Flooding chaos is slammed
Butcouncildenyclaims
An angry mum has hit out after flooding outside an East Kilbride primary school caused disruption.
The burn at Halfmerke Primary in East Mains burst its banks meaning pupils had to leave the school by a different gate last Wednesday.
A concerned mum claims that some youngsters tried to make their own way home but South Lanarkshire Council have denied that children left school premises unaccompanied.
Local authority bosses say parents and carers were contacted and pupils were told to stay within the school if no one was there to meet them, but mum Kaleigh Smith said she was unaware that her daughter wouldn’t be at the usual pick-up point.
“Pupils were told to go out the main entrance instead but no one thought to inform parents who were waiting where they normally would,” she said.
“A number of kids started to wander off on their own – one girl walked straight towards the ice and flooding. It was a total shambles and many of us have real safety concerns about what could have happened to our children.
“I was not contacted until 3.13pm and that was only because another parent found my distressed daughter on the street and took her back down to the school office.”
In response, the council’s head of education Lynn Sherry said: “Arrangements were put in place to inform parents that the gate to the Showpark would not be in use and where pupils confirmed this was their normal route home, school staff phoned parents and carers to make them aware.
“Pupils were also instructed to stay in school if someone was not there to collect them.”