Dear All A good week for a change . Really imaginative decision of the new Welsh Government to appoint Kirsty Willaims as the new Minister of Education well done Carwyn James. Kirsty knows more about rural education than in her little finger than the the entire Powys Cabinet and Senior officer hold in their combined brains. I am not really a party political person but this really is a good appointment but we must not have unrealistic expectations as Ministers too are constrained by legal processes but she is really news. I have started to write to Cllr Barry Thomas the leader again and the latest letter below whih I hope you enjoy. JOHN FITZGERALD John Fitzgerald OBE 5 twin Oaks Glasbury - on – Wye Powys HR3 5PE 20 May 2016 Dear Cllr Thomas I have in recent weeks left you in peace, partly because of the battering you and your colleagues took at both the Brecon and Gwernyfed High Schools on 20 April but think a month is enough recovery time for you. In any case I have been very busy ensuring responses from our area will hole the Powys education ship below the waterline so I have had to neglect you but all that is about to change. It’s been quite a month. You went to Brecon on the 19 April for that consultation meeting expecting to get plaudits for announcing a new building and instead got brickbats for taking away the sixth form and Welsh language stream. Then it was on to the 1000 strong (not the 800 announced by the LA) audience at Gwernyfed HS Consultation Meeting. What a night, you and Arwel Jones could only say you were there to listen, which no one believed for a minute whilst the officers on parade, with the exception of one, had great difficulty answering any of the questions from the floor being stumped even by a 10 year old. Oh dear! What can one say accept the LA performance was at best pathetic? None of that takes account of the fact that senior officers tried to have me banned from speaking (we have the documentary evidence) but the clumsy attempt back fired so I would like to thank you for that! Next the start of the consultation process had to be delayed because your senior officers could not get their act together to make the documents available to the public on time followed by an extension to the time frame for completing the response process because someone forgot to put a critical questionnaire for primary schools on the website. No doubt your month was made when you learnt who was to succeed Huw Lewis as Education Minister in the Welsh Government, Kirsty Williams. You must be very pleased. Then there was the North Powys bus scandal where a school whose numbers were going down decided to sell the school to parents in Shropshire and to entice them offered a bus service unlawfully paid for from money that should have been spent on education, in total half a million pound net over 5 years. And if that was not enough the LA decided only £17000 had to be paid back. I wish, new all about it and did nothing. So where does that leave your schools reorganisation programme and the state of education management. In a bit of a mess is the answer. The senior officers such as the Chief Executive and senior education manager who have led the authority to the edge of a precipice and invited the cabinet to jump really ought to be negotiating their retirement package because together with the current cabinet they have brought the local authority into disrepute. The reorganisation plan across the county is dead even if you decide to plough on regardless. Do the sensible thing Councillor and withdraw all closure plans before this ill thought out plan brings your cabinet crashing down, as it will. It will be interesting to see what the next month brings, won’t it councillor, I cannot wait. Yours sincerely JOHN FITZGERALD