Unprecedented
third strike by teachers at Worthing High, as academy bid grinds to a halt?
As
teachers strike for an unprecedented third time at Worthing High in opposition
to the plans for it to become an academy, WHAAG has asked the Department for Education
to rescind the school’s Academy Order because of the misleading and invalid
nature of the school’s academy application that we can now reveal.
At
the crucial meeting on the 30th May at which the Governing body
voted to progress it’s application for academy status, it was legally necessary
for the decision to be supported by the Worthing High School Trust Board.
Although a meeting of the Trust Board was held immediately after the Governors
meeting and the Trust Board voted in favour of academy status, there were
insufficient members of the Trust Board in attendance for the vote to be
valid. The Worthing High Articles of Association clearly state that a
minimum of half of the Trustees must vote, and therefore, five members should have been in attendance for a vote to be valid.
Only four Trustees were present at
this meeting, as per the minutes of the meeting that we have seen.
This
matter is now the subject of a legal challenge by the NUT and WHAAG have
requested an investigation by the DfE or other appropriate body.
Mr
Cohen the Chair of Governors has either knowingly progressed an invalid and
misleading academy application or presided over mind boggling
incompetence. Whichever of these is true, we believe he should now resign
and for the sake of all of the school’s stakeholders the academy bid should be
stopped.
Worthing
High’s academy bid under Mr Cohen’s leadership has been littered by examples of
mismanagement and incompetence:
· Botched initial consultation on academy conversion with stakeholders Flawed academy proposal with incorrect and misleading
informatio
· Flawed academy proposal with incorrect and misleading
information
· DfE requirement to consult further (31/08/12) has been ignored
· Governor academy bid votes leaked to Tim Loughton MP (ex
Children’s Minister) who subsequently broadcast these on Twitter
· Series of governor resignations – of the original eleven
governors who voted on the academy proposal on 30/5/12, only five now remain
· Three days of teacher strike action
· Two investigations at the
school, resulting in Head teacher, Alison Beer’s, resignation