'I thought it right to explain 11-plus vote'
DEPUTIES who voted to scrap selection at 11 had a responsibility to explain their position, a deputy for the West has said, after emails between politicians were leaked to the Guernsey Press.
The idea was scrapped when all the politicians involved did not agree to publication.
She said it was an instant response to events on the day of the 11-plus vote, including statements made by Education committee members and supporters afterwards which appeared to 'stoke division and upset, rather than offering calm, assured and confident support' to all school communities.
Speaking yesterday, after the emails had been leaked, she said: 'I feel that our responsibility as States members doesn't just stop with our vote in the Assembly – we have to follow it through.
'It was our votes which led to this major change in the education system, so I felt the 21 of us who'd voted down the 11-plus had a responsibility to step up and explain what we thought would now happen and why.
'Both the draft letter and the motion of no-confidence come from the same concern – a real doubt about the committee's ability and willingness to deliver such major change, and an equally strong sense of responsibility for having set that change in motion, which means I'm not prepared to stand by and let it fail and risk letting down a generation of islanders in the process.'
Deputy Yerby has posted the email and draft letter on her own website – www.emilieyerby.com.
