Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Council axe 200 classroom roles
Online petition aims to get Logue to rethink decision
Nearly 200 classroom assistant posts in North Lanarkshire schools are to be cut from August — with the support posts being removed entirely from the area’s 23 secondaries, and one assistant role per school being retained at its 123 primaries.
An online petition set up last week, calling on the council to “revisit the decision and consider its impact”, has gathered more than 2700 signatures opposing the changes.
Council leader Jim Logue insists that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the move, with affected staff instead being redeployed into new early- years posts to create expanded nursery provision.
However, SNP councillors are fighting the plan, and intend to submit a motion to next month’s full council meeting “rejecting any proposals to delete classroom assistant and additional support needs assistant posts”.
Central council funding for both classroom assistants and the provision of breakfast clubs was withdrawn as a savings measure in North Lanarkshire’s 2017- 2018 budget, passed in February.
The Labour administration had intended that head teachers could then use individual schools’ allocations from the national Pupil Equity Fund to reinstate classroom assistant provision – until being instructed by the Scottish Government that their plan would be considered an inappropriate use of those funds.
Councillor Logue told the Advertiser: “There will be no job losses and no redundancies. Staff will be redeployed in alternative posts as early years practitioners or additional support needs assistants, and have the opportunity of training courses.
“Nursery provision is to be expanded so all two- to- fiveyear-olds have access and we need staff to do that. There’s confusion about additional support needs assistants — that’s a needs-led service and if a child has been assessed as needing individual support, they’ll continue to get that with no detriment.
“Of course I appreciate and acknowledge the value of classroom assistants and what they bring to teaching and learning.
“We’re in this position because we’ve been forced to implement £27million in savings — all this was fully explained when it was approved at the council meeting in February.
“The SNP were fully aware of that, and saying this is the start of a ‘Labour-Tory’ coalition is political opportunism.”
Opposition group leader David Stocks accused the administration of a “smokeandmirrors operation”, and said: “This appalling attitude to working people is completely unacceptable.
“The SNP will vote to keep these jobs at the council meeting on June 22; unfortunately, it will now be up to the Labour and Tory councillors to decide the fate of these workers.
“Classroom assistants are a vital help in schools. Additional support needs assistants have built up relationships and trust with vulnerable children in our classrooms – a single teacher in a class needs ASN and classroom assistant support.”
He also criticised the timing of the cuts announcement to unions, a day after the first post-election council meeting which saw a Labour minority administration take office, and said: “While the SNP government is investing £8.8m direct to head teachers to close the poverty-related attainment gap in North Lanarkshire, the Labour-Tory council is taking away support to schools.”
Conservative group leader Meghan Gallacher responded: “As this was discussed during the budget in February, surely members of the SNP group would have been part of this discussion.
“To point the finger at the Conservatives is an attempt to cause further grievance.
“Party politics has no place in ensuring our schools are fully equipped with appropriate members of staff and facilities.
“We will, of course, support classroom assistants whilst these changes occur, and will monitor the process as it develops.”
GMB Scotland official Barry Flethcer, said: “The absolute minimum we expect for our members is that the council reaffirms its commitment to no compulsory redundancies.
“Parents will be worried about the impact of these cuts on the delivery and standards of local education.
“This significant cut to vital classroom assistant services in North Lanarkshire should set alarm bells ringing that the worst is yet to come.
“With more austerity in the years ahead, it’s time we had some honesty from our politicians about the future of our public services.”