| Topic: | Peter Todd's wish come true | Forum Home |
| Posted by: | Vlod Barchuk | |
| Date/Time: | 23/03/10 21:41:00 |
| Dear Peter If only you’d googled my name 3 times whilst standing inside a hologram of a pentangle, then I would of course have appeared on this forum instantly in all my eloquence and persuasiveness. Otherwise it can take me a couple of days to find time between work/Council meetings/nearly having a life to respond. I’ve never called you a ‘commie pinko troublemaker’ because you are not; you’re a member of the Labour party who, when he resided in Acton, sometimes did some sub Alistair Campbell (no, it wasn’t that good – sub Damian McBride) nuLabour spinning on this wonderful forum and I sometimes rose to the bait and responded – I like to think neither of us bored forum regulars too much with our political knockabout. But there are elections coming which no doubt explains why you choose to throw mud at me in the hope that some of it sticks. So to the substance of your posts… As those who have contacted me about the proposed temporary expansion know, I have supported the governors’ opposition to expansion of the school and have made it clear that I will assist in arguing for alternatives to these particular proposals. There is a lot of pressure on school places this year, from numerous causes of which one is the greater percentage of pupils staying in the state sector (recession means fewer parents can afford to send their kids to private schools). But temporary expansion at Derwentwater is not a done deal. I’m in regular contact with the chair of governors as to how best to make the school’s case on this matter. As to lift access to the upper floors, you know as well as I do that neither the previous or current headteacher have pushed this as a priority for improvements at the school. You also know that, notwithstanding the education spending increases under this government, the six figure sum required for this work does not, and has never, existed. You should also know that, in case of fire, standard advice is not to use lifts - so emergency arrangements would have to take account of any disabled child above ground floor being carried down stairs. And you would also know that the school undertakes regular fire drills to check that all children can quickly and safely exit the building if required to do so. To imply in your email that I don’t care about disabled children is cheap. And nasty. |