Ysgol Craig y Don governor sacked over bike shed row

Oct 8 2009 by Eva Ketley, North Wales Weekly News

Ysgol Craig-y-Don

A SCHOOL governor has been sacked for speaking to the Weekly News about his opposition to a plan to spend a £17,000 Welsh Assembly grant on a new cycle shed.

Ysgol Craig y Don governor Brian Roberts was told at the weekend that he had been voted off the board for breaching rules which barred him from speaking to the press about school business.

“I was advised by the chair of governors that after 13 years I have been removed as a community governor of Ysgol Craig y Don for complaining to the North Wales Weekly News last July that I had been prevented from proposing a new bike shed costing a fraction of its eventual £17,000 cost and with a much safer route into school,” he complained.

The school had received a Welsh Assembly Government grant to cover the cost of a covered cycle compound on the playing field at the rear of the building and the money was ring fenced for that purpose.

But Mr Roberts believes that the cycle compound is the first stage of a scheme to provide a new entrance to the school from Liddell Drive, a move which he strongly opposes.

“It seems a new cycle shed had to be built on the school field in order to fit in with an objective of opening up a second entrance off Liddell Drive,” he claimed.

The governors have issued a statement that reads: “It was with regret that the school’s governing body voted to end Mr Roberts’ tenure as a community governor last Tuesday, September 29.

“The governing body has thanked Mr Roberts for his long service to the school which had been first class until his actions last July when he breached the important duty of corporate responsibility by publicly dissociating himself from properly made decisions of the governing body.

“His action resulted in an article in the paper which also caused concern amongst the parents of pupils, and it was very disappointing that, as a long serving governor, he chose that route rather than raising any issues or complaints he may have had directly with the governing body.

“In the extraordinary meeting last week, after referring to specific documentation and minutes of previous meetings, the governing body was satisfied that the decisions in question (relating to a Welsh Assembly grant for cycle storage unit and its location) were indeed properly made.

“The governing body was also completely satisfied that there was absolutely no proposal for a second entrance from Liddell Park related to either the grant submission or the location of the cycle storage unit.

“The unit was funded by ring fenced Welsh Assembly Government funds and is very popular with pupils in the school, more of whom are choosing to cycle to school.”

judith.phillips