Thatcher's
After three months of sham "consultation" the leadership ol Coventry Labour Group presented their tina. proposals or school closures on May 20 al a Labour Group meeting.
As was widely expected they have resistance and given ground while maintaining the attack and setting the scene for a further round of closures in one or two year's time.
Tle proposals are a reprieve 1or or
the three comprehensives. Barr's Hi but a reduction in size to 5 forms of entry, closure of Birley Park comprehensive, an attempt at merging a Church of England secondary with Alderman Callow comprehensive and the closure of two primary schools and one infant school.
The mergers of three infant and junior schools involving closures of buildings remain, as do the closures of three (instead of four) special schools. Op. position to the mixing of the four single sex schools has meant that the Council now plan to mix only one of the four.
The whole operation was completely cynical. Barr's Hill stays open because the three Labour Councillors in the local ward. Radford, felt the hot breath of their constituents and Ward Party down their necks and could no longer be counted on to vote with the hardliners in the Group leadership. The proposa. to merge Alderman Collow with Bluecoat C. of E. and in some way keep a school in Canley is for similar reasons, although the Council hope to save a few quid by means of this absurd merger.
Birley Comprehensive has the misfor. tune to be sited on 45 acres of prime building land worth at least £5 million and any or all of these craven traitors would crawl on broken glass for that ind of money. The Tory lobby has sav ad Tile Hill Wood Girls and Woodland Boys trom going mixed while the Muslim lobby has preserved the Lyng Hall Girls!
The proposals for primary schools remain unaltered except that Pridmore Infants is to remain open for a year while a replacement is built at nearby Christopher Cash. In special education the Council has withdrawn the closure of one school, Deedmore, because of its strong Action Group and close links with Henley and Longford Ward Labour Parties.
However, they are maintaining complicated shuffle of children around the city involving the closure of three schools and reduction of provision in all the categories of special education. The new proposals mean that the moderate and severe learning difficulties schools will be split into nursery/primary and secondary on different sites instead of having all three age groups on the same sites as at present. The danger in special education is of the Council run-
axe to schools By MATTHEW JONES were not to be released in written form until the minutes for the Education Committee on May 31 were sent out. They were released to the press, probably before Albert Rose, Chair of Education, spoke to the unions on Tuesday May 21. Rose assured the unions that this was only the first round of cuts and they would be back for more in three of four years.
The fight against the closures has been centred on the Labour Party lett. the Action Group Co-ordinating Committee and the NUT. Of the other unions in education, activists and officers of NAS/UWT and NUPE have attended a few meetings and they supported the one day strike called by the NUT on March 22. NAS/UWT were ordered by their national leaderships not to take part in the action. NALGO have been present at one or two meetings besides routine ones and their executive lost the ballot on strike action on March 22.
Coventry Broad Lett, supported by seven councillors (tive expelled from the Labour Group and two who are still .: COMMITTEE No Liverpool-style stand for Coventry's axemen. Socialist Viewpoint, No. 6, June 1985. Page 26
the proposals do go to ducation Com shite on May 31 and dil Council o mine the future of education in Coventry. Firstly the size and effectiveness of the lobby of full Council on the evening of June 11. It has been conclusively proved that the people of Coventry do not want school closures and that the Council's smokescreen of "falling rolls" is an excuse for saving money.
For the Labour Group to go ahead with the closures under these conditions is totally undemocratic and justifies any disruption of the Council meeting on June 11 that we can carry out. Watch the national media June 11/12. unions deliver the will the Council workers' pasons are possed? her the Council decided to close Bell Green School in December 1983 the only union which organised its members to support the two occupations in June/July 1984 was Coventry Colliery NUM! If we are to defeat the closures this time round we need strike action by the Council unions alongside the direct action and protest from the Action Groups and the Labour Parties. LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL JOINT STEWARDS.