(Sponsored
by: The Barrow Cadbury Trust)
at
Bolton Institute of Higher Education.
August 1996
Title :
“Unspeakable Acts”
Abstract :
This paper offers a description of the energy Lancashire Education Authority will waste in keeping disabled children out of mainstream school. It also provides the chronology of events of two Lancashire families who continue to struggle to have their children included at their local schools.
This article
describes the experiences of Joe Whittaker and John Kenworthy in their support
of two Lancashire families’ struggle to secure what for many has come to be
recognised as a basic human right, namely, a place within mainstream education
for their children, Nicki Crane and
Zak Lewis.
It is written to highlight the hypocrisy and injustices perpetuated against
these families by Lancashire Education Authority and to offer guidance and
support to others who may be in a similar dispute with their local Education
Authority.
Joe is a senior lecturer at Bolton Institute and John, until recently worked for
Burnley Health Trust and now works freelance, as a Clinical psychologist.
Both are actively involved in a movement campaigning for Inclusive
Education. They believe, along with
many others, that ALL children belong in mainstream schools regardless of any
impairment or label that the child may have. They believe children have a right
to be educated in their local mainstream school along with their friends and
peers and SCHOOLS have a responsibility to ensure the appropriate support is
available in order that all children can participate fully in their local
community. The effects of segregated education have been well documented,
indicating that segregation leads to further isolation.
Joe
and John have worked for a number of years with parents who wanted their
children to go to a mainstream school. The children often have a variety of
support needs but the overriding concern for the parents has been one of
ensuring that their child attend their local school, in their local community.
Parents often contacted Joe and John not at the beginning of the process
but in desperation when they have exhausted all the bureaucratic procedures laid
down by the Local Education Authorities, such as case conferences and numerous
meetings with Education Officials. This was the point at which Peter and Wendy
Crane contacted Joe.
Nicki had been in his local mainstream primary school for some time, and
although his parents initially had difficulties in obtaining the place they felt
it was the right thing to do given that the school was in their village and
Nicki's sister was there.
Peter and Wendy worked incredibly hard to ensure Nicki remained with his
friends and had to overcome a number of barriers put forward by the Local
Education Authority. The school said Nicki could not attend because they did not
have the changing rooms or facilities, so Peter and Wendy bought and erected a
cabin on the school site which was then available to all the pupils.
The school said that they did not
have the finances to pay the support worker to accompany Nicki on school visits,
so they actually paid the travelling expenses. Peter and Wendy have demonstrated
on a number of occasions in many different ways that they were willing to
sacrifice their own resources in order that they could have what should be
everybody's right for their child, to belong to their local school.
Nicki's participation in his local mainstream school was a great success, the
indicators for Peter and Wendy being how much Nicki enjoyed it, the fact that he
loved going to school and obviously enjoyed having children of his own age
around him. The school had initially thought that Nicki would not be able to
manage given his additional support needs however his parents were continually
prepared to look at creative ways in which Nicki could participate and access
the curriculum and offer support and advice. Peter and Wendy made regular checks
with the teachers, support teachers, and educational officials to confirm just
how effective Nicki had been in the mainstream school and given his progress,
the indications were that his continuation into the local secondary school would
be a formality.
Before Nicki's final year the Crane's contacted the Local Authority just to make
sure the procedures were in place for his transition to the Secondary school. It
was then that concerns were raised about how appropriate the placement would be,
but nevertheless given that the Crane's had prepared a year in advance and that
they were fairly tenacious and positive people they decided that whatever
problems would arise they would help the Local Education Authority overcome
them, simply to ensure that Nicki went with his friends to the next phase of his
education. To the Crane's surprise and dismay the Local Education Authority
still decided that Nicki would be better going to a special school rather than
the secondary school.
It was at this stage the Crane's contacted Joe. Together they attended a number
of meetings with the Statementing Officer and Educational Officials to discuss
what the barriers were and how they could be overcome. The meetings proved
positive, the Authority seemed prepared to listen and gave several indications
that Nicki would be able to go to the mainstream school. Despite these the
Crane's received a letter from the Local Education Authority saying that Nicki
was not able to go.
An informal meeting was then arranged with the Authority’s Solicitor and
Statementing Officer in which Peter and Wendy repeated all their experiences
emphasising why they thought it was important for Nicki to go to Tarleton High
School and how the barriers could be overcome. The Crane's counteracted all the
arguments and reasons put forward as to why Nicki should not attend the school.
The meeting lasted over two and a half hours, by which time the Solicitor acting
on behalf of the Local Authority stated that in his view the case as presented
by the Cranes was so strong in favour of Nicki that he would be advising the
Authority not to challenge any appeal that they may put forward. Such a clear
statement was so surprising that Joe asked the Solicitor to repeat it. At last
somebody was hearing what the Cranes had to say and Nicki would be going to
Tarleton High School.
