21 July (Part 2) - Another money making scam? Parents beware!
Since
Tony Blair and his cronies began their systematic criminalisation of the
population in 1997 countless new offences have been created which can land you in jail.
One of them is being the parent of a child who secretly bunks off school. It must be
difficult to judge how to control some of today’s youngsters and I am thankful
my two reached adulthood before schools were brought down by red-tape, political
correctness and health and safety. In my own day I was threatened with a visit from
The School Board Man if I malingered in bed feigning illness, now his successor
might be something akin to a private investigator hired by the school with
(so they claim) the power to inflict massive fines.
One such firm of private investigators operating in Bexley is South Eastern Attendance
Advisory Service Ltd. (SEAAS) based at 34 North Cray Road, Bexley, DA15 3LZ with
three directors, Philip Turner, Denise Percival and Irene McClellan. All list their
occupations as Attendance Officer. At least one of Bexley’s schools has signed itself
up to the dubious services provided by SEAAS. Headmistress Mrs. Jacqui Keelan from
Barrington Road Primary School has circulated parents with a letter saying they will be
fined if their child’s attendance record is unsatisfactory. As a result of that contract
parents can find themselves summoned to meetings and quizzed by SEASS. When
specifically asked the company refused to comment on its Criminal Records Bureau
and Data Protection Act status; their business practices seem questionable to say the least.
In summoning parents to meetings they communicate not on headed notepaper delivered by
Royal Mail but with an amateurish undated scrap handed to children marked for their
parents’ attention and bearing the joke postcode of DA15 0FF. This is made to look
like DAYS OFF. Juvenile or what? There is no land line phone number as expected of
any reputable company, only a mobile number and the PO. Box number is not one recognised
by the Post Office - according to them the fee for it wasn’t paid so it doesn’t exist.
This company is given personal details of parents and children by a Bexley
school and the parents are expected to drop everything and turn up to discuss
their child’s education and attendance record with a private company. It’s almost
incredible except that this is Bexley and unless there is a coincidence with the
names there is a direct connection between the directors of SEAAS and Bexley council
- or to be more precise, with Bexley council employees. A Denise Percival is coordinator of
Bexley’s Fast Track, a Department of Education scheme aimed at prosecuting
parents. A Philip Turner is a Court Officer at Bexley council. Presumably someone has spotted a money making opportunity and set up SEAAS to assist
schools fine as many parents as possible. A sort of insider dealing operation.
Parents who received one of SEASS’s scrappy summons were placed under the threat
that if they failed to co-operate with this private company under contract to
headmistress Jacqui Keelan (not contracted by Bexley council) they would be
guilty under an Education Act that they didn’t even spell correctly. Probably
just an idle threat; can a private company legally attempt to enforce an
Education Act? The parents attended anyway but refused to provide medical records
to a private company that hasn’t provided evidence of their CRB status and wisely
tape recorded the meeting. Philip Turner, SEAAS Director, wasn’t able to answer any
of the parents’ questions but did concede that his arithmetic was at fault and the
children concerned had not fallen below any attendance threshold which might give
concern. He shouldn’t have sent his scrappy note in the first place and the
parents have sent him a bill for wasting their time.
It is important to state that apart from the likelihood that SEASS is run by
Bexley council employees acting on their own initiative Bexley council itself does
not appear to be in any way at fault, indeed it is more likely that they are as concerned by
developments as every Bexley parent of school age children should be. They too
are puzzled by Mrs. Keelan’s decision to contract a private company to do work
traditionally done by the Local Education Authority at no cost. According to
Bexley’s education department Barrington Road Primary School is footing the bill
out of its own budget. Now isn’t that an odd thing? I can think of a few
reasons that might persuade Mrs. Keelan to do that but all of them would be immoral
or dishonest, so presumably I am missing something. Maybe something will wriggle
out of the woodwork later. In the meantime the parents so far affected suggest
that everyone with children at Barrington Road, and any other school that starts
talking of fining parents, should be alert for scrappy undated letters from
South Eastern Attendance Advisory Service and treat them with the utmost suspicion.