Hank - a good guy!
A whistleblower teacher who faced the sack after exposing a state school head's allegedly unlawful bonuses of £200,000 is expected to be allowed back to work. Sir Alan Davies, head of Copland Community College in Wembley was suspended yesteday while auditors investigate claims that senior staff received almost £1 million in "unlawful" bonus payments over seven years at the school.
What is our country coming to? Being a politician and public servant was always such a respected profession, don't they have any scruples or morals anymore and they're teaching our kids?. I'm sure their wages are pretty good compared to the average factory worker!
Hank Roberts, Head of Geography spoke out against the payments but Sir Alan suspended him using another reason as an excuse to get rid of him and shut him up.
However, he was supported by two colleagues. "Shane Johnschwager, a history teacher, said: “I did not become a teacher to get rich. I chose a career which is a public service and anyone who is in education for personal enrichment has utterly missed the point".
“I fully expect to be reinstated and all charges dropped,” he said.
Dave Kubenk, a science teacher at Copland, said he believed the three would have been sacked had Sir Alan remained in charge for much longer.
Sir Alan and his chair of governors have robustly defended the bonus payments and insisted that he was “worth every penny”. The school has confirmed that Sir Alan received £130,000 in bonuses over the last two years alone. Separate documents seen by the Standard suggest he received at least another £65,000 in previous years.
"Worth every penny?", is that the same as "I kept within the rules?
Yesterday Brent Council suspended Sir Alan, deputy head Dr Richard Evans and bursar Columbus Udokoro, and stripped the governors of their powers over the school's budget.
That'll be it I expect, keeps his bonuses, gets a fine pension and remains "Sir" Alan.... this country is going to the dogs! It does make you wonder how the government have the cheek to fine us for smoking in pubs and putting our litter in the wrong bins doesn't it?
It'll be very interesting, given the current climate, to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine that the council will sweep this under the carpet.
S'funny though, another blogger mentioned the bursar yesterday but I'm damned if I can remember who it was.
First I glimpsed this story was in the Standard. I wonder what else the bursar has been up to? :)
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