Two weeks later near the end
of the Nicki's final year, Peter and Wendy received another letter from the
Local Authority completely contradicting the statement made by the solicitor.
The Crane's and Joe were really shocked after being given such a clear statement
that Nicki would be able to attend the school by people who were supposed to be
in a position to support such a decision. Although shocked they were not really
that surprised after having been in contact with a number of parents who had
also gone through the whole procedure only to be sent a letter from the Local
Authority just before the end of the school term stating their child could not
attend the school of their choice. The situation was very frustrating for all
concerned.
Coincidentally
John had been working with a family, the Lewis's, whose son, Zak, had been
labelled as "autistic" and was going through a similar process in that
his parents wanted mainstream primary education for Zak and they were being
denied it. Both
John and Joe felt frustrated with the families’ situation and their own
position, in that they had reached this dead end several times before only to
begin the whole process again with another family. They recognised this
situation was unacceptable and as professionals working in the field of special
education, all be it from different positions, they had to do something much
more than simply accept the status quo presented to them. Both sets of parents
had followed all the "official" procedures in order to justify the
inclusion of their children so when John and Joe considered the available
options in terms of action, for example, writing to M.P.'s and the governing
body of the school, they decided that more of the same was not necessarily
appropriate. In consultation with the parents they decided to take more direct
action.
Importantly Joe and John kept both sets of parents fully informed as to their actions throughout the protest, they did not want them to be in a position where they felt they had no control. Indeed the parents at any stage could have ended the action in their children’s name and if this had been the case the protest would have become more general and focused on all children having the right to attend their local school. However after serious consideration the parents decided that Joe and John could campaign on Nicki's and Zak's behalf to highlight the injustice within Lancashire Education Authority.
Joe and
John decided to devise a list of demands, to present to the Chief Education
Officer of Lancashire, Andrew Collier. Demands rather than requests, as previous
experience proved that the Authority did not respond to attempts to be
reasonable and accommodating. The demands were that the Chief Education Officer
should take personal responsibility for both these children’s cases and
examine the appropriate support they needed in order to go into the mainstream
school of their choice. Joe and John decided that they would refuse to leave the
Chief Education Officer’s room until such demands were met.
Over the weekend Joe and John contacted the local media to inform them of the
situation regarding the two children and the reasons for their intended action
to ensure the children’s plight got the maximum coverage. On the morning of
the protest, Thursday, they decided to hire a mobile phone so they could contact
the press and friends from inside the building to keep them informed as to what
was happening. This proved
difficult as it was not possible to rent a phone, they had to purchase one and
pay rental for a year. However they decided that it would be an important means
of communication and how right they were.
On Thursday morning when Joe and John arrived at the Lancashire Education
Offices, they expected it would be difficult to get past the security guards in
the reception area who vet all visitors, however they simply walked past them
and continued up to the Education Offices on the first floor. They asked
somebody if it was possible to be directed to the Chief Education Officer’s
room, the woman asked what it was regarding, Joe and John refused to tell her
and restated their desire to see Andrew Collier. They were then ushered into a
room along with an Education Officer and told that he was out of the building
and would not be available for a while. Joe
and John then revealed the purpose of their visit and stated that they had no
intention of leaving the building until the Chief Education Officer acknowledged
those demands and acted upon them. There was some confusion in the Education
Offices, people really didn't know what to do, where to go or how to respond.
After restating their intentions several times Joe and John were told by the
woman in the corridor, who happened to be Andrew Collier's secretary, that a
message had been sent to him.
An hour and a half later they were escorted to the boardroom, Andrew Collier,
the Authority’s Solicitor and the Special Educational Needs Officer were sat
there. Joe and John listed their demands, Andrew Collier said he was not aware
of the two cases and when Joe pointed out that the Solicitor had been present at
the previous meeting with the Crane's and had supported their case he denied
this, saying he had no recollection of such a statement. This is important, it is no wonder that families are shocked,
confused, disillusioned and suffer a great deal of stress when they have
Officials from the Education Department basically telling lies. Andrew Collier
did say that he would discuss the matter with some of his Officials and return.
Joe and John said they would not leave the building and were told by Mr
Collier they were welcome to stay.
Whilst waiting for his return Joe and John contacted the local radio station,
Radio Lancashire and the local newspaper, the Lancashire Evening Post as well as
friends to ask people to spread the word about the protest. Five hours later
Andrew Collier had still not returned and the Security Officers were asking Joe
and John to leave saying they were not welcome, they refused and restated their
intention of staying until Andrew Collier had acted upon the demands made on
behalf of the two children.
