(And a reply? Priceless)
Guest blog by 'Elvin Impersonator'
Meanwhile at Copland a ‘special meeting’ for staff has been called next week to introduce the new school uniform. Whether this will be the students’ uniform or the one the teachers will have to wear (shiny estate agents suits, gel, blusher etc) has not been made clear. Early booking recommended.
Guest blog by 'Elvin Impersonator'
On Wednesday this week letters were sent to Brent Council nominating, under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011, the extensive green space of Copland’s playing fields as an ‘asset of community value’. The Act requires local authorities to maintain a list of sites and amenities which are used by the public and are part of local life. The letters were signed by representatives of local residents and Copland staff and students.
When it came to posting the letters, however, the bill came to £25.60, or £6.40 per letter, extortionate even by privatisation standards. Why so much? Well it’s the price of experience really. Last year Brent claimed to have no knowledge of a petition posted to them by first class post and signed by hundreds of Copland students opposing the forced academisation of their school. As a result, another petition opposing the Ark takeover was signed by over 400 students and copies posted to all 63 Brent councillors. Again it appears that up to 60 of these must have been lost in the post as replies were received from only three of our elected representatives. Dozens of additional letters written on the subject and sent to those looking for our votes on May 22nd have similarly met with no response whatsoever. As a result it was decided this time to utilise the Post Office service which registers the sending of the letter and effectively tracks it to its recipient. But at a cost.
Whether it was a price worth paying will soon become clear. But if Brent Labour, Lib Dems and Conservatives had sat down and tried to plan how to alienate this group of ordinary voters and drive them into the arms of Farage and the Fruitcakes, they couldn’t have done a better job than they’re doing already. Interesting to see whether the strategy changes over the next few weeks.