Letter to new director of education from Students Defending Dundee Schools



Dear Mr Hood,

We are writing on behalf of Students Defending Dundee Schools, an organisation set up and democratically run by secondary school pupils who attend the nine Local Authority secondary schools.  Students Defending Dundee Schools (SDDS) is an anti-education cuts campaign which also opposes the City Campus proposal. 

We are calling for Dundee City Council to start a City wide consultation on the City Campus proposal which should include pupils, parents, trade unions, teachers and the wider community.  We also want the council to scrap the planned £4 million in cuts and to instead fully fund the provision of all classes in secondary schools and to protect schools and education from the cuts.

On Friday 1^st April, a protest of 180 secondary school students took place outside Tayside House.  A representative of SDDS went inside to submit a petition on behalf of the pupils who signed it.  The representative also requested an appointment with your predecessor, Mr Collins for a later date. We were asked by the receptionist at the time to come and make the appointment at a later date as Mr Collins was on holiday.

Representatives of SDDS again requested an appointment and we were told that Mr Collins would not speak to us.  It was also mentioned that your predecessor would be consulting with ‘selected representatives’ from each secondary school.

A representative of our campaign attended the meeting on 19/04/11 as a representative of 4^th Year at Morgan Academy. However, this is not the type of ‘consultation’ SDDS has been calling for. We believe that 18 representatives out of 7,000 plus Secondary Students aren’t nearly good enough for a consultation. All students who have strong feelings should have an input on the proposal, as well as teachers, school staff, parents, trade unions and the wider community.

Again, we would like to request an appointment with you, as newly appointed Director of Education.  It would be a good opportunity to discuss properly our issues with the City Campus proposal.  I hope you accept our request of an appointment with you.

Yours Sincerely

David Mundt

Wayne Scott

Basil Ibrahim

Representative of Morgan Academy

Students Defending Dundee Schools

School students march on May Day

A Students Defending Dundee Schools contingent took part in the May Day demonstration in Dundee on April 29.





“Pupils vote overwhelmingly against City Campus”

On Saturday, Students Defending Dundee Schools took to the streets of Dundee to highlight what they see as Dundee City Council’s lack of consultation on whether there should be a city campus.

Students Defending Dundee Schools held a “vote” by pupils, parents and teachers in the city centre, with votes being collected in their purpose made ballot box in the city square which gave school students an opportunity to vote on whether or not they want the city campus. They were also collecting more signatures on their petition to add to the ones already handed in to the education department.

Wayne Scott, a pupil from Harris Academy said, “We met students and parents who told us that they think that the city campus is a ridiculous idea and that if given a proper consultation on it involving pupils, teachers, parents and the wider community then they would reject the proposals. Only a tiny number of people voted “yes” in the ballot which reflects the minimal support that the plan has amongst students in Dundee. We also spoke to a teacher who was concerned about the effects that the city campus and other cuts would have on education. We also collected signatures of students from almost every secondary school and encouraged them to get involved in the campaign. It is important that this campaign is present in every school so that we can build the broadest possible movement of school students against education cuts.”

The city council proposal is for students studying Advanced Highers to have their classes merged, meaning students will have to travel across the city to other schools or the universities to be taught in classes with pupils from different schools. Students Defending Dundee Schools believe this is a cut to education and it is ”education being run on the cheap”.

Students Defending Dundee Schools is asking the council to conduct a full consultation over the city campus with well publicised public meetings open to pupils, parents and teachers. They are also campaigning against the other £4million of cuts made to education in Dundee by the council.

This saturday make your voice heard 1pm Overgate

Students Defending Dundee Schools is a campaign of schools students that is active in fighting education cuts in Dundee. Basically we need some funding so that we can print leaflets/ get a banner made etc. We will be having a fundraising stall outside Boots this Saturday. All school students who are interested in coming along would be a great help.

We will also be doing a ballot box on the stall in which pupils can vote "yes" or "no" on whether or not they want the city campus. This will show the council how easy it is ask school students their opinion on the matter which has not been done so far.

The aim of this stall is to widen awareness of our campaign and to try and get people from different schools involved. We will also have more petitions and sign up sheets on the day.

You don't have to be there for the whole time but even if you can give a little support on the day it would be appreciated.

