund did at least give a formal reply – using the legal implications of the Beverley Alderson suspension as an excuse not to make any direct comment on the points I had raised (which had little to do with the suspended teacher).

Like many parents, I felt that Mr Lund was seriously under-estimating the strength of feeling about the school from all those who had posted messages on the web-site, or written to the paper. His radio interview only served to anger many people who had already become frustrated by the passive silence of the LEA, and the deliberate mis-information being given at school. I wrote to Mr Lund to explain properly how people felt, and why so many felt the need to post messages anonymously. As a result of that, I was invited to a face-to-face meeting at Progress House on 18 October. I felt the meeting was constructive and helpful, mainly because Mr Lund acknowledged that the parents who he had previously dismissed as “a vindictive minority” really did have the best interests of the school at heart, and that we were just as keen to see an end to the present difficulties as he was. He was able to understand why parents who used the web-site wanted to preserve their anonymity, and he was prepared to open a dialogue with us for further discussions to help restore normality to the school. He confirmed this in writing the following day, and asked me to provide him with feedback from our public meeting, held just two days later.

I provided David Lund with a summary of the meeting, together with a copy of the “Fact Sheet” we had issued, in a letter sent on 25 October. I have never had the courtesy of a reply.

Since then, with the appalling revelations of the activities of Nathan Hill at the school, we have been stunned by the total lack of interest from Mr Lund, Mrs Coupe, or Mike Turner. Such was their concern for the safety of the children, and the feelings of parents, that they simply instructed Mr Hill to dismantle his web page, and continued to let him crawl around in the school roof space, declaring that it was “within his competence as an ICT Technician” to do so. But it took a whole month for them to take any action, and over four weeks to respond to our complaint. The Action Group has not changed its position. We are still of the same viewpoint that we were on 18 October – but still there has been no response to my letter.

In the meantime, our protests have drawn further public criticism from David Lund, who has resorted now to threats of legal action against the Action Group.

I find it very curious that Mr Lund has returned to his former position of condemning parents for speaking out about their concerns for their children’s safety, and education. He has passed over the opportunity to engage in constructive discussion, and made it very plain that anyone with a complaint about the school will be treated with scorn and derision. It is no wonder that the parent I spoke to yesterday, with genuine concerns about the bullying of her daughter, has not approached the LEA with her story. She has no computer, and has therefore not even seen the web-site, or associated herself with the Action Group, but the lack of action or understanding from Coupe and Turner, plus the rantings of David Lund in the press has made her turn to me for advice. The advice I gave was to go to her MP and to her local Councillor, because like so many others, we have lost all faith that anyone else who SHOULD take bullying seriously WILL take the necessary action!

David Lund, you are discredited in the eyes of all those parents and teachers who are not happy about the running of Marton Primary School. You are clearly backing what appears to be an autocratic regime, and implicated in the shambles that passes for an “investigation” over a suspended teacher. The losers in all this are the children, and the 60 plus parents who have had to disrupt their family lives by removing their children from the school they used to love. I thank the valiant teachers and support staff who remain, struggling to keep normality in the classroom, and biting their tongues over the crass incompetence being displayed by people who should know better.

No doubt David Lund and his cohorts will condemn this posting as “defamatory”. But I challenge you to have the courage of your convictions, Mr Lund, and respond to my letter of 25 October (two months late). Is it possible that those parents who did remove their children got it wrong? Is it possible that Mrs Alderson could in fact be a teacher who simply recognised Mrs Coupe for the person she really is – and told her so? Is it possible that just some of the people who have been protesting to you for the last fifteen months might have a point? It is precisely because you have shown not the slightest interest in listening to anyone else’s point of view that we have now included you in our official complaint to the DFES. It is the Government now who will decide if there is a case to answer - not the Action Group, and certainly not you.

Alan Veale

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
Irish orator, philosopher, & politician (1729 - 1797)

Guest · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:10 pm Post subject:

May I take this opportunity to ask a very very simple question "Mr Lund, do you have the best interest of Marton School at Heart ? because everything that has happened to date gives me an opinion to the contrary, as Director of Children's Services, I think the one group of people you have badly let down in all this , are the children, yes the little kids who have no voice and look for guidance from their elders. You have had the opportunity to get round the table,and I believe took it to try and buy time, you said you would work with the Action Group, yet that has not materialised, the L.E.A. has made a mockery of its own disciplinary procedures and throughout all this the school has been made a laughing stock in certain circles. Many schools are watching the events from all this with great interest, If this is how you carry out your investigation's into complaint's from worried parents,then you need to revisit your own procedures because they clearly are sadly lacking, like I said at the top, "Do you really have the best interest of Marton School at heart or is it just your job ? For what it's worth, I spoke to a year 6 child only yesterday who asked one very direct question,when is Mrs Alderson coming back ?

