North Yorkshire parents of children with special educational needs facing major changes to their schooling provision have accused the county council of launching a misleading public relations operation in response to their concerns.
North Yorkshire County Council issued a press release after being alerted to parents’ claims that all 20 of the authority’s Enhanced Mainstream Schools (EMS) had rejected an “unworkable” funding offer of £48,000 instead of the £180,000 funding they currently receive.
The parents said the EMS, which provide specialist help so that children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities can make progress within a mainstream environment, have been served with closure notices and staff have been told that they will be out of a job by August 2020.
The authority’s press release did not directly respond to the EMS closure claims, but instead stated 31 “enhanced mainstream bases” would be established which will provide over 200 places across the county.
It stated there will be 17 primary schools offering up to eight places each and 14 secondary schools offering between eight and 15 places each catering for children with social, emotional and mental health needs, as well as those with communication and interaction difficulties.
The council said its new provision would create a system of enhanced support in primary and secondary schools across the county for children who would also benefit from having access to a mainstream setting and curriculum.
“This is about best practice,” said County Councillor Patrick Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Education and Skills. “This new model of enhanced provision for special needs children and young people will build a bridge between mainstream and special education so that where possible children with education, health and care plans can continue to be educated in mainstream schools.”
“At the heart of the strategic plan and one of our key priorities is that children with SEND should be educated as close to their local communities as possible.”
The council say despite the programme being in its early stages, 15 schools expressed an interest in being involved with the new scheme and further engagement work was planned with schools across the county early in the new school term.
“We felt it was time to remodel our provision,” said Cllr Mulligan, “given the growing number of children requiring education, health and care plans. We needed to provide more permanent places in mainstream so that children can enjoy teaching and learning within their local communities whenever possible. At present there are very few permanent special needs places in mainstream school.”
After learning of the council’s response, one parent said she had been staggered by the council’s attitude towards dealing with the parents’ complaints.
She said: “Words almost fail me at the way these people are attempting to justify their actions. The fact is that none of the current EMS have said yes to the restructuring because it’s cheap and unworkable.
“The local authority want more but done on the cheap. The headteacher at my son’s school has said that there is no way any school or governing body in their right mind would agree to this model.
“The figures are unworkable, these children are going to be among our most vulnerable and need specialist practitioners, this new model funding will simply not offer that.
“If new provisions are being sort why are all staff within these 25 provisions being sent redundancy letters and told that they will be out of a job in August 2020?
“I am disgusted and the outright lies and cover-ups that are taking place.
“I fear for my son’s future without these provisions and the expertise of practitioners but each and every taxpayer should be absolutely outraged at the waste of pubic money that surrounds this debacle.
“How anyone can justify redundancies to this degree, the council then giving away 25 specialist provisions costing on average £1.5 million each to then have to create more is beyond me.”
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