Parents are disgusted at Cllr's comments

Parents who attended the meeting on Monday would have been amazed at many things that happened, but aside from the sheer smugness and single minded attitude, one that seems to be causing the most upset currently was the comments made by Cllr Burt regarding the references made to the loss of faith in the council due to the actions and style of a number of individuals – and mention of a senior officer convicted of a disgraceful crime.

Please see attached letter as an example of how people are feeling:

To Cllr. Ian Burt
CC Neil Davies, Rodney Chambers

Sir,

You may remember that I was amongst those who spoke at the above meeting. In previous meetings I have noted that you are often the voice of reason and whilst you obviously don’t always agree with what is being said you can normally be depended upon to at least see that things are dealt with in an even handed and appropriate way.

I was therefore stunned, and frankly disgusted when you, through the chair, reprimanded Mr Simon Hall for talking about the man who was the architect of the academy proposal as being recently convicted of a disgraceful crime. Note: He did not name DEAN WALLER – although we all knew who he meant, especially those of us who have met him and witnessed him in action at our children’s schools. Mr Hall, after all, was simply trying to explain why he had lost faith in the council and what could be done to help resolve that.

Of course it’s personal – this man abused his position of power, we suspected all along that there was a hidden agenda, but none of supposed it was of such a dark and disturbing nature.

There was reprehensible behaviour at that meeting, but not from Mr Hall.

I think mature reflection will show that your comments were at best ill thought out and at worse inappropriate, shame on you and those who nodded and murmured their conspiratorial agreement.

I think it would be appropriate for you to offer an apology for this publicly, perhaps at the next meeting or perhaps to Mr Hall directly, since it was he who had the courage to mention the “unmentionable” – the council seem happy to pretend that DEAN WALLER did not exist, we as parents of children in Mr Waller’s “preferred category” wish we had that luxury.

And another - anyone spotting a theme?

Dear Mr Burt,

I attended the Overview & Scrutiny on Monday evening and was deeply upset by your comments in relation to Mr Simon Hall, a parent of a daughter at Chapter School. Mr Hall did not give the man's name, but we all know this to be Dean Waller, who today received a custodial sentence of 12 months at Maidstone Crown Court. How dare you defend this man - this is the man that possessed over 4000 indecent images of young children, many of which have been described as the most serious kind, the same man that interviewed my 12 year old daughter at Chapter school along with other girls on the School's Council - the same man who oggled my 13 year old daughter when we sat at the second consultation meeting at Chapter School, my daughter referred to him as a 'pervert' as he was looking up her skirt from his position on the stage, we were seated on the front row in the Hall - I defended Waller telling her that she must have been mistaken - how does that make me feel now? How does it make you feel as a councillor for the children's services? How does it make you feel now that he has been sentenced?

Seems to be popular subject...

Cllr Burt

Fact – The Childrens Services Dept received a CPA rating of only 2 in each of the past 3 years. A rating of 2 is only “Fair” and it is simply not good enough that we should have to accept this for our children.

Fact – Over and over senior officers of this department roll out the same old tired soundbites. They sound more like politicians then paid employees that should be held to account. “Must do the best for all children”, “Urgent need to address the situation” and “Every child matters” are all well and good but the people saying this are the ones who have got us into this state and are responsible for all that is wrong in the dept.

Fact – Ms Collinson constantly states her own beliefs as if they were fact when, after investigations are carried out, prove to be untrue. An example of this is her statement, verbally at many meetings and also in print that there is an “Absolute requirement” to advertise the post of Principal to the Academy when in fact the DCSF have confirmed that this is guidance only and the decision as to whether the academy advertises or appoints one of the existing heads lies solely within the academies power

Fact – Dean Waller was 3rd in charge of this department and was the architect of the plan to close both Temple and Chapter schools and to re-open them as an Academy.

Fact – He attended both schools on many occasions, not only for the public consultations but also to talk to the staff and on another occasion to talk directly to the pupils.

Fast – Dean Waller pleaded guilty to truly horrendous charges and will now serve 12 months in prison. This man was appointed by this department and allowed to work with our children

Given these facts I should like to know why you believe that it is fair to state in public that a concerned parent who does not trust this department for the reasons above and many others is guilty of reprehensible behaviour. Do you think so little of Dean Wallers crimes? Or are you trying to brush it under the carpet? Do you not believe in the freedom of speech?

You owe Mr Hall a public apology. If this isn’t forthcoming we shall have to question your motives with the local media whom I am sure would be interested in asking you these same questions and printing your response