HEAD of ‘ John Loughborough School ’ SACKED
AFTER PRODUCING RECORD GCSE RESULTS!!!
27th October, 2008
Parents, pupils and church members are outraged by the sacking of the Headteacher of John Loughborough (Seventh-Day Adventist) School (JLS), for “dereliction of duty” on 22/10/08 . As JLS stakeholders we have been protesting the harassment and bullying of Dr Alexis, by Sharon Shoesmith, Director: Children & Young People’s Services (CYPS), since October 2007, demanding Dr Alexis’ resignation on unfounded incapability grounds.
Dr Alexis was suspended in February 2008, following a peaceful demonstration at the school, lead by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and the Friends and Founder Members of the John Loughborough School (FFJLS). The allegations brought against her included: 1) failure to do a health and safety risk assessment; 2) failure to challenge the media taking pictures of children without parental permission; and 3) breach of data protection. Although allegations 2
and 3 were deemed unproven, allegation 1 was upheld as the basis for a dismissal.
However, although the Haringey Local Authority (LA) and the school’s Interim Executive Board (IEB) had prior knowledge of the protest, they did nothing to try to minimise its alleged impact on the school. Furthermore, the LA had summoned Dr Alexis to a meeting for 9:00am and had left their own officer Christine Geohagen in charge of the school - reporting to Dr Janette Karklins (Deputy Director, CYPS), while ‘Headteacher-in-Waiting’ Oveta McInnis, was kept away from the site, for her own professional safety.
The JLS-PTA and FFJLS, totally refute the claim that staff and pupils were placed at risk. We also note that despite LA’s alleged concerns for Health and Safety, their aforementioned prior knowledge of the demonstration and their own duty of care to JLS staff and pupils, they, Ms Shoesmith and Dr Karklins in particular, evidently allowed the protest to continue unchallenged, to secure a pretext for dismissing Dr Alexis. Not only is this a gross dereliction of duty, it is unethical, immoral and potential criminal neglect.
As the IEB was implemented, specifically to sack Dr Alexis, after Ms Shoesmith suspended the Board of Governors (BOG) for refusing to do so, it is logical that they would overlook this potentially libellous act of the Director and her Deputy. As Prof Gus John reported following an independent assessment into JLS: “This manipulation and chicanery are certainly not conduct in public office of which Haringey Local Authority could be proud.” (Prof John, 2008, p. 80).”
Whilst Ms Shoesmith was hounding Dr Alexis to step down, Ofsted, had reported that Dr Alexis was “passionate”, had “vision” and “ambitious plans”, which were improving the school (February, 2007). The resounding 2008 GCSE results, largely due to Dr Alexis’ policy of early-entry, vindicated these findings and our faith in her. In September, 2007, 40% of JLS pupils entered year-11 with GCSEs (A*-C) - some as many as 3 and 4. In September 2008, some 45%, entered year 11, with GCSEs (A*-C), some as many as 5 and 6. Thus, JLS had begun to exceed national standards and are on track to rapidly eclipse the top schools in the borough.
Since Dr Alexis’ suspension, her early-entry policy has been reversed: year 9 pupils earmarked for 2008 were not entered and we understand that year-10 entries, if at all, will be drastically reduced in 2009. We conclude therefore that the protracted assault on Dr Alexis, was not motivated by presumptions of incapability, but the realisation that she had the “passion”, “vision” and “ambitious plans” in place to transform JLS, aka, “The ‘BLACK SCHOOL’ in Tottenham”, into a beacon of excellence in a borough that is notorious for failing African-Heritage pupils.
Not surprisingly, the LA regime has replaced this vision of excellence with ‘correctionalism’ and policing of our children. Internal and external exclusions have thus soared and our statutory parental rights are being eroded to the extent that we are being dragged through the courts and threatened with imprisonment, for challenging the LA. Letters and representations to Chief Executive Ita O’Donovan, Cllr. Liz Santry (Cabinet Member: Children and Young People), Ed Balls (Secretary of State: Children, Schools and Families) and David Lammy (MP) are either rubbished, trivialised or completely ignored.
Alas, the symptoms of institutional racism are blatant here and are as insidious, pervasive and unrelenting as reflected in the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. We therefore call on our community to rally behind us in 1) demanding the immediate, unconditional reinstatement of Dr Alexis, and 2) the immediate suspensions of Sharon Shoesmith, Dr Janette Karklins and Pastor Sam Davis (Chair: IEB); pending an independent investigation into their respective roles in the events of 25/02/08 (and related issues).
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