SCHOOL MEALS TO BE STOPPED

[Hels]

I see from the Courier that school meals are no longer going to be available in Skipness, Glenbarr and Rhunohairine (sp?) schools. Decision is based on council budgets and apparently approved by our elected councillors. It also comes after Argyll and Bute Council said it couldn't afford to honour the national promise for free meals for all up to primary 3. Is this cut going to mean they can afford that?

Personally I think this is complete nonsense considering the national drive to be providing healthy, hot and decent school meals - what would Jamie Oliver say with kids having no choice but a packed lunch every day?! What about the kids who are currently entitled to free school meals - will their parents get extra child benefit for an additional 5 meals per week? Obviously there are going to be job losses too.

Not to be too dramatic, but is this the beginning of the end for some of our rural schools?

[Beachcomber]

Not to be too dramatic, but is this the beginning of the end for some of our rural schools?

Absolutely. A couple of years ago they tried to do away with free school transport. That ended in a fiasco and the council were forced to make an expensive U-turn. Now they're trying it with the dinners.

Skipness primary school has only a handful of children but the nearest alternative is a 10 mile bus journey to Tarbert. Should we really be inflicting this upon our 5 year olds? The excellent head teacher at Skipness is also not far from retirement age, I believe, and I'm sure certain people at the council would see this as an excellent opportunity to close the school and save themselves some money. Heck! They're probably hoping to make some money by selling-off the building for conversion to luxury housing.

Perhaps people might consider emailing Sally Reid, the chief exec of Argyll and Bute Council, with their thoughts and feelings on this latest scam. Her email address is sally.reid@argyll-bute.gov.uk

[muasdalemouse]

Having corresponded with Councillor Semple (ward 2) who in turn contacted Douglas Henry (Director of Community Services), who had this to say...

Muasdale Mouse:

I am contacting you on behalf of the parents of children present and pre-school, who attend (or will attend) Glenbarr Primary School, with regards to the decision to cease the provison of school meals.

Despite there being no available information, or apparent consulatation on this matter (checked via the Argyll and Bute Council website), the decision was announced to the parents on Monday that the school meals service would be ceased.

I'm sure that you are fully aware that the School meals service, is a duty placed upon the education system via the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 and the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Scotland Act: Health promotion guidance for local authorities and schools. Yet it appears that the decision has been made to disregard these guidelines and stop hot dinners for children who have no alternative, other than to bring packed lunches to school with them, due to the isolated location of the school.

It has also been highlighted, that this could be the beginning of the end of this small local school, due to the continual budget cuts to small schools and the centralisation of isolated primary schools of this nature, which I might remind you are the only schools in Scotland, which actually meet the Scottish Government's targets regarding the reduction of class sizes.

I am writing to request information as to who made this decision and when the decision was taken to remove this service and what the wider picture, with regards to the future of the school is.

I would greatly appreciate any information you can give regarding this ahead of an emergency meeting of Glenbarr Primary, parents, teachers and interested parties, on Wed 25th Feb @ 7.30pm, Glenbarr Primary School.

Representative for Douglas Henry:

I can confirm that the decision taken in respect of the provision of school meals at Glenbarr Primary was part of a package of measures agreed by the Council as part of the Authority’s Revenue Budget for 2009/10. The provision of school meals is dealt with by my colleague Mr Andrew Law, who is the Council’s Director of Operational Services, and I have...asked him to respond to you in more detail on the specific issue of school meals.

[Mary G]

There is surely something unsavoury about ‘picking off’ small schools, rural ones, where children typically enjoy fewer facilities than their larger, more urban counterparts. Do they think the parents will be a pushover? How foolish. Policies that discriminate against the pupils in such communities are a disgrace. I wish all the parents, families, councillors and local communities every success in fighting this inequitable proposal.

Please let us know if you start up a petition/ Facebook group/ other campaign tool that needs our support.

[whacko]

Any local council that puts education anywhere other than at the top of their priorities and budgetary requirements simply isn't fit for purpose.

[muasdalemouse]

It would appear at the moment that the local authority are conspicuous in their failure to suitably advertise the decision to cease the school meals service in rural schools and rumour has it that if this initiative is sucessful, school meals in the larger areas will also be stopped (i.e. Campbeltown).

The information I have at the moment is that Jim Mather (MSP) is also making similar noises about having the school meals reinstated, or at least for the Local Authority to begin a consultation process with the parents and teachers of the affected schools. He assures me that the council will enter into discussions in the spirit of healthy debate. Yet have a look on the Argyll & Bute Council website and you'll see that they think punishing a man for walking his dog off leash is newsworthy, but not the major decision to cut spending in a vital area for rural schools.

So far we have a councillor claiming he was on holiday when the 2009-10 budget was approved, another claiming he supports the continuation of rural schools, but not commenting on the school meals ceassation and a wall of silence regarding the content and reasoning behind the 09-10 budget.

The whole thing smacks of underhandedness, based on the councils prior knowledge that this decision would not go down well. The likely outcome? Rather than cutting wages for the expensive councillors offices or executives in the council, it's likely that the parents of the schools are going to have to increase their financial input into the school meals service, to ensure that this service is maintained.

So the council tax freeze, isn't the big savour of the Scottish Parliament after all? Because it's likely that the people living in rural communities are going to have to pay more than everyone else, just to save the services that everyone else already get.

Double standards?

[yosser]

I'd just like to ask how much a Councillor or senior council manager is allowed to claim for a meal and room when they are staying away on council business? Let's see where the money they're trying to save is going to be spent, eh?

