Progress so far Oct 19. 2012 | Comments (1)
Thank you so much to all of you who have signed this petition and passed it onto friends, colleagues and family.
We have reached the 500 mark now so I raised the bar a bit and have changed the goal to 1000. I don't think this is over ambitious but it does need everyone to keep sending the link out.
I have also been emailing various public officials within the Wakefield area:
1. Ed Balls (who is my MP) has not responded at all yet (hmmm!)
2. Olivia Rowley (Cabinet Member for Children and Education on Wakefield Council) has come back saying (and I quote) :
We were well funded with a grant from government up until 2011 and now we have been informed that, that grant will be cut by fifty per cent over the next three years. Over the period from last year for the next three years the Council are being forced to reduce their budgets through cuts in services by about £100m or 40% of our budget at a time when the elderly population and the number of children being taken into care is increasing. No decisions have been made as yet concerning the Music Service, but my officers and I are looking at every possible angle in an effort to maintain as much as possible the service, which we all appreciate
My response to that was that this was a lazy and knee-jerk approach to a funding problem and they ought to be a bit more creative! There was a response to that from Mrs Rowley which said pretty much the same as before - I think I have annoyed her a bit!
3. Martyn Johnson (one of my local councillors) has responded by saying he will support the cause but cannot get involved with the negotiations
4. Betty Liles and Charlie Keith (my other local councillors) haven't responded yet (hmmm again!)
5. Peter Box (leader of the council) just passed me back to Olivia Rowley (hmmm again!!!)
I must thank the local branch of the NUT who sent the link out to all their members!
Anyway - let's keep this going and if anyone has any ideas as to what we can do to galvanise more support let me know!
What else are they going to take from the children of this city? Only last month they took away Clark Hall. Which has been a wonderful educational place for the children and this has enriched many generations. And then they are going to take away teacher status from the Music Teachers so once again the children of this city will be effected,