Are we Being told the truth ?

WAYNE HEYS · Are we Being told the truth ?

After reading tonight's article(1/6/06) in the Gazette , I am more worried than ever,quite simply if you look at the comments from both parties they seem to be strangely contradictory,for example, the spokesman for the NASUWT said""Agreement has been reached between the parties concerned but a few loose ends need to be tightened up. We cannot release any further details" and yet our good old friends at the LEA told the Gazette "A disciplinary hearing was due to take place last week but it has now been delayed until June." if the disciplinary hearing has not yet taken place then how can aggreeements have been reached !!!!!!!!!
It seems that either the union official has dreamt up some information,for what reason I do not know,or the disciplinary has infact gone ahead and may indeed not be finalised,but why would the LEA then say the hearing was going ahead in June,don't get me wrong I am not suggesting that the LEA would try and fob us off in any way!!. I know who's statement I am inclined to believe and it is not coming out of progress house,can someone from the csa/lea please clarify these comments !!!!!!

helen

Just so that everyone knows what the previous poster is talking about, I reproduce the gazette article below:

Deal in teacher row
A TEN-month row at a Blackpool primary school is close to being resolved.
Marton Primary teacher Beverley Alderson has been suspended from the school since July last year pending "certain allegations".
The conciliation service ACAS has now helped to finally break the deadlock between Blackpool education authority and Mrs Alderson's union, the NASUWT.
Though the deal is not yet finalised, it is expected to be concluded by Friday next week.
Mrs Alderson's has been on full pay since she was suspended pending the investigation.
Her suspension sparked an angry reaction from some parents at the school on Whernside, who then set up the Marton Action Group.
They complained to school chiefs that they had not been told why the disciplinary action had been taken against Mrs Alderson.
Alan Veale from the Marton Action Group today said: "We welcome a conclusion to the whole sorry episode.
"We are glad to see there may soon be closure on the issue of the suspended teacher but that has never been the group's only issue with the school.
"Hopefully when this matter is finally brought to an end we can start to address some of our other concerns at Marton Primary School."
Mrs Alderson's shock suspension came just weeks after a damning Ofsted report when inspectors said divisions within senior management were impeding progress at the "underachieving" school.
Headteacher Ruth Coupe, who took over from retired headteacher Lynn Lancaster in September 2004, drew up an action plan to resolve issues raised in the Ofsted report.
A spokesman for Mrs Alderson's union, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Woman Teachers, (NASUWT), said: "Agreement has been reached between the parties concerned but a few loose ends need to be tightened up. We cannot release any further details."
A spokeswoman for Blackpool Council said: "A disciplinary hearing was due to take place last week but it has now been delayed until June."
rebecca.smith2@blackpoolgazette.co.uk
01 June 2006

R. Thornton · The Hearing

It has been posted by many people over the past few weeks that a hearing was due to take place.

Now what would the NAS/UWT have to gain by stating that a settlement has been reached if it has not. They are a respected national organisation, dealing with issues around the country regularly. Would they really make a statement to the local press which was untrue ?

Blackpool authority on the other hand, led by Mr Lund, has spent the past year attempting to cover up issues, sidetracking those who asked questions, publicly promising to have meetings then ignoring those promises. Why would they deny a hearing had taken place - simple. It is a safe bet that the hearing must have gone against them. They do not want details to come out until they can lessen the damage publicly.

So we all need to see the results of the hearing - I am sure we can safely say that it has taken place - then we will know exactly what went on. I hope the Gazette follow this up to try to get to the truth.

Furthermore, if it transpires that a teacher has been suspended wrongfully for this amount of time, with all the implications for the career of that teacher, and all the implications of costs to the school and authority, what action is going to be taken against the headteacher ? What action will be taken against a chair of governors who did nothing at all to resolve the matter ?

The whole episode is a scandal and I am unable to see how the authority can help themselves now by denying the truth. Why not, for once, be open and make a statement about what has really happened and stop the speculation.

Alan Veale · Truth or Dare?

Following my recent conversation with Rebecca Sykes at The Gazette, the subsequently published report, and the understandable comments of the previous posts, I think it is time I clarified a few points:

Firstly – the disciplinary against Beverley Alderson HAS been concluded. It is over, and all of us can be relieved at that. What we are presently waiting for is a (carefully) worded joint statement that will give details of exactly HOW it has been concluded. This has been promised by 9 June – although I wouldn’t hold your breath…

Now – the peculiar wording from “Mrs Progress”: yes, it is confusing, but then it is designed to be exactly that. This is simply the voice of authority following type – “Never give a straight answer to a difficult question”. There are two reasons for this: 1) Mrs Progress is following a directive from David Lund which basically said “If anyone asks, just tell them its been delayed to a later date.”
2) As stated above, with the disciplinary against Mrs Alderson now concluded, Mrs Progress is referring to a DIFFERENT disciplinary at Marton School – and this time she is referring to action against the Head Teacher herself!

In all seriousness, once the long-running “Alderson Case” was finished, all the confidential matters that had been caught up in it would no longer be affected. This now leaves the field open for further (legal) action to be taken against Ruth Coupe and those backing her.

None of this can start until the promised joint statement has been released, so take pity on the unfortunately named spokeswoman. She has a lot on her plate!

But the clock is ticking away, and soon Mrs Coupe will have nowhere to hide…

Alan Veale

Tracey

I too am glad that Mrs. Aldersons case appears to have been resolved- for want of a better word. I will be waiting with much anticipation for the statement on 9th June, will we finally find out the truth regarding her suspension? It does not surprise me that the first we hear of an outcome for the hearing is issued in school half-term. I wonder what is going through the minds of those blindly following the head teacher and how will those who fully support her feel when the full truth of what has occurred since September 2004 is finally out in the open. I hope their faith and trust in her and the LEA, etc are not shoved back in their faces. The clock is ticking: tick, tock........

HM · Statement

Correct me if I am wrong but I looked through the Gazette today and found no statement about the hearing.

Looking again at the newspaper report from June 1st I think that Mr Veale, Mr Thornton and Tracey are wrong about the end of the affair. The statement fom the authority clearly says that the hearing is to be postponed until later in June. They could not risk being caught out again with a blatant lie. Why would an education authority lie about something as important as a teacher's career and a disciplinary ? This is an education authority after all, responsible for the well being of our children through the standards it sets in our schools.

So we must be patient and hope that Mrs Alderson soon gets a chance to make her case and resume her career at the earliest opportunity after suffering for so long. I find it hard to believe that she could be found guilty of something after teaching successfully for so long at Marton.

We must also hope that an inquiry takes place into why it all happened in the first place, and if Mrs Alderson is found innocent then it is to be hoped that those who made false accusations are dealt with.

Are we Being told the truth ?

The Hearing

Truth or Dare?

Statement