Parents to picket Dáil over Deis

OFFICIAL OPENING ?Minister of State Michael Ring pictured unveiling a plaque at the official opening of the new extension at ColΡiste Pobail Acla, from left: Cllr MicheΡl  McNamara, Cllr Patsy O’Brien, Dr Katie Sweeney, Mayo VEC; Barry Kilgallon, Principal; Mary Heneghan, Mayo VEC,  Pat Kilbane, Chairperson BOM; Cllr Jarleth Munnelly, Chairperson, Mayo VEC. Pic: John Moylette

Campaign for Achill’s only secondary school ups the ante

Áine Ryan

PARENTS from Achill’s only secondary school plan to picket the DΡil early in the New Year if a resolution is not found to its bizarre loss of Deis status. They will also picket the constituency offices of County Mayo’s TDs and deliver copies of a petition presently being compiled, which calls for an urgent end to the debacle.
In an exclusive report at the beginning of December, The Mayo News revealed that ColΡiste Pobail Acla, which serves a peripheral community with many economic disadvantages, had lost Deis status (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools). This occurred after the Deis-designated VEC McHale College (450 students) was amalgamated with Scoil Damhnait (28 students) in 2011 and renamed ColΡiste Pobail Acla.
In simple terms, it seems the school lost its status because it was assigned a new roll number and, moreover, there have been no new Deis designations since its establishment in 2005.
After all avenues explored failed to find a resolution, the Joint-Chairmen of the school’s Parents’ Council, Seamus Butler and Greg Hannigan wrote to all Oireachtas members some weeks ago to highlight the bizarreness of the decision, highlighting the fact that the new secondary school served nine Deis primary schools situated on Achill Island, Currane, Tonragee, Mulranny and Ballycroy.

Meeting with Minister Ring
AS a result they held a meeting with Minister for State Michael Ring who raised the issue in the DΡil in early December.
Among Michael Ring’s written questions to the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan was one querying ‘why a new school name and roll number were issued given its detrimental effect to the children attending the school’. Her written answer on December 8, basically confirmed the obvious: that the school had a new roll number and name.
Michael Ring also asked the minister what  ‘advice [was] given to schools regarding the retention of Deis status prior to their amalgamation; if it was explained that the amalgamation would result in the loss of the Deis status resulting in pupils coming from nine Deis National Schools attending a non-Deis secondary school’.
Minister O’Sullivan’s written answer stated that ‘proposals for school amalgamations are a matter for the Patron [or] Trustees of the schools in question and are subject to approval by the Minister for Education and Skills’.
Continuing she said that during the process of amalgamation the school’s representatives were ‘invited to meet’ with department officials ‘to inform the decision-making process’.
“In accordance with the approach adopted for amalgamations involving Deis and non-Deis schools, additional non-teaching resources are provided in respect of eligible pupils from the former Deis school by way of continued support for the
targeted cohort of pupils as a transitional measure.”
The minister explained that in ‘the case of a post primary school, these supports continue to be provided for six years following the amalgamation’.  
Thus, she said, ColΡiste Pobail Acla, would be provided with Deis supports until the ‘end of the 2016-17 school year’. She also added that a review of the Deis Programme, which would inform future policy in relation to educational disadvantage’ was currently being  undertaken by her department.  
Significantly, she added: “While this process is underway, I do not intend to make any changes to the current programme.”

Amalgamation
IN the letter written some weeks ago to the members of the Oireachtas, Joint Chairmen, Butler and Hannigan state that the parents ‘were assured by the VEC that the amalgamation was a good move for the school and the future of post-primary education in the area’. Moreover, it was ‘specifically confirmed that the Deis status would not be affected’.
However, in May 2014 the council was informed by HEAR (Higher Education Access Route) that ColΡiste Pobail Acla was a new school, and since no new schools had been added to the Deis list since its establishment in 2005, it had not been designated. This is despite the fact that VEC management still insisted it was a Deis school.
This is corroborated by minutes, seen by The Mayo News,  of a Steering Committee meeting held in Scoil Damhnait on March 2, 2011.  It is noted here that Dr Katie Sweeney, the then Chief Executive of Mayo VEC, and a member of the committee, confirmed she has ‘informed the Department of Education and Skills that the ethos of the new school was multi-denominational and it would have Deis status’.
Writing last week to the handful of TDs who responded to their letter, Greg Hannigan notes that Minister Jan O’Sulluvan was recently quoted in The Irish Times as follows: “Working together we will ensure that the appropriate supports are in place to make third-level a realistic option for previously under-represented groups in our society.”
She continued: “This will have benefits for the students themselves, their families and communities, as well as our wider economy and society.”
The Joint Chairmen asked in an email: “How can this be right when she refuses to rectify the problem that seems to have occurred because of a breakdown in communication between the VEC [now known as the ETB: Education and Training Boards] and the Department. It is the students that are suffering and are restricted from accessing the HEAR programme.”
When The Mayo News spoke to Greg Hannigan last week he confirmed that the council welcomes the fact that the present Chief Executive of the ETB, SeΡn Purcell ‘was actively trying to find some compromise solution’.
“There is an injustice here and it is the schoolchildren who are suffering and will be excluded from opportunities to access third-level education,” Greg Hannigan said.
“Up to 100 parents and families of pupils will picket the DΡil and the constituency offices of local TDs in the New Year if there is not a resolution put in place in the coming weeks,” he said.
When asked if the Taoiseach had made any response to date, Mr Hannigan said it was his understanding that the a Fine Gael councillor from the West Mayo Municipal District had reassured the Parent’s Council some time ago that ‘Mr Kenny would resolve this’.
He said a petition looking for ‘full reinstatement of Deis status’ had just been implemented and already had 80 signatories by December 21.
Meanwhile, Deputy Dara Calleary confirmed on December 21 that he would meet a delegation either in Achill or at the DΡil.
“This is a ridiculous situation and I am anxious to help in any way to get it resolved,” Mr Calleary said.
His Achill-based  party colleague, Cllr Paul McNamara dubbed the situation ‘farcical’ when The Mayo News first wrote about the debacle.  

Official opening
AT the official opening of ColΡiste Pobail Acla in March 2013, Dr Katie Sweeney, then CEO of Mayo VEC and a native of Achill, was praised for her ‘vision and tenacity’ in making the amalgamation a reality.
During her speech, she said the facilities at the new school would serve the whole community, ensuring that education played a central role for all.
“ColΡiste Pobail Acla is now one of the finest centres of learning in the county and Mayo VEC will never be complacent in the role of education in Achill and the surrounding area. It has taken 32 years for development of this kind to take place on Achill Island. Thirty two years is a long time, that is up to seven generations of learning, let the next one not be that long,” Dr Sweeney said.