ESC should resign, say constables of four parishes

In its policy letter, which is due to go before the States at its meeting which starts today, the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture is asking members to agree that the committee as presently constituted shall remain in office until the normal end of committees’ terms of office on 30 June.

But the parish constables, Peter Ward, St Andrew’s, Sue Aldwell, Torteval, Clive Le Tissier, Forest, and Jeff Wilkes-Green, St Martin’s, say the time to go is now.

‘How can this committee who have stood behind the one-school-on-two-sites model throughout be the right people to continue with Education and be in charge of comparing a three-school or any other model against their preferred option?,’ said group spokesman Mr Ward.

Asking the States to give the current members its backing to continue after losing the vote, having their school model paused, and three months before an election that would see a new Education committee in post was a complete waste of time.

Education president Matt Fallaize had said his committee was not trying to change the intention of the [pause and review] requete, or the outcome by the States, but it was beginning to look very much like they were, according to the group.

‘The requete won through and with that, confidence was lost in ESC and they should now do the decent thing and stand down,’ said Mr Ward.

Education was trying to overturn the decision of the States, which was clear from item one on its policy letter – namely to agree to the continuation of the development, which is already well under way, of a single States secondary school operating across a number of sites.

Proposals were again being brought to the States chamber with no input from stakeholders such as the teaching unions. Furthermore, ESC had gone ahead and signed a contract for the supply of uniforms, again contrary to what the House instructed them to do.

Deputy Fallaize said an instance was identified where staff had not paused an order for PE kit which arguably should have been paused pending the clearer directions his committee was seeking from the States this week.

‘We have been assured that no supplier took any action as a result of this,’ he said.

The whole affair was making the States look silly and bringing our system of local government into question, according to Mr Ward.

The four parishes had previously come out to say they opposed the use of Les Beaucamps for use as one of the two sites proposed for a 1,400-pupil school.