BRADFORD'S troubled Kings Science Academy is embroiled in fresh controversy with a city MP requesting a meeting with the Secretary of State of Education over its transfer to new management.

The school has been embroiled in problems which resulted in its principal and founder, Sajid Raza, being dismissed earlier this year following months on suspension.

That left governors needing a fresh partner and following a meeting with the Department for Education, Dixons Academy Group was selected and the transfer is expected to be complete early next year.

But now Bradford East MP George Galloway has stepped in to request a meeting with senior officials and the Secretary of State for Education over parents' concerns about the process.

He has said in a letter to the Department for Education that parents "claim not to have been consulted about this."

"They are concerned that there was no consideration of other potential 'saviours' and that the takeover by Dixons has been presented as a fait accompli.

"While there is no suggestion that Dixons are not capable of running the school they believe that the decision, if it is such, lacks transparency and parental input and that it may change the character of the school they originally signed up to," said Mr Galloway's letter.

Governors announced in a letter to parents that they had chosen Dixons from several alternatives and had met with the Department for Education to discuss the future needs of the academy.

Mr Raza appeared to generate strong loyalty among some parents and during his suspension, before he was dismissed, there was a demonstration outside the academy to protest at a perception that standards had declined in his absence.

In his letter, Mr Galloway accepts that it is not the Secretary of State's job to "micro manage individual schools" but added: "It seems to me that there are general issues about the governance of academies and free schools and whether the managements of the school are properly inspected and scrutinised.

"The example of Kings proves, to me at least," that they have not been.

"More than that, the troubled history of Kings and the involvement of the Government with this school in the past does, it seems to me, make it incumbent on you to ensure that a school emerges out of this which parents, teachers and pupils have confidence in," he said.

Mr Galloway wants the meeting to discuss management accountability and scrutiny.

He is also contacting the governors of Kings to raise similar issues.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “The governors of Kings Science Academy voted unanimously in favour of joining a multi academy trust to secure the school’s long term future.

"Both the Department and the governors considered a number of partners and Dixons MAT was the most appropriate, given its local experience and expertise.”

No comment was available last night from Kings Science Academy.

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