An Interesting Proposal, But…

The Parent Council Alternative Blueprint is is an interesting proposal . I am glad that they have taken the trouble to offer a counter proposal rather than just pleepsing about school closures.

The proposals that were originally put forward do not have much effect on my family. However on reading the document I was alarmed to find this glib statement:

 “Compare ASN spending with other local authorities. Set reasonable targets compared with these authorities. Consider ASN as part of the restructuring of schools as a whole – it is not a separate issue. Savings of £1.5 million would still leave Shetland as a very high spender in this area.”        

I do not know what experience of ASN education the authors of the report have. One of my daughters has been in ASN education all their life. In the years she has been there I have been delighted with her progress

ASN has already been asked to find savings of £500,000 and they are worried that will cause the quality of provision here will suffer. Any more cuts will just mean ASN education will go back to the bad old days when it was a baby-sitting service with no advancement for the bairns.

The authors have been a bit selective in their selection of costs, citing Orkney as costing £551 per pupil, as against Shetland costing £1,952. However the Western Isles spend £1,331 per ASN pupil.

Some more information on ASN across Scotland can be found in the Scottish Executive report Mainstreaming Pupils with Special Educational Needs: an evaluation . Appendix 2 shows that Western Isles like Shetland educate all ASN pupils within the isles, unlike Orkney who send 13% of ASN pupils south for education.

Are we to send our ASN pupils to live away from home so Aith secondary pupils do not have to commute to the AHS?

Unwitting Bias in Selecting New Shetland Charitable Trust Trustees?

Congratulations to the new Charitable Trust trustees on being selected and I wish them luck taking it forward.

I cannot help noticing though that no less than five of the new trustees are also members of Shetland health board.

I know they are all people who will have the interests of the trust at heart, but I can’t help wondering how they all happened to get there.
Historically there has been no link between Shetland health board and the trust and it may well be in the best interests of Shetland for them to act together in future for our benefit.

However it does raise the question was this planned or was it a happy accident?

If it was planned I feel it was a bit dishonest to look for independent trustees Or was there unwitting bias in the selection process?

The independent consultant who organised the recruitment of trustees was previously involved in recruiting for public appointments for the Scottish government.

Did previous experience help those who had gone through it before?

I must say that this is not sour grapes on my part. I went through an interview and felt I could have done far better.

Shetland deserves the best trustees it can get. I feel the Shetland public need an answer.

Reform of the Shetland Charitable Trust

As a former employee of the Shetland Charitable Trust I have taken a keen interest in the proposals for its reform. The only options available are those that fit into the legal framework that OSCR is the guardian of. Returning the SCT’s assets to the SIC is impossible under present legislation. The only options are for the reformed trust to change its constitution again.

When the present reform proposals were shown to OSCR they could only comment on whether the proposals met the requirements of charity law, they could not comment on whether it was best for Shetland. They would be open to considering a revised constitution in a year’s time and again would only comment on whether it met trust law.

I consider the proposal for Shetland people to boycott the appointment process to be incredibly short sighted. What we need to do is for as many local people to apply to be trustees and for those appointed to press for a new constitution allowing for elected trustees. It is your money, you should decide how it is spent.