It was now early Thursday evening, Joe and John were told that they were able to
use the toilet but must remain in the boardroom. At about 7 o'clock two senior
police officers arrived, Joe and John explained the situation and pointed to the
fact that they were undertaking a peaceful protest and therefore would not leave
unless they were arrested or physically removed from the building. The police
stated that they were simply concerned that a breach of the peace was not being
carried out and that no damage was being done. Seeing this was clearly the case
they left.
Joe and John had taken little food and no drink with them. Fortunately a member of the cleaning staff had heard about
the demonstration and was really supportive and positive regarding their action,
and supplied them with food and drink. They settled down for the night and
attempted to sleep on some chairs. The security guards tried to make the night
as uncomfortable as possible by switching lights on and off, banging doors,
walking up and down, and playing loud music, however they did not succeed and
Joe and John took comfort in the fact that they at least were not being evicted.
The following morning Joe and John were still being denied food and drink by the
security guards and started to feel isolated as nothing was really happening.
However, in the afternoon they received a boost when friends arrived with
everything they needed. By moving to the front of the building John was able to
let down a rope and hook to reel in the supplies. This added to Joe and John's
determination to stay as long as it took, until Nicki and Zak were able to go in
their mainstream schools. Their morale was very high and they were very
optimistic however, the action made them realise how ridiculous the whole
situation had become and question why they had to go to such extraordinary
lengths simply to ensure that the two children went to their local schools.
Despite all the arguments and energy that had gone into supporting the children
the Authority seemed quite bloody minded in making sure that the children didn't
get what they wanted.
At 10 o'clock on Friday evening a friend telephoned to say the police where
coming to evict them, it was obvious the security guards had called them again
when they realised that Joe and John were not going to be starved out. It turned
out that in fact it was the security guards who had decided to remove them and
the police were only in attendance as observers to ensure that a breach of the
peace was not carried out and nobody was hurt.
At 10.30 p.m. four police officers came into the boardroom along with six
security guards who stood menacingly in front of Joe and John. They had decided
prior to the police's arrival that they would climb on to the window ledge and
threaten to jump out if anyone came near them, unfortunately before they could
do this John was caught. Joe managed to reach the ledge which stalled things for
a while but it was clear nothing was going to be gained by this and it was never
their intention to jump. However to make the eviction as difficult as possible
Joe and John refused to go quietly and stated their intention of continuing the
protest outside.
They lay on the floor and whilst four or five security guards grappled with John
and eventually removed him, Joe grabbed the table legs and held onto them with
all his strength. A great struggle ensued in which Joe and the table were
dragged across the room, eventually they dragged him into the lift, Joe asked
the security guards what they thought they were going to gain by this and
generally made accusations about their inability to listen to what the protest
was about. When they reached the ground floor and dragged Joe out of the lift,
the reception area was closed, so he took them by surprise by shouting, he then
sprung to his feet and ran back upstairs to the boardroom. When he arrived the
four police officers were sat there looking almost apologetic as if to say, well
you know this is going to be a waste of time. As Joe sat down he began to feel
strange after all the exhaustion, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital, it
was to be diagnosed that he was diabetic and had collapsed due to a low sugar
level caused by the sporadic eating, lack of sleep and physical exertion.
Strangely this added to the publicity of the campaign, as a friend Chris
Gathercole had been outside County Hall and recorded the events on video, these
powerful images of Joe being rushed to hospital were later shown on the local
news programme.
Joe was
released himself after a couple of days in Hospital and had decided with John to
continue the protest on Monday. When they arrived at County Hall at about 10
o'clock Radio Lancashire were already there along with several friends who had
heard about the incident over the weekend and wanted to support the protest.
On entering the reception it was clear the security staff were expecting them as
they were on what was euphemistically called " red alert" this was
supposedly to put them in some state of readiness to cope with any sort of
demonstration. Joe and John again asked to see Collier the Chief Education
Officer and stated that they would wait in the reception area and not leave
until he arrived. When it became clear that Collier was not coming, they camped
out in the foyer, in a gap between the inner revolving glass doors and the outer
entrance. Eventually they received
a message from Collier stating that the two children’s situations would be
investigated, however due to previous experiences Joe and John decided to stay
there until the report was made.
They camped there on the Monday and Tuesday night during which time they
received lots of visitors who brought food and drink, it became almost a
carnival atmosphere with lots of interest from the passing public. They also
contacted Collier’s secretary on the telephone several times asking her when
they were going to report, Collier said it would be on Tuesday afternoon but as
the council had all the information they required to support Nicki and Zak back
into mainstream schools Joe and John continued to phone in order to continue the
pressure.