[LANDROVER ROGER]

I'd just like to ask how much a Councillor or senior council manager is allowed to claim for a meal and room when they are staying away on council business? Let's see where the money they're trying to save is going to be spent, eh?

Same old,same old.Don`t do as I do.Do as I say.

[sooze]

If the Scottish Government have said that schools have to provide free meals for P1-P3 but A&BC have stopped providing school meals in some schools, can anyone explain how this is to be done?

Sooze

[muasdalemouse]

If the Scottish Government have said that schools have to provide free meals for P1-P3 but A&BC have stopped providing school meals in some schools, can anyone explain how this is to be done?

Sooze

Unfortunately, this is the way that A&BC can get out of the aforementioned initiative. By dumping the school meals service before the initiative to give free school meals to p3's and under becomes active, they will be under no obligation to provide the children with free meals when the initiative does become active. The legislation will likely only apply to schools that do provide the school meals service.

Very sneaky and very underhand don't you think?

[Mary G]

This is ridiculous. From the Oban Times:

I learned from paper that I’d been sacked

A DINNER lady who discovered she was being made redundant through the pages of The Oban Times is demanding an apology from Argyll and Bute Council.

Christine McNeill has been the school cook at Colonsay’s Kilchattan Primary School for two years and had no idea that there were plans to scrap her job.

She explains: ‘On Saturday morning my husband was reading me the budget report in The Oban Times. When he read out the six schools who were closing their kitchens, I couldn’t believe my ears, so I got him to repeat it and it was true I was losing my job.’

Job cuts

Christine immediately phoned her catering manager who was also unaware of the job cuts.

It was not until she managed to speak to the head teacher of the island school that she had it confirmed – her kitchen was closing.

‘I have been treated appallingly.

‘It is not only the kiddies that I am worried about. I make meals for the elderly every week. When the pensioners come into the school they teach the children Gaelic and take time with them to teach them about the old ways. When will they get a chance to do that now?

‘I am appalled that the council has not got the manners to tell me that I was losing my job. I still haven’t got anything in writing. I have been told it is in the post. They should say sorry for the shock they have caused.’

Confirmed

The council confirmed that Mrs McNeill was not informed of her job loss, stating: ‘The information was in the budget pack but until a decision was taken we were unable to advise anyone. We told staff as soon as we possibly could.’

It is understood that parents with an entitlement for a free school meal, one of the SNP’s manifesto promises, will now be offered money to provide a packed lunch for children at school.

Other premises losing their school meal service are Glenbarr, Lismore, Lochdonhead, Rhunahaorine and Skipness.

http://www.obantimes.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/8442/I_learned_from_paper_that_I_92d_been_sacked.html

And there is also a letter in the Courier this week from a P7 pupil in Skipness.
Parents in the six schools should - ideally - campaign together against this. Six school boards will be difficult to resist ... not easy, I realise, but maybe worth a try. I am sure that many have plans to object and protest anyway.

Just a thought ... maybe enlist Jame Oliver ... I am sure he would be supportive http://www.jamieoliver.com/contact

[History]

What a terrible way to find out that you are losing your job.

This is ridiculous. From the Oban Times:

‘It is not only the kiddies that I am worried about. I make meals for the elderly every week. When the pensioners come into the school they teach the children Gaelic and take time with them to teach them about the old ways. When will they get a chance to do that now?

Not sure I understand the above. Is there some sort of lunch club in the school for the elderly or does the school do the Meals on Wheels?

This Just a thought ... maybe enlist Jame Oliver ... I am sure he would be supportive http://www.jamieoliver.com/contact

Not sure what input he would have as to how A & B manage their budget unless he intends to contribute some of his millions.

A bit off topic but I have always thought it ridiculous that there are three rural schools within a thirteen mile stretch Glenbarr, Rhunahaorine and Clachan. I believe that Rhunahaorine should close.

History

[Mary G]

A bit off topic but I have always thought it ridiculous that there are three rural schools within a thirteen mile stretch Glenbarr, Rhunahaorine and Clachan. I believe that Rhunahaorine should close.

Whether schools close or stay open is a different matter, as you rightly suggest History. If the Council wants to go down that road, then that is a separate issue.

While it does have the schools that it does, it should aim to offer a consistently high service to all pupils. I find it distasteful that they pick on small ones and offer a reduced service. Save money by all means - but do not start to say some schools deserve more than others as a means of doing that. This is wholly discriminatory.

Surely if they wanted to save serious amounts of money they could stop meals in one or two large schools. That sounds daft - and it is. But it is just as daft as saying we will diminish the smallest schools. It is a sorry attempt to pick off the those that they think are weaker, with - they perceive - few votes to lose.

Lismore and Colonsay have only one school each. And in each case the school dinner service is proposed to stop. This has a major impact on these small, fragile communities. Are they trying to chase people away from living in these places?

[History]

Not sure where this all came about regarding school meals to be stopped in certain schools but does it have something to do with transport costs? Can't really see that if some of the schools have their own kitchen and if those kitchens are used to make up meals on wheels then where will that take place?

I certainly don't agree that school meals should be stopped in any school, rural or otherwise but tbh I haven't read much about the reasons for it from a council point of view.

History

[Malky]

These school kitchens are also used to prepare meals for the local lunch clubs for pensioners - and at Rhunahaorine, which has the nursery, for the wee kids also. Closing these kitchens is a bad idea. It will save a pittance in money terms but will have a major effect on these small communities.

I've always thought a society should be judged on how it treats its children and its elderly. Its not looking too good from where I'm sitting.

Malky