A row over the refusal of Stormont’s Education Minister to grant two Co Down schools integrated status has spilled over to the local council, with unionists accusing the Alliance party of “dragging the schools into the political arena.”
Alliance forwarded a motion this week at an Ards and North Down Borough Council committee meeting proposing that the local authority write to DUP MLA Paul Givan urging him to reverse his decision and approve development proposals from Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College and Rathmore Primary School.
“It notes the overwhelming parental support for transformation, further notes the duties in the Integrated Education Act to aim to meet demand for Integrated Education, considers that the minister has failed to act on this duty, and in doing so has failed to listen to parents from these schools.
“It resolves to write to the Minister and request he reconsider his decision as a matter of urgency.”
Alliance councillor Hannah Irwin presented the motion to members of the Community and Wellbeing committee on Wednesday and branded the minister’s decision “outrageous and indefensible.”
Read more
“To say the disappointment felt by the school community including the parents and students is palpable — would be an understatement,” she said.
“The school communities at Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College and Rathmore Primary School were united in their decision to transform to integrated status.
“This decision came following an exciting journey through a process for transformation, which involved staff, parents and pupils alike. The levels of support shown for transformation at these schools was 79% of parents from Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College of those who voted, and 82% of those parents from Rathmore Primary School who voted.
“That level of support just illustrates the excitement and community buy-in for this proposal. That the Education Minister then makes the unprecedented decision to turn down these proposals is shocking — yet illustrates his commitment and his own party’s commitment to integrated education.”
Last month parents and principals expressed their disappointment at the minister turning down a bid by Bangor Academy — Northern Ireland’s largest school with around 1,850 pupils — to become integrated.
Bangor Academy
A clear majority of parents backed the change, but Mr Givan insisted that legislation demands that integrated status requires “reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children.”
“Even on the most optimistic analysis, it would appear highly unlikely that reasonable numbers could be achieved,” he previously said.
The principal of Bangor Academy, Matthew Pitts, said the school community was “extremely disappointed” by the decision.
Ms Irwin said Mr Givan’s “argument that he is legally obligated to come to this conclusion just does not stack up, considering that his own officials recommended that he support the proposal”.
“That recommendation from the officials was based on the statutory duty, current legislation, and on evidence detailed on the development proposals,” she added.
“It is not an exaggeration when I say that we in Alliance have been contacted by hundreds of parents who are devastated at his decision.
“The schools have followed the process to the letter, yet they have been turned down at the final hurdle for reasons that they can’t understand, and I have to say I am with them on that.
“Is it simply a case of the Minister not wanting the whole community to be educated together? Because that’s how this decision looks.”
Alliance representative Chris McCracken told the meeting that anyone opposing the motion is standing against parental choice.
However, DUP councillor Carl McClean pointed out that the author of the Integrated Education Bill “which many would say was clumsily assembled was not Paul Givan, nor anyone from the DUP, but rather Kellie Armstrong MLA, late of this parish of the Alliance Party”.
“In both of the schools concerned, the number of children from a deemed Roman Catholic background were under 3%. A test was conducted, and it appeared there was little chance this would change in the future,” he added.
“Therefore, integrated education as classed and defined in Ms Armstrong’s legislation, would not actually be possible to provide.”
“It would be interesting if we wished to set a precedent that ministers must always follow the advice given by those who work for them. One person speaking to a committee in Stormont last week from the Department of Education stated they believed a reasonable number of pupils from that minority tradition at an integrated school could be zero.
“This betrays the rather bizarre reality of what some officials believe truly represents integrated education. If that is what we want and are hoping for, I don’t know why, because it is not genuinely integrated education.”
Mr McClean said “it is some chutzpah indeed for Alliance to be screaming blue murder” about the decision and questioned if the goal of Mr Givan’s critics is to create a good balance of children from different backgrounds “or whether this is just a re-badging exercise”.
“Because if it is the first, I don’t know what remedy for Bangor, with Bangor’s demographics, are going to get the numbers from Catholic kids above 3%,” he continued.
“Are we suggesting bussing children in from other boroughs? It doesn’t make any sense. If it is the second, and we just want to rebadge, I’m not sure, beyond renaming the school, what is going to happen.”
Meanwhile, UUP Deputy Mayor David Chambers acknowledged the disappointment for parents and the wider school families which he said he shared.
“However, my disappointment wasn’t aimed at the minister, because I think the legislation laid out left them no other option but to apply the criteria that was set,” he said.
“(Alliance’s) fingerprints are all over (the legislation), and they refused point blank in the Assembly to accept any friendly amendments that were put forward from my party.
“Amendments that would have helped avoid this unfortunate situation, and would have actually worked in their favour. The Act fell at the very first hurdle.”
Mr Chambers told councillors “that what we are really seeing here is an attempt to drag these schools into a political arena”.
“The Alliance Party tries to cover up its part in its failure to help those very parents they claim to represent. An appropriate Shakespearean phrase is they were ‘hoisted by their own petard’,” he said before claiming the party “knew that the minister can’t and won’t change his decision as long as the Act remains as it is.”
But councillor Irwin insisted that if Mr Givan wanted to approve the proposals, he could adding “his officials certainly thought it was OK”.
The motion was unsuccessful, with four Alliance representatives voting in favour and seven from the DUP and the UUP — along with one Independent councillor opposing it.
Three elected representatives from UUP, SDLP and an independent did not vote.
Read more
Watch: NI singles share some of their worst dating experiences