Resignation must be on their minds

After a marathon debate, the States has thrown a giant spanner in the one-school-two-sites transformation as the doubts and challenges of teachers and protesters held sway.

It is another twist in the never-ending waltz that is the education debate.

So what now?

After four days of ripping the requete to shreds as the worst form of irresponsible government, the five members of Education will surely struggle to implement it.

Resignation must be on their minds.

If they do not, the States will have arrived at a familiar point. It was only four years ago that the last Education committee suffered a similar defeat when Deputy Paul Le Pelley’s board tried and failed to restore selection.

Instead of resigning, Deputy Le Pelley and his team stood firm and vowed to put aside their doubts and implement the States’ plan for a three-school all-ability system.

It was an honourable decision, made with the best of intentions, but it sowed the seeds of yesterday’s destruction.

For it proved impossible for the States to recover the trust broken by the selection debate. When ESC returned – having confounded their critics with a credible all-ability plan – that lack of trust made it all too easy for the States in February 2018 to dismiss ESC’s three-school plans and embrace the ‘gang of four’s’ radical leap of faith instead.

The current ESC are in a similar invidious position. Despite the calibre of the individuals, few will trust them as a board to do the requete justice.

How can they cast aside the natural love of their own child and look with honesty at another’s?

Once June’s election has taken place ESC will change anyway. Some will not stand, some will not be re-elected to either the States or the committee.

Few would blame Deputy Fallaize and co. for walking away and leaving someone else to drink from this poisoned chalice.

Ironically, the best placed and most likely to do that would be those members of the former committee in whom the States had so little faith just two years ago.