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From The Socialist newspaper, 23 September 2020
Sussex: Hands off Peacehaven schools
Bill North, Brighton Socialist Party
Parents in the town of Peacehaven, on the Sussex coast, have relaunched their campaign to save their primary schools from academy privatisation.
Last year, the community campaign won a major victory against the plans of Tory-dominated East Sussex County Council to hand Peacehaven Heights and Telscombe Cliffs schools to an academy trust. Hundreds of parents, children and staff were involved, and the schools' governors voted to reverse the decision.
Rather than accept the views of local people, the council sacked the governing bodies of both schools and replaced them with an unelected 'interim executive board', made up of bureaucrats appointed by the council.
Campaigners have good reason to believe that the schools are - once again - being lined up for privatisation. The local community currently has no say in the running of the schools, major decisions are made without consultation.
Perhaps the most outrageous example was the decision by the Peacehaven Heights board to fill in the school's swimming pool during the summer holidays. This act of vandalism had the backing of the council, which claimed that the pool was an "undue burden on the school's finances" - ignoring the fact that the local community raised £100,000 to ensure that the pool could continue to be used.
The main demands of the relaunched campaign, to ensure Peacehaven schools remain accountable to the local community, are:
- Parents' forum at each school, so parent voices are heard
- The process to set up new, normal governing bodies, accountable to the community to begin immediately
- No irreversible decisions, such as academy conversion, be taken by imposed governors
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In The Socialist 23 September 2020:
Coronavirus news
North East lockdown: simmering anger at Tory incompetence
Testing shambles: unions must fight back
Johnson's schools social-distancing lie
Schools
Dispatches from the front - chaotic schools are not safe!
Workplace news
A day in the life of a salon worker
News
'FinCEN Files' expose rampant financial corruption: nationalise the banks!
Extend eviction ban! Cap rents! Build council homes!
Universities
Why I joined
Why we joined the Socialist Party
Campaigns
Coventry: Socialist Students is back
Liverpool Council must save care homes
Sussex: Hands off Peacehaven schools
Fighting fund: One week to raise £3,444
The Socialist: More than a newspaper
International news
Thailand: Youth rising against hated junta
Readers' opinion
TV: The English Game - how the working class made football the people's game
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