East Ayrshire education boss defends summer scheme as she makes 'proud' admission

dailyrecord.co.uk:

East Ayrshire Council chiefs were grilled over the drastic changes to the local authority's summer scheme as kids with additional support needs look set to lose out this summer.The local authority's head of education defended the remodeled offering at a meeting of the full council and put on record that she was "proud" of what was available to kids in the area.Parents voiced grave concerns for ASN children facing upheaval over the long summer with the regular scheme previously available in 2019 no longer available.Linda McAulay-Griffiths said her department did not bear the sole responsibility for providing a summer scheme but did concede that the amount of time offered to kids to spend in school had diminished.The education boss and council chief executive Eddie Fraser offered staff shortages as the reason as why the summer scheme couldn't be operated like it was in 2019.Labour councillor Elaine Stewart probed Mr Fraser on the issue of communication, with parents and guardians only finding out about changes 12 days before schools broke up for summer.The council boss said he was of the understanding that discussions for the new programme had been ongoing since January/February.He said: "We should've been better at how we communicated that over the period of time."He later admitted: "It's not the same programme and I don't think there's any point kidding on it is the same programme."Council leader Douglas Reid said the move wasn't a cost-cutting exercise but expressed his concern at the issue."It is concerning and something we want to address," councillor Reid said. "Parent councils were contacted and consulted.