Anti-merger supporters jeopardise DfES funding
I WRITE with regard to the repor(July 19), 'Petition battle to safeguard schools'.
I am disappointed once again by The Star's biased reporting of the issue of the proposed merger of Wisewood and Myers Grove schools.
I attended both the meeting of the Scrutiny Board which took place on July 18 and the Cabinet meeting on July 19, yet it is not clear which meeting your article relates to. The report bears no resemblance to the events at either meeting I attended.
What is clear from the meetings is that the Scrutiny Board and the Cabinet both passed resolutions in favour of the proposed merger of the two schools with the new school being built on the existing Myers Grove site.
Your report only refers to the Save Our Community School campaign group (SOCS) while the number of interested parties in favour of the proposed merger at both Council meetings this week far outweighed those seeking to keep both Wisewood and Myers Grove schools open as small schools. Why then was a quote only sought from SOCS secretary Toby Mallinson? (Let's be under no illusion here SOCS, with it's link from the Lib Dem website, is not about "saving our community schools". Rather it exists solely to keep open Wisewood school).
What the people of Sheffield need to recognise is that the vote of Sheffield City Council on the 6 June 2007, ambushed as it was by the Greens and Lib Dem councillors, does not just impact on the pupils who would benefit from the proposed merger i.e. the pupils of both Wisewood and Myers Grove schools. As a result of this vote the Partnership for Schools and the DfES have suspended approval of 250 million plans to improve Sheffield's education provision. These parties have placed this funding in jeopardy.
However, despite repeated requests those opposed to the merger have failed to come up with viable alternative proposals to the problem of falling birth rates in the North West of Sheffield. Crucially they have failed to spell out where the source of capital funding that would be required to rebuild or refurbish (refurbishment being at a higher cost) both Wisewood and Myers Grove schools would come from.They have also failed to detail where the money to meet the ongoing running costs of both schools is to be found.
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In the absence of central government funding the only funding options available are to borrow, to increase council tax rates or to divert money away from other projects.
Tracy Rodgers, Stannington
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