Following a meeting with parents of pupils at Dunearn Primary School and those in the community on Thursday 11 November, local MSP Marilyn Livingstone has taken their concerns to the Head of Education, Ken Greer.
Marilyn has written to Ken Greer to ask for the consultation on the future of the school in its current form to be withdrawn and for the whole issue to be looked at again by the Kirkcaldy Area Committee. This way forward has the unanimous support of all who were at the meeting, including all local Councillors who attended.
The Kirkcaldy constituency MSP has also asked that any review that takes place is fair, open and transparent and is not centred around one community. Marilyn has informed Ken that if the consultation, which has been deemed by parents and local Councillors as fundamentally flawed, is not withdrawn she will under the terms of The School’s Consultation (Scotland) Act, ask Scottish Ministers to intervene after Fife Council itself has admitted that it is inadequate.
Marilyn added:
“The meeting with parents, the local community and Councillor was very productive, with agreement across the political parties that the way forward is to ask for the consultation to be withdrawn.
“I believe that any review that takes place must be open, transparent and available to all. The consultation in its current form is not available in different languages despite the fact that a number of families at the school use other languages, including Polish and BSL. The form for replying to the consultation is also on white paper which is not suitable for those with literacy issues.
“Only having two options of closing the school or maintaining the status quo but monitoring the school for closure every three months and being force to pick one of these as the only way to reply to the consultation is unacceptable, as is having no space for a written response.
“If Fife Council will not listen to parents, the community, Councillors and the local MSP and refuse to withdraw the consultation after itself admitting that it is flawed, I will be taking the issue to the Scottish Government and representing the concerns of Kirkcaldy constituents at a Scottish Parliament level.”
