Expelled! Head is forced to quit school 8 years after it shut
A HEADTEACHER has finally been evicted from a school that closed eight years ago.
Anne Macrae remained in the grace-and-favour cottage long after the last pupil left in 2012.
The 57-year-old had lived alone with her dogs in the home attached to Torridon Primary School, in Wester Ross – until Highland Council won its civil case against her at Inverness Sheriff Court last September.
She finally left the property, which enjoys stunning views of Upper Loch Torridon, this year.
One local parent described the situation as ‘infuriating.’
The school was mothballed in 2012 and the council claimed Ms Macrae left her teaching job in August the following year and did not receive a salary after that date.
But last night, she insisted: ‘I did not leave my job in 2013 but accepted alternative employment. I was assured by a former director of education I would be allowed to remain in the schoolhouse until the future of the school would be decided.
‘Highland Council now deny this and claim to have lost my tenancy agreement.’ Torridon, along with neighbouring Shieldaig and Inveralligin, has a population of only 410 people.
The primary school had been open since the 19th Century but the area’s declining population meant only a handful of pupils attended the single classroom.
Ms Macrae was suspended from her post in summer 2010 following a series of damning inspection reports. She was temporarily replaced but her suspension was lifted in 2012 after an investigation.
However, by then the last pupil had gone and the school had been shut down.
One angry parent, Lis Broome, moved her son to another school only three months after enrolling him in primary one.
She said: ‘I wasn’t happy with the school.
‘It is infuriating. I don’t know why she was allowed to stay so long. There were lots of questions asked, lots of questions raised about it. But it just all seemed to be shut down.
‘It’s a really sad story. We don’t have anybody coming in [to live in the area] because there is no school.’
Highland Council listed the schoolhouse’s status as ‘vacant’ in a 2014 estate management report by their director of education, culture and sport.
Ms Macrae said: ‘There’s more to the story of what has been happening in Torridon and the way Highland Council forced the mothballing of the school and treated staff and parents.
‘In recent months it has been declared that the tenancy of the schoolhouse is not secure, therefore the council are allowed to give notice to quit without giving any reason.’
She added: ‘Since mothballing in 2012, Highland Council have refused to attend to maintenance issues highlighted regarding the school or schoolhouse. There is concern within the community that it is being deliberately neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair, as has happened in neighbouring communities.
‘The one plus was that the Torridon schoolhouse was still being lived in and heated.’
Highland Council confirmed legal proceedings had taken place to evict Ms Macrae but refused to comment further.
‘I don’t know why she was allowed to stay’