School bus anger
PARENTS at a Catholic school in Oban have accused Argyll and Bute Council of discrimination because their children’s places on a school bus have been withdrawn.
PARENTS at a Catholic school in Oban have accused Argyll and Bute Council of discrimination because their children’s places on a school bus have been withdrawn.
The MacGregor family from Ardconnel Farm first registered their oldest daughter at St Columba’s Primary School, part of the Oban Joint Primary Campus beside Rockfield primary’s English and Gaelic schools, 10 years ago.
The MacGregors have lived on their farm for four generations and have always attended Oban’s Catholic school. So it came as a surprise to both the MacGregors and to St Columba’s 10 years ago that Argyll and Bute Council had reduced the school’s catchment area.
St Columba’s Parent Council has been campaigning to get the original catchment area reinstated, without success.
Since then the MacGregors, who have two daughters at St Columba’s, were excluded from free bus transport and have paid thousands of pounds in bus fees.
A fortnight ago, the MacGregors received a letter from the council saying there was no longer space on the school bus for their daughters plus three other pupils at the Catholic school because they were being given a ‘privileged’ ride.
This was in contrast to children in the area who are entitled to the seats free because they attend another primary school in the same building.
The Oban Times understands the council gave the MacGregors three days’ notice to arrange alternative transport before it was withdrawn and gave them ‘a credit note’ to reimburse the transport fees they paid in advance.
Maggie Anderson, Roman Catholic representative on Argyll and Bute Council’s community services committee, said if the MacGregors’ children instead chose to attend the Gaelic school in the same building, they would be entitled to free school transport. ‘We believe Catholic education is being discriminated against,’ Ms Anderson told councillors on the Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Committee.
‘Children who wish Catholic education do not have the same rights as those wishing Gaelic education. If they are seeking Gaelic education, they would get transport, but if they are seeking a Catholic education they cannot.’
Helen McGuigan, chairperson of St Columba’s Primary School Parent Council, said its campaign to reinstate the catchment area had been met with resistance by the council: ‘For every reason, the parent council has proved facts and evidence that their excuses are invalid. While at first it started off with asking for a bus pass for one child, the parent council has discovered not only was the catchment area changed without following the correct procedure, but the case has also been dealt with incorrectly.
‘The council claims that to change the boundary line is expensive and lengthy and would have to go to a consultation which would include the opinion of all the local schools. However, in the past year this is exactly what the council did for Rockfield and Park school regarding the island of Kerrera, without the consultation of St Columba’s School, for one family and at great speed.
‘This and all the others fighting against St Columba’s school’s request has now led the increasing number of families this affects to feel discriminated against. There are children who get on the same bus, in the same street, going to the same campus building who not only get on the buses but do not pay bus fares, where as now St Columba’s school children are not even allowed on the bus.
‘Argyll and Bute Council is not meeting its legal obligation or following its education policy in ensuring it follows the ‘Getting It Right For Every Child’ guidelines.’
A council spokesperson said: ‘We are following national guidelines in relation to providing access to both Gaelic and denominational education. Neither language nor religion are factors which play any part in our school transport policies.’