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Merger report 'is divisive'
A REPORT by council officers into the futures of two Sheffield secondaries will continue to set community against community, parent campaigners claimed today.
Officers were told to look at how Wisewood and Myers Grove schools could be kept open after a vote by councillors last month axed plans to merge them, with a 20 million replacement to be built on the Myers site at Stannington.
Their verdict, which will be debated again at the end of the month, warns that keeping both schools open could cost the city 250 million in lost funding.
It says the Government could withdraw funding promised to refurbish the rest of the city's secondary schools if the council refuses to tackle the issue of falling pupil numbers in the north of the city.
And it adds that Sheffield council tax payers would be left to foot the bill for rebuilding the schools, which are in poor condition - with an estimated bill of 27 million.
Robert Palmer, one of the leading members of the campaign to save Wisewood, said the promise of the 250 million funding had been obtained on the basis that Wisewood would close. "But this funding was agreed before Wisewood parents were consulted on the plans - proving once again that that process was from the start a sham. The council had already made its mind up and it was a done deal," he said.
"The council told the Government what it was intending to do, and then it asked the people affected.
"It's hard to assess just how far officers have pushed the Government on this, because they will lose a lot of face if the merger is scrapped," Mr Palmer said. "They didn't allow for a public backlash and now the whole strategy has gone pear-shaped. Meanwhile the Government says money will only be available if you do things our way.This report will continue to set community against community, with one set to win and one to lose - it's very disappointing."
Mum Deborah Beck, one of the Myers Grove parents in favour of the merger, said the report highlighted just what a poor state both schools were in and how badly an alternative was needed.
And she dismissed the suggestion in the new report that a compromise would be to merge the schools but keep them both open on a split site.
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Weather for Sheffield
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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