R.Thornton · Guest

What type of Legal Action could Mr Lund possibly take ? Isn’t it more likely that Mr Lund is now seeking legal advice to protect himself from the forthcoming legal onslaught which he and Coupe will have to face.
Parents have repeatedly raised issues which should have been matters of the greatest concern to the school governors and the local education authority. It is clear to all who read this forum that they have not moved to take action and so they are most probably in breach of their legal duties.

It is highly likely, I feel, that the result of the recent months’ activities will result in an application to the courts to require the local education authority to fulfil their legal duties under the various Education Acts to ensure the children obtain the best possible education. This is something which recently they have so obviously failed to do.

Further to your posting under the ‘Governors Section’
“THAT is why this web-site is so important – because it allows our voices to be heard. Mrs Coupe hates it, and has done everything she can to have it closed down. The Action Group has been formed, and “someone” has tried to stop us holding a public meeting”

I would like to point out the following:-

The European Human Rights Act (Article 10:Freedom of expression)
This guarantees the right to pass information to other people and to receive information that other people want to give you. It also guarantees the right to hold and express opinions and ideas.

Coupe was in clear breach of this act in attempting to use her position of authority to block the rights of others in attempting to close the site. Once the current educational enquiries are completed she will PERSONALLY face legal action over her attempts. In this instance she will not be able to hide behind Lund or the authority.

Finally, in the same posting you made the statement

“Of course, it is extremely rare for any Head Teacher to actually mis-use the position of power to which they are entrusted – but it DOES happen. And when it does, it is only down to the people who are not actually under any direct influence of the Head Teacher to speak up and make their voices heard – the parents”

I am afraid to say that you have this one wrong – it sadly is not extremely rare. Although many parents (and staff) were shocked by the behaviour and actions of this headteacher, it is not an isolated case – it is actually a national problem. However, the plus side of this is that the parents’ action group is not alone. I urge everyone to visit the CASE website (Campaign for State Education) at http://www.casenet.org.uk/ and especially to scroll down the page and follow the link to ‘Their school or ours?’

I have selected some salient points from the CASE campaign:-

Since the 1986 Education Act there has been little attention paid to how parents, teachers and governors and the wider community might be able to influence education decision making in a wider sense by having the right to have their views heard.

It is being accepted more and more that as we all have an interest in our education system being successful then it is right that we all should have some say in decision making about schools. How these different voices can be heard is the focus of these proposals.

Even though parents are partners in their children's education at local and national level their views on education decision making are not taken into account as of right. In schools parents are entitled to representation on governing bodies through their election of parent governors.

Parent governors can have the most difficult job. Although the 1986 Act established the role of elected parent governors it did not establish a means by which they could consult parents within the schools. They have no right or duty to consult the parents in the schools. They can also be obstructed by the head or other governors from raising issues on behalf of parents. Similarly outside the school there was no mechanism established for parent governors to come together to establish a clear elected parent voice at local or national level

Governing bodies as now constructed were designed to provide a balance of interests. Over time, however, some imbalances and shifts in power have become apparent and CASE believes that a review is needed to ensure a more representative structure.

CASE believes that there is a crucial role for a locally elected education body, the LEA. All actions of individuals and institutions affect others and someone must therefore make fair decisions for all, not just about the allocation of resources but also the character and behaviour of institutions. Someone must provide a hearing and where necessary redress for individuals who have been treated unfairly. However, CASE considers that a stronger community input into the consideration of education policy making is vital.

This, it seems to me, is what the Marton parents action group has been about. The fight for right to be heard - so that positive differences can be made in the education of the children.

It is the duty not only of the parents who care, but also of the wider local community as a whole, not to hide away, but to put a stop to selfish, autocratic and self seeking individuals who attempt to run institutions by their own rules.

Guest · Guest

I find your point about parent governors above very apt.

Apparently, according to the minutes, one of the parent governors, Dean Lomax, attempted to raise a number of issues at a recent meeting. The other governors said that they were not interested in hearing complaints from parents and were somewhat aggrieved at Mr Lomax's methods of communicating with parents and other concerned parties. Then it seems the question of whether Mr Lomax could be removed from the governing body was raised. The clerk, who works for the LEA, told them that as Mr Lomax was an elected governor then he couldn't be removed. She then went on to remind governors that there was a procedure for suspending governors.

This seems a very familiar scenario; Bev Alderson was suspended as a Governor, Paul Curtis was removed as a governor and now Dean Lomax's position seems threatened. All these people are governors who have spoken out in some way or other.

Please note that the above comments are my interpretation of the minutes, but these can be seen by anyone on request to the LEA. I urge everyone to look at these minutes to see exactly how the governing body responds when parents concerns are raised. The date of the meeting was 24th November I believe.