Kingsbury head turns down union parental ballot offer

Friday's meeting between Kingsbury High School unions and the headteacher Jeremy Waxman and Chair of Governors failed to make any progress.  The unions offered to pay for an independently overseen ballot of parents in additon to the school's own consultation. They said they would recommend that any potential strike action would be called off in the event of a ballot.

Mr Waxman rejected the offer saying that academy conversion was not a 'referendum style' issue. The unions disagreed.

The unions disagreed with Mr Waxman's offer to sign a Model Agreement on Pay and Conditions. They did not doubt his sincerity in wanting to maintain pay and conditions of staff if the school became an academy but thought that such promises were hard to keep in the medium and long term.

The unions' action committees will now be meeting to discuss next steps and will be writing directly to all the Kingsbury governors to ask for their reactions to their offer.

Kingsbury High Parents Urged to Seek Ballot as Staff Ballot for Strike Action

Why have Kingsbury staff voted against converting to a Gove Academy? Why have parents demanded a ballot? Come and discuss at a public meeting on Tuesday 13^th September at 7:00pm in the Father O'Callaghan Centre, Main Hall, 26 Hay Lane, London, NW9 0NG  

Dear Parents,

As you know at the Governors meeting on 14^th July governors voted for Kingsbury High to apply for academy status. This despite the fact that ...

è  84.5%, over 4/5^ths of staff opposed the idea and voted NO in an independently overseen secret ballot.

è   at two parents meetings the overwhelming majority of parents voiced outright opposition or serious concerns.

è   parents had not then (and still have not) had their own independently overseen ballot.

è   any extra money Kingsbury might receive if they became an academy would be taken from the budgets of other schools. Younger children of Kingsbury High parents could suffer in Brent feeder primaries, losing funding, resources and even staff.

è   any extra money provided would be temporary. Michael Gove has said “the government is clear that a school converting to an academy will not have a financial advantage or disadvantage”.

è   Councils have been granted leave for judicial review of the funding arrangements. Further, the Government is itself presently reviewing funding.

è   no business plan had been done or provided for stakeholders scrutiny.

 

è   the vast majority of Brent schools are not Academies and have no plans to become Academies.

      Further, the Headteacher deliberately withheld from the Governors the fact that the school had received formal notification that staff (reluctantly and as a last resort) would be balloted for strike action if Governors voted to apply. Staff are now in the process of being balloted for strike action

           The Headteacher may tell you that the staffs' only real objections are the loss of the requirement for                n         national pay and conditions, and it being part of the privatisation of the state education agenda. They

           are not. The prime concern of staff is the long-term harm this would do to the education of

           Kingsbury pupils.

      As you know the teaching and support staff at the school are dedicated and committed to providing the best education for the pupils at the school. They are clearly against academy status. There is no evidence to show that this school becoming an academy would raise educational standards.

This is a matter of democracy. Kingsbury High School is a community asset. Proper regard and due weight in deciding its future should be given to key stakeholders, including parents and indeed pupils.

NO FINAL DECISION HAS YET BEEN TAKEN. DEMAND A BALLOT AS STAFF WERE ALLOWED. MAKE YOUR COLLECTIVE VOICE HEARD.

Parents have set up their own action group. They can be contacted via khsaac@hotmail.co.uk

We are the staff's local professional association representatives. Please contact us if you have any questions.

            Hank Roberts hankr@hotmail.com      0208 961 2251 or 07762737306

            Shane Johnschwager johnschwager@hotmail.com  07734703072

All change in the local press

A couple of weeks after reporter Tara Brady moved from the Wembley and Willesden Observer to the rival Willesden and Brent Times, Kate Ferguson  of the WBT has moved to the Hampstead and Highgate Express (the Ham and High).

I am sorry to see Kate go as she has been a committed and resourceful reporter who went well beyond the re-writing of press releases that is becoming characteristic of so many cash-starved local papers. Tara Brady is well able to take up the baton.

Meanwhile things at the WWO are less clear.  There has long been a problem of the title not living up to its name with a preponderance of Harrow news, features and letters and this seems to have worsened recently - purchasers need more than a token Brent story on the front page.  The Harrow Observer series needs to strengthen its reporting of Brent issues as well as extending its features to cover the borough if it is to win credibility.

The Harrow Times dabbled in reporting Brent issues a while ago and seemed to be trying to increase the paper's range but again this has diminished recently. This week there is only one Brent story (the teachers' strike). There is no attempt to connect up issues common to the two boroughs such as academy schools,

Strike for quality journalism

Local newspapers are under pressure because of a decline in advertising and readership as well as because of competition from the internet. However when publishers make cuts this often reinforces the decline with fewer journalists meaning less time for investigations and a tendency to do cut and paste jobs on press releases. Some newspapers end up padded out with stories from neighbouring areas rather than the their own borough.

I am convinced that a robust and active local press is absolutely necessary to hold the local council to account as well as providing a focus that cements local community solidarity.

Newsquest publishes the Harrow Times and Newsquest journalists in South London are to strike again this week in their continuing dispute over redundancies and in support of quality local journalism. Unlike some local newspapers the titles concerned are in profit.

The strike began on  Monday June 27 and is due to end at midnight on Thursday June 30.

NUJ negotiator Jenny Lennox said: “We’ve had a very successful two-day strike last week, and it is worth noting that a dozen journalists have joined the union since the dispute began. This reflects the deep anger which journalists employed by Newsquest at their bosses’ determination to avoid consulting with staff on the future of their papers.”

The NUJ strikers had previously adopted a unanimous vote of no confidence in their top management after a company decision to make an unspecified number of editorial staff redundant while the group’s titles continue to make substantial profits.

The strikers keep journalists and readers informed of developments through a special strike blog

The journalists deserve our support.