On the Tuesday afternoon there was quite a lot of activity, Louise Ellman the
Labour leader of Lancashire County Council, and career politician personified,
belatedly appeared to ask Joe and John what their requests were. It was quite
clear she was totally non committal and unprepared to offer an ounce of sympathy
for the plight of the two families she simply reiterated the position of the
Authority. They also had a number of visits from John Ashworth the official
Council solicitor, he was the only person, throughout the whole of the
proceedings at County Hall, sensitive
enough to hear what was being said and try obviously within his own professional
limitations to convey the protesters concerns to the County officials.
Martin and Nobby, supporters of the action, had also arrived.
By this
time of course all the entrances were blocked and secured, the one or two
entrances still open, were heavily staffed by security guards. After hearing
that Collier was to announce the decision of the internal inquiry and on seeing
a number of Council Officials arrive, the protesters decided they needed to find
out what was going on inside County Hall. The garage connected to County Hall
seemed the best place to gain access into the building, so whilst John and
Martin waited at the front, Joe and Nobby walked round to the back where they
found another entrance unguarded. They simply walked through and passed behind a
large number of security guards patrolling the front entrance. Ten minutes later
when they had nearly reached Colliers office Joe and Nobby were spotted and
surrounded by security guards who blocked all the entrances and exits in the
area. The whole of County Hall was sealed off, staff and visitors were either
locked in or out, Joe and Nobby refused to leave until they had seen Collier.
After about fifteen minutes a police officer arrived from the main entrance and
informed them that they could be physically removed by the security guards if
they caused an obstruction. The protesters then lay down and were carried out by
the guards who were jeered by people outside expressing their dissatisfaction
and concern at the way Joe and Nobby were being treated.
It was now late Tuesday afternoon and those staff leaving the building by car
were being let out two at a time from the garage by the security guards. After
being evicted Joe and Nobby joined John at the front of the garage and when
again they were refused the chance to see Collier they proceeded to lie down in
the path of the outgoing cars. Chris again caught this on video and Brian
Wheelan from Radio Lancashire was also in attendance. The protesters refused to
leave at which point several security guards, along with some heavy maintenance
men who had also been called to the scene, began carrying each of the protesters
in turn to the other side of the road. As they were laid down each returned on a
rotational basis to lie down and cover the garage entrance. The half dozen
police officers in attendance just observed as they realised the protest was
peaceful, this was to the frustration of the Council Officials who made it clear
they wanted the protesters arrested. This action of lying in front of the cars
caused massive disruption and the numerous council "bouncers" became
very angry and started shouting abuse. The senior security officer, Ian Holmes,
who was a despicable character hid behind other people, as he had done
previously, giving instructions.
Although the police seemed reluctant to arrest the protesters they decided the
situation could not continue for much longer, and when Joe, John and Nobby were
told that they were being arrested for a breach of the peace they stopped the
protest and were then taken to the police station. They were charged and placed
fortunately in the same cell while their details were taken. On reflection they
had not expected events to reach this stage however they felt the action was a
reasonable and justifiable means of continuing the protest given the council’s
inaction. Two hours later they were informed that they would be held in the
cells overnight to appear in court the next day. They were allowed to make a
telephone call to their families and offered a solicitor, which they refused.
Whilst the protesters were in prison Collier announced that having completed the
investigation no further action would be taken and therefore Nicki and Zak
should attend the designated special schools. This came as little surprise given
Collier’s behaviour during the protest. This was presented as the only choice
for the Lewis's and the Crane's and yet it was quite clearly not an option,
therefore the protest would have to continue until a satisfactory resolution was
reached.
The following morning at 11 o'clock Joe, John and Nobby were transferred from the police cells to appear in court. They stood in the dock together while the clerk explained that they had been charged with a breach of the peace because of the events at County Hall, a brief statement was then made by the protesters as to the reasons for the demonstration and then they were asked in turn how they would plead. Both Joe and John pleaded guilty however Nobby was reluctant to do so as he felt the protest had been reasonable, the magistrate stated that he refused to enter into discussion and asked Nobby if he was prepared to plead guilty, Nobby again refused however after speaking to Joe and John who recognised his frustration, but also realised they had actually caused a breach of the peace, he reluctantly pleaded guilty. The Magistrate after consultation bound the protesters over for a year in the sum of one hundred pounds.
After
being released and holding discussions as to what the next course of action
should be it was decided that a vigil would take place outside the main entrance
of County Hall. Some posters and leaflets were made and a couple of days after
the court hearing the vigil began with people working on a rota spending as much
time as they could handing out leaflets and engaging with people to tell them
about the protest. The vigil latest for a month every working day from eight
thirty in the morning until five thirty in the evening.
