Tories call for schools chief to go
Demands come after school is found to have spent £3000 on pizza takeaways
Milton Keynes Council looks to be heading into a third storm over school management in less than two years.
Questions are being asked about how thousands of pounds were spent as the now defunct Sir Frank Markham School at Woughton was wound down – and how IT equipment and teaching aids were flogged off.
The council audit committee was last night (Thursday) deciding whether there should be an official probe into more than 20,000 spent on counselling, takeaway pizzas, wine and to moneybags Premier League football club Arsenal.
The purchase of more than 50,000 worth of IT equipment and the sale of almost 23,000 of teaching aids is also under the spotlight.
Opposition Tories said an audit of school accounts as it prepared to hand over to the neighbouring new academy revealed a "complete shambles."
They called for the resignation of cabinet member Councillor Sandra Clark, who holds the schools portfolio, even before councillors met to discuss the issue.
Auditors concluded the school's closure was "inadequately controlled with major areas of weakness and risk of loss, fraud, impropriety or damage to reputation."
Criticism of council management follows censure over the stumbling school build programme early last year and the rumpus six months ago over Gatehouse School, which an independent inquiry said appeared to have been "left to its own devices."
A council statement said of Sir Frank Markham admitted that there were "lessons to be learned" about how closely the council needs to be involved when a school is approaching closure.
Commenting on the school's 2,850 bill on takeaway food, it said: "This is not uncommon in schools where revision is being done out of hours and there is no catering available."
Tory member of the audit committee Councillor John Bint said of the auditors' findings: "It is a complete shambles. If there are people taking backhanders, then we need to find out who they are."
Mr Bint called for Councillor Clark to quit. He said: "How many more debacles before she decides to step down?"
Councillor Clark was not available for comment as the Citizen went to press with this article (the afternoon of Wedensday September 2).
The Sir Frank Markham audit made no accusations of wrong doing against school or council individuals and an attached internal memo said there was "no evidence of systematic abuse" of the school budget.
The report said school equipment and assets were sold "outside Milton Keynes Council, records of valuations and are not forthcoming."
There appeared to have been a "lack of ownership over the management of the disposal process."
>> Were you involved in the closure process at Sir Frank Markham?
Or are you just a council tax payer worried about how public cash has been used?
Let us know, by clicking here to email the newsdesk at editorial@mkcitizen.co.uk
>> Like this story and love MK? Take a look at the online versions of our newspapers - click here to access Tuesday's Citizen First, and here to see Thursday's Milton Keynes Citizen.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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