What a difference a month makes. Last month Tory cabinet education supremo councillor Zahid Ali was recommending to his Tory colleagues that Sneyd School close. Last Thursday (20th November 2008) at a packed meeting of the all party Children’s and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel he was forced to back track and admit that there were other options to closure which should be investigated. He also said that no matter what the outcome was, the community element would continue on the site.

At the same meeting the Managing Director of SERCO (who were recently awarded a 12 year contract to continue to run education in Walsall)  admitted that they had not come up with alternatives to closure at the time of the October cabinet meeting.

Speaking to the scrutiny panel Lib Dem cllr. Ian Shires asked SERCO’s MD why the company had recommended closure without putting other options to the cabinet. The answer was damning, they had not come up with a solution at that time. Ian asked again, why if they hadn’t come up with a solution did SERCO present 3 options in the cabinet report all of which recommended closure?

It is clear that SERCO’s handling of this issue along with the original actions of Tory cabinet member for education cllr. Ali needs further scrutiny once Sneyd’s future has been decided.

Meanwhile thanks to the tremendous support of the school’s head teacher, the school’s council, teachers, parents and not least of all the local community, other options are being considered which could lead to Sneyd School remaining open.

“It just goes to show” said cllr Ian Shires, “you can change things, you just have to want it badly enough. Well done.”

The scrutiny panel will meet again in December, in the meantime they intend to visit the school during the working day to view first hand just how much it has improved. They will also be looking at options to go for Trust as well as Academy status.

This website will keep you updated with progress.