During the court hearings and vigil there were a number of articles in the local
paper and several radio broadcasts from Radio Lancashire about the protest and
even though Collier was aware of these he gave little indication that he was
prepared to look for a solution. Perhaps even more worrying was the lack of
support from the Labour Councillors who were implicitly accepting the
segregation of disabled children and hence educational apartheid.
It was now August and things were fairly quiet, although the Vigil and protests had succeeded in terms of drawing publicity to the injustice of Nicki and Zak's forced segregation, pressure still needed to be applied on Collier and County Hall to reach a suitable solution. Discussions among the network of supporters resulted in the decision to stage a fairly large demonstration on the first day of the school term in September. Two hundred people turned up and surrounded County Hall by joining hands. Louise Ellman and Andrew Collier were invited to speak but neither were to be seen, however Stan Wright, the council jester and puppet, also known as the Chair of the Education Committee did appear to try and justify the council’s position of segregating disabled children. Needless to say his arguments convinced no one, he basically spent half an hour restating the council’s position. More interestingly he did state that Lancashire Education Authority were indeed "average" in terms of integrating children and he seemed to take great pleasure in this fact, even when concern was expressed that Lancashire as one of the largest Authority’s should be setting an example in terms of indicating ways in which children could be included. Stan Wright had no answers when confronted by Linda Jordan, Chair of Education for the London Borough of Newham, which was one of the first if not the first Education Authority to have a policy of inclusive education, a process which involves the closing of their special schools and providing places for children in mainstream schools with the appropriate support.
Although
there was a lack of support from the Council with regard to the children, they
did let Joe, John, Chris and other supporters give a presentation to the County
Councillors as to the reasons why children with disabilities should be included
in their local mainstream schools. It was badly received and used as an
opportunity by the Councillors to dismiss the protest as creating a larger
barrier to the inclusion of Nicki and Zak. This tactic was expected in order to
disguise their own inaction, however it was necessary to press the case in any
way possible.
The protest grew; simultaneous action was being taken by Integration Alliance in
London in support of Preethi Emmanual and her daughter Zara who had been
excluded from her local school, and a monthly meeting was being held involving
supporters of Nicki and Zak called North West Action for Inclusion.
In October the campaign reached a plateau. Numerous letters had been sent to the
County Council but all that returned were non committal replies. This
bureaucratic resistance had been consistent towards the Lewis's and Crane's and
proved to be wearing. A great deal of time and effort had been spent in writing
correspondence yet the Education Authority had a huge army of people to respond
to the letters and had to do very little to prevent the parents from getting
what they wanted. In fact the Authority had begun to use obscene intimidatory
tactics such as threatening to send the parents to court if they did not send
their children to special schools.
The Authority eventually agreed to an independent assessment for Zak by a
psychologist who was agreeable to both the Authority and the Lewis's in the
belief that she would find in the Authority’s favour. Stephanie Lorenz, an
educational psychologist working freelance, conducted a week long assessment of
Zak to determine his suitability for a mainstream placement and spent time at
the school where he should have been included. The conclusion of that
investigation was that Zak would in fact be better off with the appropriate
support in a mainstream school. This was a significant victory for Zak and also
for the campaign. Nicki however had been refused an investigation so the protest
continued.
Given the inactivity of
Collier, Joe and John decided to see Gillian Shepherd the Secretary of State for
Education in London. They sent a fax informing her of their visit but received
no reply, so they decided to go anyway. When
they arrived the receptionist phoned the office and two Education Officers
appeared who were young and obviously new to the Education Department, as they
proceeded to explain about what the statementing process was for children with
special needs. As Joe and John had worked in special education for some fifteen
years they were fully aware of the legislation and procedure and it was the
unacceptability of those procedures that had brought them to the Department of
Education in the first instance. After sorting out this initial confusion the
officers said that they had not received the fax and Joe and John would not be
able to see Gillian Shepherd as she was very busy. They insisted and stated that
they had no intention of leaving until they had seen her. The officers were
equally insistent that Joe and John should write. After half an hour of arguing
Gillian Shepherd appeared with an entourage of about four or five personal
assistants following her. As she walked towards the door Joe and John stood in
front of her and immediately the security officers tried to drag them away. They
managed to inform her about their wish to talk about what was happening to Nicki
and Zak. She was very calm, collected and fair and said she was going to a
meeting, but would allow them twenty minutes or so on her return. She then
instructed the officials to provide Joe and John with coffee and somewhere to
sit.
When she returned they were
ushered into a room with several other officials, they explained the case for
Nicki and Zak as precisely as they could stating the unacceptability of children
being forcibly removed from mainstream education and denied their rights because
of the legislation. John pointed to a bizarre practice of assessing children for
a place in a mainstream school outside and in isolation from the school without
any observation or assessment of the appropriate support in the setting. She
expressed concern at this but said she was unable to direct the Authority. Mrs
Shepherd said if they put the case in writing she would instruct her officials
to investigate further. Joe and John had no expectation of this meeting except
to draw more publicity to the campaign which they did as the local radio station
interviewed them live outside the Education Offices.
