It is becoming more and more clear as the days go by that the way the review of schools is being carried out could lead to a Titanic sized disaster in the field of local education.

A working document obviously had to be produced to form the basis for debate. There are some excellent proposals for the future of some of the schools in Keighley, which will rightly bring about a two tier system.

But now that teachers and parents have had time to digest the proposals copious quantities of common-sense are flowing.

Naturally there are those who will oppose any kind of change and unrealistically want life to continue as it has always done without regard to the overall needs of the district.

But there is also a vast army of people who accept that change is inevitable and are more than willing to work together for a better future for their children.

Two examples of this are the proposals from the governors of Oldfield School and those from the Oakbank Action Group. In both cases the ideas have a financial basis worth exploring and could make a positive contribution to raising or at least maintaining high education standards.

But sadly there is a feeling of resignation amongst the ranks that the future has already been decided. It has to be accepted that those involved on the other side would not have made the proposals or given them full support if they did not believe they were for the good of education in the future.

Once again it is to be hoped that the review team and the education committee can keep an open mind andtake on board the latest suggestions.

The disaster would be if the new era of education was entered into with interested parties still at odds with each other. That must be averted.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.