Families campaigning for the appointment of a primary head teacher to fill a long-standing vacancy have criticised North Lanarkshire Council for advertising other posts across the authority while leaving their school “in a state of uncertainty”.
Chryston Primary’s former head retired in December 2020 and with the local authority citing challenging recruitment circumstances in saying they were “unable to appoint a suitable [replacement]”, the school has since been overseen by the head of neighbouring Chryston High – with education officials now consulting on making the dual-responsibility post a permanent arrangement.
Parents say that last year’s original failure to find a new primary head teacher has ”allowed the council to force through a multi-establishment leadership model” (MELM), and were angered to see the authority advertising five other primary headships across the area while they continue to wait for an outcome.
Leadership posts at five North Lanarkshire primaries and two of its secondary schools have been advertised this month on public sector employment site My Job Scotland.
Members of the Parents Against MELM group in Chryston noted that at least two of the other primary schools concerned have had acting heads in place while the permanent recruitment process is carried out, and say the council is “failing schoolchildren over its approach to recruitment”.
Action group member Levi White, who has two children at the school, said: “While it’s positive the council has ensured other primaries have had acting primary head teachers in place, why have they not done the same for Chryston – what makes our children different to those in another area?
“The council has said the current leadership crisis is why they haven’t readvertised for a new Chryston Primary head, yet they are advertising for a new leader for other primary schools while [those] acting ones [are] still in place.
“North Lanarkshire’s so-called consultation was flawed and skewed in favour of MELM instead of asking what would be best for the children, and we still haven’t heard its outcome.
“I am devastated about the educational experience my children are having. Our children need stability too [but] are living in a state of uncertainty – we cannot go in to another school year in the same situation.”
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “There are several head teacher vacancies across the council and officers are currently linking in with HR and recruitment to progress each post in line with allocating panels and parent council representatives.”
The authority said of the long-running issue at Chryston: “We did previously actively recruit for a new head teacher for the primary school; however, we were not able to appoint a suitable candidate.
“A decision was made that the secondary head would assume that role at both the primary and secondary as a short-term solution in January 2021, and this was communicated to parents at both schools.
“When the secondary head secured a new position and the two primary and secondary positions became available in February, the council recognised there was an opportunity to potentially implement the full multi-establishment headship model across both schools and began to consider a full consultation on the introduction of a multi-establishment leadership model.
“Consultation is now complete and the results will be formally analysed prior to publication.”
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