To give
the protest an uplift a demonstration was held concurrently with London on
December the seventh. After walking from the centre of Preston to County Hall a
label burning ceremony took place whereby labels such as learning disabilities,
downs syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, educationally subnormal etc. were
written on paper and ceremoniously burnt to demonstrate our disgust at these
unacceptable labels which are used to isolate, segregate and devalue children.
It turned out to be a good demonstration with a lot of T.V. and radio coverage.
The following year the protests to County Hall continued but very little was
being done. The Crane's were being pressed to go to the independent tribunals,
which they and their supporters were reluctant to do as they had little faith in
them. In fact a survey conducted by Joe found the tribunals to be no more than a
replica of County Hall in that the people who sat on the them were former Chief
Education Officers, Education Officers, Special Needs Officers, Educational
Psychologists and the usual crowd of people you would expect to work at County
Hall. Their views, which he had also identified through the research, indicated
that they very much supported the status quo of labelling children and sending
them off to special schools.
At the next North West Action for Inclusion meeting it was decided to focus on the school were Nicki wanted to be included as little attention had been focused on their inaction. County Hall were saying it was the school that was refusing Nicki and visa versa. The protest took place at the school and the demonstrators insisted on seeing the headteacher. The deputy head asked them to leave but they refused until they had seen the head and a decision was made to include Nicki. The headteacher was out of the building but the deputy head teacher hastily arranged a meeting for that afternoon with himself the head teacher and another deputy, Andrew Collier and another official from County Hall plus the Chair of the Governors. The case for Nicki's attendance was again explained and there appeared to be positive signs that they understood the case. However only twenty four hours later they again restated that it was not possible or practical for Nicki to go to that school.
The letter writing campaign continued in an attempt to engage people who would support the case. Louise Ellman and Stan Wright were told that wherever they appeared publicly so would the protesters in order to highlight this injustice and it soon became apparent that whenever they felt this was going to happen they cancelled. By this time the protesters were becoming frustrated, however no more frustrated, angry or disenchanted than Nicki and Zak.
In an
attempt to continue the publicity which had begun to wane and put more pressure
on County Hall, in June Joe and John decided to break the twelve month bind over
order by returning to County Hall. They were fully aware that they would be
asked to pay the hundred pound fine but agreed they would refuse which could
have meant imprisonment. This was an indication as to the level of frustration
that had been reached due to County Hall’s refusal to listen. John and Joe
informed the police of their intentions and wrote to Collier to insist that he
made himself available.
They arrived with a
number of friends, Brian from Radio Lancashire and a film crew from the BBC who
were making a programme "Old School Ties" about Nicki and Inclusion in
general. The security were on red alert again, in numbers, blocking the inner
entrance and the police were also in attendance. They approached reception and
asked for Collier to come down. As expected Collier did not arrive but Stan
Wright did, he always seemed to be pushed up front when nobody else would speak
and had such a knack of making a calm situation confrontational with
controversial remarks. He proceeded to do this and Joe and John sat down and
refused to leave. Everybody else in the foyer was cleared out and the doors were
firmly closed leaving John and Joe locked in the reception area between the
wooden outer door and the revolving glass inner door. It was clear nobody else
was coming to see them and they were left in the hope they would eventually go.
During the next four hours the security guards made several comments to try and
goad John and Joe, they were denied access to the toilet, food and water in an
attempt to starve them out. They asked on several occasions to see the official
solicitor, John Ashworth, who was unfortunately unavailable, as he would have
been able to resolve the situation, the security guards were refusing to
co-operate in any way. John and Joe were able to talk to friends outside but
when it became clear that nothing was going to happen and the situation had
reached a stalemate they decided to precipitate some action by searching the
reception area. Behind the desk to which the security and reception staff had
access was a picture of John and Joe cut from a newspaper, it had been made into
a cartoon caption saying do not allow these people to enter. In order to gain
access to the toilet Joe and John started to push and shake the revolving doors
, the security guards started to push from the other side, as Joe and John
started to kick the metal base the security guards became very excited.
One of the panels fell out at which point all chaos broke out the police were
called. Joe and John were arrested for breaking the bind over order and for
criminal damage. They were taken by a police van to the cells.
