by
Les May
IN
1988, I was still teaching in a Rochdale school. One day during the autumn
term all the staff were summoned to a meeting after school finished.
We were surprised to see the Diana Cavanagh, the then Director
of Education, standing at the front waiting to talk to us.
She had come to tell us that a
small group of parents had moved to call for a ballot of parents
which would decide whether the school should ‘Opt Out’
of Local Education Authority (LEA) control and instead be
controlled directly by central government.
Though people’s motivations
differed, there was little enthusiasm for such a move. Some were
against it just because it was a Tory policy, some felt it flew in
the face of local democracy and local accountability, some were
concerned that it was the thin end of the wedge which would lead to a
worsening of our pay and conditions of employment, and some simply
did not trust the headteacher.
After everyone had had their say
a resolution was put to the meeting condemning the proposal. It
passed without obvious dissent. At this point it looked as if that
was all that would happen. Then someone stood up to object to
leaving it at that. I am sufficiently immodest to say it was me.
What I went on to say was that simply passing a ‘resolution’
was a complete waste of time. If we wanted to defeat this move we
had to contact all the parents of the children at the school, visit
them and explain what ‘Opting Out’ meant and why we
opposed it. Without any debate it was agreed that an ad hoc
committee should form to organise the mechanics of contacting parents
and because we would need money to pay for letters to parents a
collection was quickly organised. I assumed we would see everyone
give a £1 or so. When the ‘hat was passed round’ at
least one £10 note went into it from one of the Maths teachers.
Letters went to newspapers to
publicise our activities. Lists of names and addresses were sorted
into routes which a two person team could follow. Night after night
in the first couple of months of 1989 we tramped the streets visiting
parents, listening to parents and soliciting their vote in the
forthcoming ballot against ‘Opting Out’.
It was all worth it, because the
parents voting against the proposal.
In 1995 there was a proposal to
use the Gort Sand pit and Wilderness Quarry sites for a
Greater Manchester Council landfill site. A group of people,
each for a different reason, objected, came together and fought this.
It took work to make it happen, but we were so persistent that
eventually a full public inquiry was held in Rochdale Town Hall. In
the end the Inspector did not agree with us and the site was used for
landfill. Was it worth it? Yes it was!
Some people think that
‘activism’ is passing a resolution, writing a wish list,
denouncing someone as a ‘racist’ or a ‘fascist’
or … just fill in your own preferred epithet here,
or producing a Twitter storm. Every week some petition or
other falls into my e-mail inbox. It’s there briefly before going
into the trash. Signing a petition may make some people feel pleased
with themselves, but if you want to change things you have to
do the work, even if sometimes you lose. Before the last election
the lady I tramped the streets with in the winter of 1989 was on my
doorstep canvassing for the Labour party. She’s still doing
the work!
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