Parents at Drummond School filed an official complaint claiming that Highland Council discriminated against students at the special school in Inverness.
Their claim is based on the fact that Drummond was closed for two days, January 10 and 11, during this week’s teacher strikes. Most schools across the region, including mainstream schools in Highland Council and special schools in the north-east, only missed one day.
Dave Hayhurst, the parent who filed the complaint, said that the decision to close Drummond for both strike days was “nothing more than discrimination and the council trying to use ASN children as pawns in a dispute with hard-working teachers.”
In response to Mr Hayhurst’s complaint, a Highland Council officer said that there was no intention to discriminate against students with additional support needs (ASN) at Drummond.
Instead, the officer said that because the staff at special schools serve in unique capacities, it was not clear that there would be enough staff to safely operate the school on either day.
In the north-east, councils only opted to close special schools for one day, Tuesday, regardless of whether the school provided both primary and secondary education.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said that this was because the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the country’s largest teachers’ union, only called out special school staff on one day.
Drummond School not singled out in initial strike announcement
Ahead of the strike action, Highland Council’s stated position was to close all primary schools on January 10 and secondary schools on January 11.
Letters were sent separately to primary and secondary parents on December 19. But Mr Hayhurst said that he didn’t receive a letter addressed specifically to parents at the special school.
Instead, Drummond’s head teacher forwarded the other letters along with a note saying that Drummond would close for two days.
Mr Hayhurst has since lodged a formal complaint with Highland Council. In it, he alleged that causing Drummond’s students to miss two days where others only missed one was “nothing more than discrimination”.
“We believe council are using disabled children as a PR weapon to beat up unions,” he said.
Strikes over two days
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) called out its primary teachers on Tuesday January 10. Secondary teachers went on strike on Wednesday January 11. EIS members were joined by teachers from other unions on both days.
Drummond is home to both primary and secondary students, and Dave Hayhurst has children at each level. Mr Hayhurst said that he expected the school’s primary provision to close on Tuesday and the secondary provision to close on Wednesday.
That would have been in keeping with what happened across the rest of the north and north-east.
Mr Hayhurst asked whether the council could have spoken directly to union representatives and reached an agreement by which all staff members could exercise their ability to strike while also keeping Drummond open at least one day.
Health and safety concerns cited
According to emails seen by the P&J, a Highland Council officer said that the local authority chose to close Drummond on both days for health and safety reasons, because they couldn’t be sure whether staffing levels would be sufficient.
“The issues that the authority faced when considering the position of our special schools is that they are serving pupils from 3-18, not two separate sectors, primary and secondary and also the uncertainty about staff availability in each of the schools.
“The teachers at Drummond do not work in such a way that they are separated into primary and secondary sectors. Some are classed as ASN teachers, some are subject-specific, some are primary teachers.
She added: “There was no intention to discriminate on the basis of Additional Support Needs, rather it was based on whether or not we could safely open the school to pupils on those dates.”
In the official response to Mr Hayhurst’s complaint, the council promised further communication with union representatives over future strike action.
“We will take on board your comments below and ensure that we when are in contact with the teaching unions ahead of any further planned industrial action we will make an informed decision then, in particular for our special schools and ASL provision.”
The next teacher strike in Highland is scheduled to take place at the end of the month, on January 31.
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