A public meeting will be held in Llandrindod Wells tonight (Friday) to give residents the chance to have their say on the future of the county’s schools.
Brecon and Radnorshire MP Roger Williams has organised the meeting at the Metropole Hotel at 6.30pm and he will chair the discussion.
Two similar meetings have been organised by Conservative Parliamentary candidate Suzy Davies, at Hay Parish Hall on Tuesday, February 2 at 8pm and at The Bear in Crickhowell on Wednesday (February 3) at 7pm.
The events have been arranged following the leak of a council document last week which outlined four proposals for the modernisation of secondary schools in Powys, which included closing up to seven county high schools, scrapping existing sixth forms and allowing the county’s higher education institution, Coleg Powys, to provide all post 16 education.
Powys County Council said the proposals were merely intended to stimulate discussion amongst its modernisation steering group and that no decisions on the future of any schools have yet been made.
But they said a review of secondary and post-16 education needs to take place in response to falling pupil numbers and severe financial pressures on secondary schools.
At the first public meeting of its kind, organised by Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik in Newtown last Friday, more than 200 people including teachers, parents, students and councillors turned up.
One teacher and assistant head of sixth form at Llanfyllin School, Ann Roberts, said staff morale had hit rock bottom since the document was made public.
And Llanidloes Town Councillor Margot Jones said: “Children have been feeling very upset since the news became public.”
The meeting also heard that councillors in Powys had no idea the proposals were being put in place.
Councillor Gareth Morgan of Llanidloes said: “I don’t see how anyone in their right mind can produce a document like this. It beggars belief. I had no idea it was being prepared. And I will be fighting the proposals all the way.”
Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of Powys County Council will take place in the next couple of weeks, to discuss the schools issue following the leaking of the draft modernisation documents.
Councillor Aled Wyn Davies called for an urgent meeting at a full council meeting yesterday and the chairman of the council, Councillor David Price, said he had no problem in agreeing to one.
A formal inquiry into the leaking of Powys County Council’s draft modernisation of secondary school document will not take place after the chief executive, Jeremy Patterson told members at a full council meeting yesterday that an investigation had already been carried out.
He said unless someone stood up and admitted to leaking the document, they were unlikely ever to know who had done it.
He said instead the council had to move forward.
He added that the steering group that was originally charged with coming up with the document was no longer considered suitable and new project management arrangements will now be put in place to take the document on to the consultation phase.