Response to Liberal Democrats call for consultation on city campus

 

 

 

 

 

On April 1 hundreds of Dundee school students took part in a protest and walkout against the SNP councils city campus proposals and £4 million education cuts. This was organised by the Students Defend Dundee Schools campaign who tried to present the education convenor with a petition. However no council officials were present at Tayside House on friday afternoon to meet the protesting school students. Liberal Democrat Councillor Fraser Mcpherson has called in the local press and on his blog for the council to meet school students see  http://www.dundeewestend.com/2011/04/dundee-pupils-should-be-listened-to-and.html.

 

While Students Defending Dundee Schools are pleased that at least one of the councillors believes we have the right to be heard we are concerned that he is using our campaign for political point scoring.  

Wayne Scott Harris Academy representative said " Student’s Defending Dundee Schools were glad to see that at least one councillor believes that our concerns regarding education cuts and the city campus should be listened to by the council. Student’s Defending Dundee Schools is a campaign consisting of school students who are fighting education cuts in this city. All secondary school pupils who oppose cuts and the city campus can get involved in the campaign. Students Defending Dundee Schools organised the 180 strong protest and walkout from Harris against education cuts and the city campus on the 1st of April.
Therefore we find it disappointing that Cllr Macpherson before going to the press did not contact anyone from Students Defending Dundee Schools with regards to writing a letter to the education department about a meeting with pupil representatives.
We do intend on having a meeting with council officials and the SNP administration as soon as we can, however we want a full public consultation with all pupils, teachers and teaching unions in all schools and not just a backroom discussion.
If there were to be a meeting between the council and school student representatives, we would also not wish for an opposition spokesperson to be present at such a meeting unless they fully supported the demand of Student’s Defending Dundee Schools for no cuts to education whatsoever in Dundee and complete opposition to the city campus.

Cllr Macpherson has publicly expressed concerns about the city campus, and we are glad that he has done this. However, he voted at the council’s budget setting meeting for a motion (as did Labour) that still proposed £3.5 million of cuts to education in Dundee. This would devastate education in the city. Many school students also feel that they can place no trust in Liberal Democrat politicians. The Lib Dems since entering the coalition government in Westminster have consistently attacked education. Their government ministers have supported raising tuition fees to £9000 a year, abolishing Education Maintenance Allowance and making massive education cuts in England. They have been no friend of students. We hope that Cllr Macpherson’s concerns are genuine and that he is not doing this to score points against opposition parties. With the Scottish Parliamentary Elections looming and Lib Dem support falling, students would be unhappy if they were to find out that politicians are jumping on our campaign to try and win votes when the reality is that they would still make draconian cuts to our education."

 

Wayne Scott Harris representative Students Defending Dundee Schools
Contact number 07505595235
defenddundeeschools@gmail.com

http://defenddundeeschools.blogspot.com/ 

School students stage anti cuts strike in Dundee

Wayne Scott and Eoin Lesslie on behalf of Students Defending Dundee Schools

150 school students walked out of Harris Academy in Dundee on April 1 and marched on Dundee City Council. The walkout was organised and co-ordinated by Students Defending Dundee Schools (SDDS), a citywide school student led campaign group set up to oppose the councils £4 million cuts to school budgets and proposals to merge Advanced Higher classes into a “City Campus”.

SDDS has grown out of petitioning across Dundee schools against the “city campus” plans. School students see the merging of Advanced Highers as a cut and education being run on the cheap. Pupils will face the inconveniance of having to travel across the city to attend classes previously availiable at their own schools. Despite being presented with a petition with several hundred signatures opposing the plans the SNP council has dismissed the concerns of pupils , parents and staff and begun implementing the plans.

Students from Harris and Morgan academies along with the Youth Fight for Jobs campaign organised a hundred strong protest outside the councils education committee on February 28 linking opposition to the city campus to wider education cuts in the city. The SNP administration continued to ignore the concerns of school students and so plans for a walkout and mass demonstration were made.
Anger has increased as on March 28 SNP councillor Liz Fordyce (now termed by school students as the “Iron Lady of Dundee”) refused to rule out school closures in the councils review of education ending in December 2011.