They were placed in a cell together, had their pictures and fingerprints taken
and interviewed separately by two detectives. The following morning Mr Leech the
duty solicitor saw them, he expected County Hall to drop the charge of criminal
damage as Joe and John had a strong argument that they were seeking to remove
themselves from the situation by using reasonable force. When they appeared
before the magistrate they stated their intention of refusing to pay the bind
over fine, however they pleaded guilty to the criminal damage charge saying that
this had not been their intention as it was a peaceful protest. A date was set
for the court appearance with regard to the criminal damage charge and they were
given twenty eight days to pay the bind over fine. Joe and John again protested
and stated their intention of not paying the fine and therefore this should be
dealt with at this stage otherwise it was a waste of time and money. The
magistrate refused and gave them twenty eight days which in effect meant longer.
If the fine is not paid after this period it takes another two or three weeks to
come up on the computer and then to be given a court date which seemed absurd as
they were not going to pay. Although this frustrated Joe and John as they had
prepared themselves for prison it did maintain the press interest.
Several weeks later in September Joe and John were called to court. Even though
they had agreed to pay the £250 costs of repair to the door the solicitor wrote
to County Hall telling them that this would mean the case would be dropped and
settled out of court, however County Hall were determined to press ahead with
the charge. On the morning of the
case there were six security guards and four policemen ready to make statements
as witnesses to the criminal damage. Just before Joe and John were due in court
the solicitor spoke to the prosecutor and as they had always expressed their
intention to pay the £250 for damage to the door, the clerk instructed the
magistrate to dismiss the charge and award costs to Joe and John. Therefore
although they still had to pay the £250, County Hall had to pay their
substantial legal costs.
Their refusal to pay the bind over led to them being sentenced to seven days in
prison. Amazingly however they were given another twenty eight days to pay. Joe
and John were outraged it had been perfectly clear since June that they had no
intention of paying nevertheless the court was dismissed, even the police
officers remarked how ridiculous the situation was in terms of the amount of
time and money that was being wasted on the case. They were also bound over for
another year in the sum of £200.
The press reported the case as though they had received a suspended sentence but
Joe and John made it perfectly clear that they had been sentenced to seven days
imprisonment as they would not pay the fine.
Peter, Wendy, Nicki and Sarah throughout this whole period had been really quite
remarkable and very supportive this was really important and essential to the
success of the protest as everyone was speaking with the same voice. There was
no disagreement about the action Joe and John had taken of which they had kept
the Crane's fully informed. Obviously they were reluctant to allow them to go to
prison as were their families and friends, in fact a number of people offered to
pay the fine, even the police jokingly offered to have a whip round whilst they
were in the cells. However due to the huge injustice perpetrated by County Hall,
Joe and John had no intention of paying.
Sure enough it took seven weeks before the date for the next court appearance,
arranged for the sixth of December, the day before Joe's birthday. The cameras
were there again from the BBC and Granada TV along with Lancashire Radio. Joe
and John were aware before they went to court that they should have been
automatically sent down last time for non payment, it was also possible that the
money could have been deducted from their salaries or goods taken from their
homes to the value of a £100, but as neither of these had happened they felt
sure and prepared themselves for seven days in prison.
On previous occasions they had appeared in the dock together, however this time
they called John first which was an indication that it was not going to be
straightforward. Joe sat in the public gallery whilst John stood in the dock,
the clerk of the court had a number of page indicators in his book and consulted
the magistrate. John was asked his name, where he lived and worked and what his
salary was. It became apparent the
clerk had instructed the magistrate that although the seven day prison sentence
had been passed it was still possible to take the money out of John's salary.
The magistrates went out to deliberate, came back and said that £100 would be
taken out of John's salary in two monthly instalments in December and January.
Both Joe and John were furious after all the energy that had gone into the
campaign the courts were going to kill the potential publicity of imprisonment
by taking the fine out of their wages. John protested but there was little he
could do. Having seen what had
happened to John, Joe took to the stand and stated what a farce the whole
proceedings were. Joe refused to give his name, address, place of work or salary
the magistrate became very frustrated and shouted that he could send him down
for contempt of court. Joe said he was contemptuous of the court and the
proceedings, due to the injustice for Nicki and Zak and the way he and John had
been treated. The magistrate left whilst Joe continued his protest from the dock
whereupon he was sent to the cells to cool down.
After an hour Joe was recalled and restated that he had no intention of paying
the fine, the magistrate again said he could send Joe down for contempt to which
Joe again replied that he was and therefore should be sent down. The magistrate
again left court for a good fifteen minutes with his colleague and returned to
send him down for contempt, without stating for how long. This was on Wednesday
evening, on Thursday around about eleven o'clock he was taken back to the court
cells from the police cells.
A
demonstration had been arranged for the seventh of December outside the prison
where it was thought John and Joe would be. When John's case had been dismissed
he was able to organise with friends to meet outside County Hall and march to
the courts instead. The timing was perfect just as the demonstrators arrived at
court Joe was summonsed, he appeared flanked by about six or seven police
officers. The court was full of protesters and friends from the demonstration.
