| SNP group leader Ken Guild said Mr Keenan (pictured left) “should be considering his position” following his acceptance of a Nationalist amendment at the education committee deploring the way the closure of Bellfield Nursery had been handled.
But Councillor Keenan rejected the call and accused the SNP of political posturing.
“I will not be handing in my resignation as administration leader. I don’t see any reason to do so on this issue,” he said.
“This is just political posturing by the SNP who, it should be remembered, supported the merger proposal and are now trying to point the finger solely at the administration.”
Mr Keenan said he understood that, in any school merger, some people were going to feel aggrieved and he had accepted there could have been improvements in how the matter was handled.
But he said the council had to look at what was best for the city and that was what had been done.
The committee unanimously approved a report by Education Director Anne Wilson recommending Bellfield be closed and merged with Park Place nursery from June.
This was despite a last ditch plea by parents for the school to be kept open.
Although the SNP said they would reluctantly accept that financial considerations made the closure inevitable, they put forward an amendment that called on the committee to deplore the manner in which the closure proceedings had been handled.
To the Nationalists’ surprise, Mr Keenan, who heads the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition administration, said it would be accepted.
He admitted the merger consultation process could have been better, and said lessons would be learned.
Today, Mr Guild claimed the closure issue had been on the cards for months, and had been delayed until after the council elections in May for political reasons.
“Mr Keenan was the education convener in the last council and is leader of the administration now.
“He should be considering his position,” Mr Guild said.
“The parents of children at Bellfield have been ambushed by the administration on this for political reasons.
“Many of them had made arrangements to send their kids to Bellfield, and then were suddenly told they couldn’t do that.”
Mr Guild said the SNP had obtained agreement for a review of future provision so parents could make plans for pre-school education without facing the same situation as Bellfield. |
