PARENTS are not being properly consulted on radical school changes, a councillor claimed last night.

Clr Christine Stanfield is worried that Lindley Junior School and Salendine Nook High School are rushing to become academies.

Both schools plan to move out of Kirklees Council influence by September.

But Clr Stanfield believes the schools are moving too quickly.

The Lindley Lib Dem said yesterday: “This is a one-way journey into the unknown and both parents and governors are asking why there is such a rush and why there has been so little debate.

“Guidelines for academies state that governors need only consult ‘those they deem necessary’. This sounds as if it is designed to be exclusive rather than inclusive.

Salendine Nook High’s board of governors will decide whether to convert to an academy on Wednesday. Lindley Juniors is also due to change-over in September.

But Clr Stanfield believes parents need more time to consider the issue.

“Parents from Salendine Nook have told me that they have received no information at all from the school,” she said.

“I was told that notes were sent home to the parents, but these were sent via the children rather than by post. How many parents have found illegible school notes in the pockets of clothes after they have gone through the washing machine?

“Also, why were the notes only sent out in English when there are many parents whose first language is not English?