Hundreds of school students have joined the SDDS facebook group and taken part in organsing the walkout. The local newspapers and the STV website covered the walkout plans and SDDS activist Eoin Lesslie was interviewed on local radio. In response the SNP council rushed out a statement calling on pupils to stay in classes. One SNP councillor told of the plans by a family member even used facebook to privately message SDDS to try and defend their cuts policies and discourage action.

This just made us more determined to organise. Pupils massed at the school entrance and were met by lines of police and teachers. They boldly walked out despite some teachers warning them to stay in classes. Unfortunatley teachers tried to prevent pupils under sixteen from leaving and were successful in forcing a number to stay. We understand that many teachers felt under pressure not to be seen to be supporting the protest and that the cuts will mean threats to their jobs. But we appeal to them to allow all school students to have their democratic rights.

However a large number of fifth and sixth year pupils made it out and began marching.

Despite our concerns at possible trouble with the police once they realised we were determined and organised with our own stewarding , they were very co-operative giving an escort for the march into the city centre.

As the march passed through residential areas into the city centre people of all ages came out onto tenement front steps to applaud, shout encourgement and join in the chanting of “councillors here us say city campus, no way” and “no if’s no buts, no education cuts”.

Once the Harris pupils crowded into the city square they were joined by students from other Dundee secondary schools such as Morgan Academy and St Johns swelling the number of protesters to near two hundred. School students made speeches explaining the need for SDDS and calling for a mass campaign involving all students in Dundee to fight the cuts and oppose the city campus plan.

We then marched to Tayside House and were met with applause by council workers coming out of offices. A delegation was sent in to demand that the education convenor or a representative from the SNP administration meet with us and receive our petition. Disgracefully it was left to admin staff to explain to us that all the councillors had gone home early and not one manager of any department was in the building. Low paid council workers will be angry to find out that council leaders making cuts cant be bothered to work a full day.

SDDS made an appointment with the Education Convenor and handed over our petition. The council can be warned that this will not be the last protest and opposition to the cuts will only increase. Over the easter holidays we plan to build SDDS in every school in Dundee. We are having meetings to organise a steering committee for the campaign with representatives from every school and plan to hold a press conference to get the real story out about the city campus and the education cuts. In the new term we will organise mass lobbies of councillors, further walkouts and demonstrations with the support of Youth Fight for Jobs and the wider anti cuts movement.

SDDS will be a voice for school students as the pro cuts politicians try to silence us. The campaign has contacted the EIS and other teachers unions asking for a discussion about how we can work together and to express support for their campaigning against attacks on pensions, pay and conditions.

Manifesto

Students Defending Dundee Schools is a campaign set up and democratically run by secondary school students. We want to involve all secondary school students in all Dundee secondary schools. We demand:

>>The SNP led council drop the "City Campus" proposal and fully fund the provision of Advanced Highers in every school in Dundee.

>>The Council must agree to a public consultation and meetings involving pupils, parents, teachers, trade unions and the wider community.

 >>A Secondary School Student Union is set up to support and represent secondary school students. –

>>That secondary school students have the right to exercise their Democratic Rights

>>That the voting age be reduced to 16.

Join your fellow students and together fight the cuts! http://defenddundeeschools.blogspot.com, Join the facebook group Students Defending Dundee Schools, email defenddundeeschools@gmail.com

Upcoming activities after the protest

Upcoming activities after the protest

12pm Saturday 2 April campaigning in Dundee City Centre – meet outside Primark (Overgate)

7pm Tuesday 5 April campaign meeting, Room G4, Tower Building, Dundee University 

Dundee students mobilise against city campus and cuts

From Courier

Dundee school pupils planning walkout to protest cuts and campus plan

Secondary school pupils in Dundee are planning to stage a walkout today in protest at plans to cut education spending and establish a city campus for Advanced Higher courses

