A Moray Council plan to pair primary schools under one head teacher could jeopardise the local authority’s promise not to close any rural schools.
On Wednesday, councillors voted to approve measures to tackle teaching shortages by moving forward with the scheme at 22 of the region’s smaller schools.
However, Buckie member Gordon McDonald said parent groups in his ward were worried the move could pave the way for councillors to renege on a vow made last November to safeguard under-threat primaries for five years.
And he said fears were exacerbated during Wednesday’s meeting when council convener Allan Wright refused to deny that the paired heads plan could have an impact on the moratorium.
Mr McDonald said: “I was looking for reassurances that the promise to keep under-threat rural schools open would still be honoured under the paired headships scheme.
“I was told it was irrelevant to the issue, but by not giving an answer the convener has just put more doubts in people’s minds.”
Mr Wright yesterday repeated his stance that the moratorium on school closures was irrelevant to the paired headships debate.
He said: “The issue discussed was on paired headships to help alleviate the current difficulties with recruitment, and to promote a model which improves the management structure across all schools.
“Mr McDonald used that debate to call for a renewed statement on November’s decision.
“I was and am convinced that the remarks were opportunistic and had nothing to do with the debate we were having – which was about improving the management arrangements in our schools.”
Ryan Main, chairman of Findochty and district community council, campaigned last year to keep the village school open.
Yesterday he said the council’s refusal to confirm whether pairing Findochty with Portessie could affect the primary’s future was “concerning”.
“We don’t want to put two and two together and end up with five, but some of the paired headship plan mirrors what councillors were discussing when they wanted to close rural schools,” he added.
Moray council will now form a steering group to oversee its paired headship programme, with a view to implementing the plan at the beginning of the 2016-17 session.