The new chairwoman of Aberdeenshire’s education committee has called on her opponents to put young people before “politicking” as a row over visiting teachers rumbles on.
This week, it emerged the north-east council plans to move away from using visiting specialist teachers in subjects including art, music and languages. Instead specialists will be asked to join “core staff”.
The SNP leader, Richard Thomson, and his Labour counterpart, Alison Evison, have hit out at the new Conservative, Liberal Democrat and independent administration for making a radical change to the system without mentioning it during the local election campaign.
But now, Ellon councillor Gillian Owen, the chairwoman of the authority’s education committee, has told her rivals they had their chance to scrap the scheme, but didn’t take it.
Mrs Owen branded the row “petty” and said: “This is all politicking ahead of the general election. I have done nothing with closing schools or visiting teachers. It was on Alison Evison’s watch.
“It was looked at back in 2013, but this has been on their watch for two years. If they didn’t want it, they could have kicked it out. I haven’t even chaired a committee yet.
“This politicking and education should be kept separate. Our focus should be on our young people.”
Mrs Evison responded: “The service has only moved forward on previous proposals to remove the visiting specialist post since the Tories have been returned to power.
“The Tories proposed huge cuts to the education budget in February and have raised uncertainties about the future of rural schools.”
And Mr Thomson added: “After a council campaign where they seemed determined to avoid discussing any local issues at all, the Tories have been caught red handed.”