A campaign group called Students Defending Dundee Schools say they intend to gather outside the city council's offices at Tayside House and hand in a petition for education convener Liz Fordyce.
It is not known how many pupils plan to take part in the action, nor how many schools will be involved. However, some pupils at Harris Academy say they will walk out of class at 2.45pm.
The action is being taken in the wake of a decision to cut £4 million from the education budget for 2011/12 as part of the council's wider spending reductions.
Pupils are also aggrieved by the city campus plan, which will see pupils from different schools brought together to study for certain Advanced Highers.
The council say this scheme will benefit pupils by maintaining the viability of less popular courses.
One of the Harris pupils said, "We have taken this action as we feel our opposition to the council's plans and demands for real consultation are being ignored.
"The SNP administration is pushing through damaging cuts to our education and we have to organise a fight back to gain a voice.
"The city campus will mean that students who are seeking further education next year in the form of Advanced Highers are being mixed into bigger classes out of their own schools. This means the pupils affected will be unable to get the same attention and level of help."
Earlier this week the education committee agreed to carry out a review of the school estate. The convener has said there are no plans to close any schools, but she has not ruled out that possibility.
The Harr is pupil said, "£4 million cuts in education will destroy the future and potential of young people in Dundee."
A Students Defending Dundee Schools blog as been set up.
A city council spokesman said, "Young people are entitled to make their views known, but pupils should remain in class during school hours."

How cuts were defeated in Renfrewshire - Two articles by Jim Halfpenny EIS member - Articles from Socialist Party Scotland website

Mass rally of teachers and parents vow to fight cuts

Article by Jim Halfpenny EIS member 21st February 2011

“Let me say clearly to Renfrewshire Council. If you attempt to replace teachers with untrained staff then we will take our children out of school.” These words, by Stephen Wright, Chair of Renfrewshire Parent Council, were met with thunderous acclaim by the 800 parents and teachers packed into Paisley Town Hall and by the 350 people outside listening via loud speakers.

This meeting, which followed a 450 strong EIS meeting of teachers and parents just a few days before, comes from a spontaneous outpouring of anger of opposition to the SNP-led Renfrewshire Council’s attempt to save £1.2 million by cutting the hours of teachers and replacing them with lower paid seasonal staff to work on ‘cultural, citizenship and sporting learning activities’. This would result in the loss of 60 teaching posts.
 
Insult was heaped on injury when the council claimed that this move would actually improve educational provision.
 
If they had deliberately set out to create a tidal wave of opposition then they could not have done a better job.
 
Needless to say the Labour party hierarchy turned out in force to condemn the Nationalist administration. However, their patronising hypocrisy was swiftly punctured. Speakers from the floor questioned their intentions if they came to power after the Scottish parliamentary elections in May and the Scottish local elections next year considering that they were not prepared to condemn the Labour controlled councils throughout Scotland who were also making similar savage cuts to education and other public services.
 
It was clear that those in the hall saw this not only as a local fight but something that had to be challenged at a national level.
 
Speakers who highlighted the contrasting fortunes of the bankers and their bonuses with the potential loss of jobs among council employees and the destruction of local services were met with enthusiastic applause.
 
An EIS spokesperson reinforced the determination to fight when she said that while teachers did not wish to strike the EIS would take every action necessary to defend jobs. This came on the back of an indicative ballot of teachers for industrial action which produced a 97% “Yes” vote.
 
It may not be Egypt or Tunisia but in a few short weeks the political situation in Renfrewshire has been transformed.
 
We were warned that other local authorities were watching to see if Renfrewshire Council would get away with such an attack on their local community with the prospect of them doing something similar. But what has happened is that other Parent Councils and Anti-Cuts groups have taken confidence from the fight back in Renfrewshire and other local authorities will tread much more cautiously than before for fear of such a backlash.
 
Clearly the next step is to build for effective strike action, if the council refuses to back down, and to build the Anti-Cuts movement in Renfrewshire and across Scotland.

Renfrewshire: Victory over cuts

Jim Halfpenny EIS member February 23rd 2011

A huge mobilisation of parents, teachers and the local community have forced the SNP-led council in Renfrewshire to abandon plans to axe 60 teachers posts. The mass campaign involved a magnificent public rally of over 1,000 people in Paisley and an indicative ballot of teachers for industrial action which produced a 97% “Yes” vote.

This was in opposition to the SNP-led Renfrewshire Council’s attempt to save £1.2 million by cutting the hours of teachers and replacing them with lower paid seasonal staff to work on ‘cultural, citizenship and sporting learning activities’. This would result in the loss of 60 teaching posts.

Insult was heaped on injury when the council claimed that this move would actually improve educational provision.
But the politicians were forced to retreat by the huge opposition that their plans provoked.

This example of a mass community campaign linked to threat of strike action by teachers in the EIS are an example of how we can stand up to the cuts and win victories.