What follows has been published as an anonymous comment on my earlier post on this subject. I thought the person writing it was making sense, and it may shed some light on the issue, so I publish it now as an independent post. What I think it shows is that however keen Reading Borough Council might be to keep this affair under wraps, they cannot really do so in these days of the new-fangled cyber-web thingy.
Whilst I feel that the governing body sat on their hands and didn't appear to want to get involved in parents' concerns, parents - including me, felt that our concerns were not being addressed. It was Mr Melvin Brant who was the Chair of Governors when the Vote Of No Confidence (not a petition) was delivered. However, I do not recall Mr Powers being voted in as a Governor, so I would like to know how he became a Governor. Whilst saying that, the school has some serious problems. It is alleged that it has the highest number of racist incidents in the whole of Reading. The Governors seem reluctant to publish these incidents even though I believe they have to do so, and indeed, they have stated that parents will be 'alarmed' with the number of racist incidents. Does this mean that the school/Governors are reluctant to act when it comes to instances of racism? Should Black/Asian children have to put up with that kind of abuse whilst those who can do something sit on their hands afraid of the 'R' word? Is there anyone of colour within the Governors who can/will do something about the prolonged issues of racism? Was Mrs Singh's reported problems with the Governors race related - even though they employed her? Did they employ her for all of the right reasons? Did they have a number of people (maybe three or four) to interview and she was the best of them all? Was she recruited as there was no other suitable candidate and the Governor's felt somebody was better than knowbody at all? Or, did they recruit her, knowing the racsit problems the school has, with a view that she would sort these issues out? Only they can answer that. Whilst I personally feel Mrs Singh's problems are all self inflicted, I do believe she has a case against the Governors. They sat on their hands for too long and I feel they were complacent having had Mrs Parry there for some time. My personal opinion is also that Mr Brant was a totally unsuitable Chair. I understood he decided to step down before he was voted out by the other Governors. A totally useless 'wartime' Chair in my opinion. Unfortunately I had the misfortune of sitting in two meetings with him and, once again in my opinion, he seemed totally clueless and out of his depth. At present, the two Heads of the school, Governors and LA are keen to keep things under wraps. They are very keen that parents' do not comment publicly on the ongoing situation, but they themselves still have work to do. They still do not appear to have a grasp of what is going on around them and appear surprised when incidents have been reported to them. The findings of the Independent Review has not been released by the Governors/LA, even though Mrs Singh has brought it into the public domain. Why won't the Reading Borough Council release it? They are claiming that it is an ongoing legal situation so cannot comment. My opinion is that it will never be released. They have lead the parents a merry dance since June/July 2010 that we would have have the findings by the end of that term. Mr Powers appeared in the local media explaining what the Governors going to do. The findings that were eventually released to parents didn't highlight any of our concerens. Whitewash sprang to mind. The school/Governors, once again in my opinion, only appeared to act on parents' concerns once it hit the headlines in the local media. It did nnot go to the media first. However, the sheer number of staff (teachers and support staff) and pupils that have left the school during Mrs Singh's 'leadership' tells a story in itself. Whilst I have no time for Mrs Singh and in my opinion her incompetence, if the LA/Governors did not follow the correct procedures, raise their concerns to her in any appraisal she may have had, they have left themselves open to this lawsuit and only have themselves to blame. They therefore deserve to lose this case.
10 comments:
Two technical points which might be of interest.....
1. It is the duty of the Head to report racist incidents to the Governors (and the Authority as well IIRC) but the Governors do not have to publicise what the Head tells them.
2. I would be very (pleasantly!) surprised if there were more than two applicants for the job when Mrs Singh was appointed. Getting applicants is very difficult these days. Very few people want to be Heads now, mainly because of all this sort of aggro.
Disagree - I am sure there were more than two applicants. Head Teachers are paid very well indeed - including Primary Heads. Rather better than MPs, in fact................
When I last had any invovevment with recruiting a Primary Headteacher, the salary was in the lower half of the £40k's. That was within the last 5 years. Salaries are affected by school size - one-form-entry is paid less tham two-from-entry. And we only got one applicant. The requirement to hold, or be working on, the NQHT qualification unless a serving Head does cut the field - even though it does ensure candidates have done some high quality relevant training and reflection.
