AN EDUCATION authority is failing in its duty to provide education to a 10-year-old boy no school in Burton will accept, a councillor has claimed.
Peter Beresford, Staffordshire County Council member for Burton Town division and former Labour cabinet member for children and young people, said the council’s current Tory administration was at fault in the case of Armani Lowers.
The Mail reported on Tuesday how the 10-year-old was left with just four hours of home tuition a week after his family moved to Burton from Derby.
Councillor Beresford said the situation ‘would not have happened’ while he had been in his former position and criticised the current cabinet member for schools, Penkridge councillor Veronica Downes.
He said: “I think the cabinet member should look at this situation because all parents should be able to get their child into a local school rather than just having a few hours a week, which is no good for anybody.
“The local education authority is not living up to its obligation to provide education for Armani. It’s a failure on their part and it would not have happened if I had still been cabinet member.
“I would get the officers to identify a range of options for school places which could be offered to the parent to encourage the child back into full-time education.” Armani was excluded from a previous school in Derby and then educated at a city pupil referral unit (PRU) before his mother, Belinda Cameron, decided to move the family to Burton.
She said Derbyshire Police told her Armani had become involved with a gang linked with the fatal shooting of Derby teenager Kadeem Blackwood, although she denies he had any such involvement.
Councillor Beresford said: “With the family transferring to Burton that should be seen as a fresh start and the education authority should find a place for him.
“We are talking here about a 10-year-old child who’s still got another six years in full-time education and the most important thing is to get him back into a school where he can be appropriately educated.” Councillor Downes was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
Meanwhile, Armani has now been offered a school place – 20 miles away from his Edward Street home at a PRU in Chasetown.It is a move which has not found favour with his mother.
Mrs Cameron said: “Since we’ve been in Burton, Armani has calmed down a lot, but now they want to put him in another PRU where all the naughty kids go, and he’ll just pick up all his bad habits again.
“I just want him to be given a chance and if he goes into a mainstream school I’m willing to give it my hardest shot, and he has promised me he’ll be good.”