There was a different magistrate and clerk of court from the previous day. Joe
was expecting to be asked to purge his contempt by apologising for his behaviour
however it turned out the night he had spent already in the cells was for the
contempt.
The clerk of the court
then proceeded to carry out the case for breaking the bind over and the refusal
to pay the fine. Joe said he had no intention of making a statement about that
particular charge and when asked the same questions as the day before refused to
answer. It was clear the court could not proceed and yet they obviously did not
want to send him to prison as they wanted to avoid the publicity. Therefore he
was sent back down to the cells. It was unclear however what was going to
happen.
After three quarters of an hour and unbeknown to the protesters Joe appeared in
the Juvenile Court. This was because people had filled all the other courts to
ensure someone was their to support Joe. He reappeared in front of the same
magistrates and clerk of court, and as he was sat down, he was asked to stand.
Joe refused, they said please stand up and he replied no, making clear the whole
proceedings were farcical and a waste of money, they again insisted he stand and
take his hands out of his pockets but Joe had realised that ridiculous as it
sounds the court could not proceed without his co-operation. The clerk said that
the court could not officially begin until the press had arrived. During the
five minutes this took, Joe had an opportunity to reiterate to the magistrate
the amount of money wasted and time spent on the several appearances.
When the press arrived the whole procedure of the clerk asking Joe to stand and
what his name was was repeated with Joe still refusing to co-operate. The
magistrate became frustrated and anxious and didn't know what to do.
After quietly conferring with the clerk she said that Joe could be
imprisoned for contempt of court. He
again stated that he was contemptuous and that they must do what they felt was
right. When the magistrate left to confer with her colleague Joe harangued the
clerk of the court with regards to the costs for the court appearances and the
police presence, although the clerk would not enter into discussion it was a
good opportunity to get the point over while the press were there. The
magistrate returned and said unfortunately she had been put in a position where
she had no choice but to sentence Joe to seven days in prison, he was removed
from the dock where he was still sat down and taken to the police cells.
Joe expected to be sent to Preston prison but the police explained that he would
only serve half of the seven days and as it was Thursday and as they don't let
people out at the weekends he would be released on Friday morning after spending
the night in the police cells. This seemed ludicrous however Joe was released at
eight o'clock the following morning and was able to give an interview to the
local press waiting outside.
The amount of time, money and energy that went into preventing Joe and John
going to prison was a nonsense and is frustrating particularly when the
authority are saying the reason why Nicki and Zak can't go to school is because
it is too expensive.
The several months during the period of the court appearances Joe and John were
unable to go on holiday, or go out of the country because they could have been
called to court at any time. Joe had cancelled two trips to America and one to
Croatia. The inconvenience and the length of time they had been subjected to
made them both very angry and determined of course that these procedures should
be challenged and that the arguments to include Nicki into school were something
that they could not and would not put aside until they have been resolved.
It is clear from this account that Lancashire Education Authority have no conscience and the similarities between the injustice perpetuated against these two families with the injustice of apartheid in South Africa and that of the extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany is not lost. The fact that people like Collier and Ellman give implicit support to a system of segregation that discriminates, destroys peoples lives and threatens parents with imprisonment when they are only asking for a basic human right, namely, a place for their child alongside their brothers sisters and friends, effectively means they are actively encouraging this practice. The amount of energy and resources spent on the court proceedings and maintaining the status quo preventing children from attending their local school could be put to far more effective and positive use by finding creative ways of supporting and enabling children to be educated alongside each other. Only by reaching this situation will we be able to create a society where people value respect and accept diversity and recognise the immense contribution that ALL children can make to reaching this goal.
Professionals have to stop
hiding behind the academic rhetoric, and as Joe, John and others have done,
actively draw attention to this disgraceful injustice by supporting parents and
children in their struggle. Without people such as Peter and Wendy who are
prepared to fight for what they believe in this practice will never be stopped
and it is a credit that they have continued the fight when all too many of us
may have given up. Ultimately we must campaign for a change in the law which
enables all parents the right to send their child to their local school.
To update the situation the
Crane's were left no alternative but to accept a so called independent tribunal,
this was held in July and as expected they upheld the Authority’s decision. In
the meantime Nicki continues to be educated at home away from his sister and
friends and just the sight and thought of this makes us all even more resolute
that the campaign will continue until such time as the Local Education Authority
recognises that we will not go away until ALL children have the right to attend
their local school.
Further information is available from:
Karen Barton (k.barton@bolton.ac.uk)
Bolton Institute
Chadwick Street
Bolton, BL2 1JW
England