Council accused of witch-hunt in battle over failing Islamic school

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/27/birmingham-council-battle-islamic-school-alhijrah

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The chair of governors of a failing Islamic school has said he will defy attempts by Birmingham city council to take it over, vowing to call in police over what he called a sustained anti-Muslim witch-hunt.

Al-Hijrah school, in Bordesley Green, was placed in special measures by Ofsted last year after inspectors found evidence of poor governance and inadequate teaching. The school is also being examined as part of the Trojan Horse investigation into an alleged plot by Muslim hardliners to seize control of governing bodies in Birmingham.

An attempt to replace the school's governors ended in a standoff at the school gates last week when security guards refused to let a senior council officer enter the premises, and teachers declined to cooperate with a team of interim governors.

Council chiefs said they would send the interim executive board of governors back into the school on Monday 2 June in an attempt to halt its "spiral of decline". However, the school's chair of governors, Waseem Yaqub, said on Tuesday he would fight the council's attempts to take it over, which he described as a "heavy-handed abuse of power".

He said: "On Monday I will be calling the police in myself to help us stop these local authority people from causing a public disturbance while pupils are trying to take their exams. I have no other passion except to get these children to leave this school with something they can use in their careers. We will be doing everything that decent peaceful citizens should do in the face of this heavy-handed abuse of power."

Peter Hay, the council's director for education, said the school had serious problems in its governance and Ofsted had visited it five times in the past year. The Department for Education has approved an official request to disband al-Hijrah's board of governors and implement an interim executive board.

The school is alleged to have a £400,000 financial deficit, and at least a fifth of parents are unsatisfied with its standard of education or do not believe their children are safe, the council has said. The school has had three acting headteachers in as many terms.

Hay said the allegations of poor governance at al-Hijrah would be examined by Ian Kershaw, the independent chief adviser leading a review of the Trojan Horse allegations. He said Yaqub had been invited to give evidence to Kershaw. "The issues about weakness of governance are such that it will be looked at as part of his [Kershaw's] review," Hay said.

He said the council was determined to replace al-Hijrah's governors. "There is no legal authority for them to continue. We're not trying to turn this into a set-piece event with the police and the media but we want to get the interim executive board in place. We've got to keep on trying."

However, Yaqub remained defiant. "The local authority has been doing a witch-hunt and a concerted, sustained effort to destabilise the school from November 2012 to May 2014, in which time they've tried four times to implement an interim executive board," he said.

Yaqub accused the authorities of peddling anti-Muslim rhetoric with its Trojan Horse reviews, claiming it was the council and not hardline Islamists that were attempting to take over schools. He said: "Where is the jihadi when a secular state body is trying to take over a school and demonise a community in the process?"

A West Midlands police spokeswoman said there were no plans as yet to attend the school on Monday. Ch Supt Alex Murray said: "We work very closely with all schools in Birmingham and if there is a scenario where a breach of the peace could occur, we will assist."

A Birmingham city council spokeswoman said: "Following a series of inspections by Ofsted, which showed a serious decline at al-Hijrah school that requires urgent improvement, a recent monitoring visit found that there were still continued failings relating to the school's governance, financial stability and its improvement plan.

"The Department for Education approved the city council's application to appoint an interim executive board (IEB) and disband the previous governing body, which no longer has any powers or responsibilities in relation to matters relating to al-Hijrah school.

"On Thursday [22 May] members of the IEB visited the school, but withdrew when it became clear that staff there were not going to co-operate. The IEB will return to the school on Monday 2 June to meet with staff and parents to inform them of the current situation."