Well - sorry, mate - but I reckon most people would love a salary in the lower £40,000 --- and it is a fact that many Primary Heads get considerably more.
And the majority of them don't have my qualifications either! I would think I'd died and gone to heaven if I even earned £35,000.
Some years ago a large comprehensive school in Greater Reading asked me to be a parent governor, as I was one of the very few parents to attend the parent / governor meetings. I declined because I had a full-time job outside Reading, and I believe governors should spend a significant amount of time involving themselves with the school.
Too many political appointees are governors for political reasons and do not involve themselves with their schools.
I agree wiht the last poster. As a member fo the Labour Party, I was aware from my first Party meeting in 1984 - that there was pressure to nominate for the school governor posts.
Few who were arm-twisted had any interest in or knowledge about - education. They could as well fly as make any informed and rational judgements about educational matters, much less be qualified in any way at all to make teaching appointments at any level.
I think that political parties should not have the right to pick Old Buggins. Anybody who watched the recent Winifred Holtby novel South Riding adapted for tv would have seen that this situatrion was just the same in the 1930s. Ill-informed nincompoops making destructive decisions founded on woeful ignorance.
Unfortionately "Ill-informed nincompoops making destructive decisions founded on woeful ignorance" don't just exist in governing bodies. They are rife in local government.
Just look at Anna Wright's (Director of Reading Children's Service) career history which cost Surrey council tax payers £500K through ruining the career of a successful Head who was hounded out of her job. Ms Wright made a quick get away after only 2 years in post Surrey (before the employment tribunal) only to make the same mistake again in Reading - spinelessly following the masses whilst scapegoating the individual who she perceives to be "weaker" in the scheme of things.
There have been previous anonymous reports to the press by Reading Council Childrens Service employees regarding allegations of bullying. There followed an "independent" investigation but as the press reports, those who were interviewed were forced to give their views with their managers present.
No doubt Ms Wright and her mignons are presently involved in a flurry of activity behind the scenes in an attempt to whitewash the sorry saga at Moorlands school.
I do hope that Sudhana Singh is keeping well as can be expected in what must be intolerable circumstances, and hope that she is successful in her claim. I hope that the children who have been exposed to this ordeal through their vocal parents are not suffering, I'm sure it's what Sudhana Singh would want.
I have read the 'interesting' points raised by some of the readers. I must point out that I am one of the 'vocal' parents due to the fact that the school was going downhill fast - teachers leaving, staff leaving, parents pulling their children out. What we did was highlight the issues to the Governors, who, in my opinion, under the leadership of Mr Brant, and latterly Mr Powers didn't appear to have a clue what was or still is going on under their noses. I will be more than happy to have a chat with you personally Jane to give you a full rundown. What I will make clear is this - Mrs Singh was/is an incompetent Head. My understanding is that she ruled via fear. I also understand certain teachers had to call in their Union to deal with her and I believe she was not able to speak to one such teacher without another person being present. Race played no part in what happened to her as the 'Vote' letter was signed by parents of all races. I still say, based on what I understand the Governors/LA haven't done, they deserve to lose this case. Mrs Singh is, and surely will be in the future, an incompetent Head who will split opinionwherever she may go in the future. Oh to be a fly on the wall at her Tribunal. Regarding Anna Wright, Baby P springs to mind!
Ps, in this instance, I understand Mrs Singh was being paid c£45k per annum.
The tribunal hearing is now on-going and there has been local press coverage.....
Those vocal parents who confidently expressed their views on the Reading Post website have now gone silent.
What doesn't marry is why Sudhana had an uneventful appraisal weeks before her complaints about racism emerged, however the LA are post- claiming she was an incompetent Head.
Has procedure not been followed and Reading Council is attempting to dig up dirt AFTER they realised they did not deal with Ms Singh's complaints according to their racism complaints policy?
Presumably the Director of Children's Services is accountable at the end of the day....oh, just a minute.... she's been made redundant. How convenient for Reading Council.
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