Four governors quit board of new school
Support for a new primary school from the local authority has been "woefully lacking", one of the four governors that have stood down from their posts have said.
Mike Gregory, an experienced governor, said there had been no project plan for the new Church in Wales primary school in Welshpool and that governors had been left frustrated and not in control.
He has now resigned along with the chairman of governors Brendan McWhinnie, vice chairman Alison Bowen and and Derek Simms.
Mr McWhinnie stressed that his reason to stand down was over the governors failing to agree on whether prayers should remain on the agenda of governor meetings or whether those to wanted to take part did so five minutes before the start.
However, he also said that it was imperative that Powys County Council gives robust support to its school governing bodies.
"The school has lost some very experienced governors," he said.
He and other governors have praised the headteacher and staff at the primary school.
Mr Gregory said one of his reasons for resigning was that, like the governors, the staff had been left in the dark about the future of the new school.
"Having previously been a governor at Oldford Nursery & Infants School and latterly on the temporary and more recently the full Welshpool Church of Wales Primary School governing body, it saddens me greatly to see so many competent, caring and dedicated governors resigning from post; though I am not surprised," he said.
"While all governors, without exception, on the new governing body had one clear aim from the outset; ‘to obtain the best possible levels of education and resources for the young children of Welshpool’, the support from officers at Powys County Council in helping achieving this goal has been woefully lacking.
"From the outset there was no project plan despite governors requested on numerous occasions. When we were finally given sight of one, it was never updated.
"This meant there were was no clear operational strategy to take required actions forward. From the school closure processes, to staff appointments and budget planning everything was left to the last minute.
"Actions request of officers were not forthcoming and governors were left frustrated and not feeling in control of the processes, but merely being used to rubber stamp actions when required."
He said when draft outline plans for the new school building were produced in November the governors raised concerns about design, some relating to health and safety.
"Assurances were given that concerns would be taken on board and revised plans brought back to the governors for their consideration. Many requests were made to see the revised plans, nothing was forthcoming.
"It was based on this continuous lack of response by officers and concerns I had about the building that I could not sign up to the new school development and chose to resign."
A statement from the council said: "Powys County Council has worked closely with, and continues to work closely with, the governors of Welshpool Church in Wales Primary School on the development of the new school building.
"Many governors took the opportunity to visit similar new builds along with the council as part of the design process and the designs were fully discussed with the governing body. The governors formally approved the designs at their February meeting and we will continue to work with them as the school is built."
