Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Swinney to act in row over pupils on ‘wrong side of map’
EDUCATION Secretary John Swinney is to wade into the Invergowrie row in his role as MSP for North Perthshire.
Mr Swinney will answer questions at a public meeting to be held in the village on February 7.
It comes as councillors on the authority’s education committee voted to open a public consultation on whether Invergowrie pupils should be stopped from feeding into Harris Academy.
Carse of Gowrie councillor Angus Forbes, who asked councillors to continue allowing Invergowrie pupils to feed into Harris, has welcomed Mr Swinney’s intervention.
He said: “It’s important that politicians from all levels of government and all parties work with the community to solve this matter, and who better than the education secretary to help?”
Mr Forbes said he was concerned that, if approved, the move would have a detrimental effect on the children of Invergowrie because they lived on “the wrong side of the map”.
Addressing last night’s education committee, he said: “I want to talk about a line on a map, that line runs right down the middle of the Invergowrie bypass, this line means something to us, we appreciate that boundaries need to be drawn, delineation between local authorities and wards.
“The people of Invergowrie don’t see it that way, Invergowrie feels like it’s part of Dundee, the residents work, shop and relax in Dundee. They spend money in your shops, they visit your cinemas and leisure facilities, they may pay their council tax to Perth and Kinross but they contribute to your economy.”
Among his main concerns are the potential for pupils to be split from their friends and left isolated, the potential environmental impact of bussing children up to 40 miles a day, and Scottish Government money allocated to the children being lost to Dundee City Council.
Attempts to delay consultations on an East End “superschool” merging Craigie High and Braeview Academy and blocking Invergowrie students from attending Harris Academy were unsuccessful.
Consultation on the redrawing of Harris Academy’s catchment and the East End superschool will run from February 10 to March 27.
Meanwhile, residents of one of Dundee’s sprawling new