MORAY COUNCIL OFFICIALS have been left ‘bewildered’ by claims that proposals are on the table to create a single ‘Super School’ in the region.
As part of their ongoing consultation process over budget cuts in Moray, the local authority have been putting social media to extensive use – with excellent results as more interaction than ever before has been recorded.
The online consultation is based on a mixture of factual information and ‘what if’ scenarios covering just about every aspect of the annual spend.
This week that included education, one of the largest areas on the Council budget and one that is a great cause of concern with a growing need to replace ageing school estate. In that, the Council offered up facts on the current teacher crisis, pointing out that when seen as a single group of teachers versus number of pupils, Moray actually did employ sufficient teachers at present.
However, as they had to be employed over a large number of local schools, only the creation of a central ‘campus’ for all pupils in the region could that solve the current recruitment situation.
Following reports this morning that the Council were considering such a campus as an option, a new post on the Facebook page said: “If you’ve been part of this conversation about education, you’ll be bewildered to see the front page of the local P&J today.
“The idea of a single ‘super-school’ was flagged up as a conversation starter, which between us has developed from there, with some really useful insights.
“We know that the media source a lot of their copy from social media these days, it would have been good to read of some of the great insights you’ve come up with. Keep them coming, and we’ll be responding to you asap!”
Costing the local authority around £94million each year, nearly half their total budget, education was always going to be the hottest subject placed before the public. Throughout the discussion, it is apparent that thinking in the Council remains focussed on the ‘Campus’ idea that was thrown out by Councillors two years ago – causing a great deal of cross-party acrimony at the time.
The online discussion – and that for several other topics – can be read at https://www.facebook.com/TheMorayCouncil/?fref=ts
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