Parents given half a day's notice of school strike closures in Dumfries and Galloway

A Scottish council has defended its late decision to shut all its schools due to strike action.

The local authority in Dumfries and Galloway said the action had not been "taken lightly" and was due to information it did not previously have.

Last week it said decisions would be on a school-by-school basis and impact would be "minimal" at some sites.

MSP Colin Smyth called the move to shut schools with less than a day's notice an "utter shambles".

The union Unison is taking strike action over pay across 24 council areas - including Dumfries and Galloway - for three days starting on Tuesday.

Dumfries and Galloway Council put out a statement at lunchtime on Monday having last week said impact was not expected to be significant at many of its sites.

It said that after "ongoing and updated information on the availability of staff" the decision had been taken to shut all of its schools and early learning centres for all three days.

It said remote or online learning would be in place where possible.

"This decision has not been taken lightly, and is based on information that we did not have last week, when we wrote to parents and carers to advise of potential closures for some schools and Early Learning Centres," it said.

"It is an ever-changing picture, and as such, if the picture changes again before the first strike day, we will of course issue updates."

It said it appreciated the inconvenience the decision would cause but the information had been issued in as timely a manner as was "practically possible".

South of Scotland MSP Mr Smyth said: "Last week many parents were told their kids' school would be open, but now with less than a day's notice they are told it won't, making it almost impossible for them to make alternative arrangements."

He said other councils had been able to inform parents much more quickly than in Dumfries and Galloway.

"A lot of people will have a great deal of sympathy for workers on strike and would have sought to make appropriate arrangements if given proper notice," he said.

"But the complete incompetence of the council will make this impossible for many parents."

The regional secretary for the EIS teaching union Andrew O'Halloran said it was disappointed by the council's late "blanket decision" to shut all schools.

"This will cause severe inconvenience to parents and teachers," he said.

"Other local authorities - such as Glasgow and South Lanarkshire - made sensible decisions in advance thus giving everyone time to prepare."

He added that head teachers should have been informed of the decision before seeing it posted on social media.

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