SCHOOLS across Huddersfield are being bullied and misled into becoming academies, union leaders have claimed.
Staff have been forced to stay silent and parents’ objections have been sidelined while headteachers and influential governors dictate the agenda, a Kirklees scrutiny panel was told yesterday.
Council advisors to Kirklees schools were also accused of misrepresenting the case for becoming academies and leaving out information crucial for making informed decisions on whether to become academies, representatives from Unison, NUT, NASWUT and other unions said.
The representatives believe headteachers and governors have been forcing the move, under the guise of token ‘consultations’ to reap cash offered by the Government to schools which become academies
And they claim some staff have been given a stark choice: to accept academy status or face potential redundancy.
The union leaders allege foul play at five Huddersfield schools.
SALENDINE NOOK HIGH SCHOOL
The school pressed on with the move towards academy status despite widespread opposition from staff and a vote against the move.
Some staff were told there would be redundancies if the school did not become an academy. But support staff were told that their conditions of employment would stay the same and some might be given a pay rise.
MOOR END ACADEMY (formerly Moor End Technology College), Crosland Moor
A senior member of staff asked unionised staff if they were ‘with their union’ or wished to continue working at the school.
LINDLEY JUNIOR SCHOOL
Governors declined to meet a parents’ group which had concerns about the school becoming an academy.
