Parents know incompetence when they see it

So the Venerable Christine Allsopp gives her apologies that the process is so difficult for the parents to understand "I am always sorry if the communication was not clear enough for people to understand the consultation process”. Did she understand the unanimous anti academy vote on 7th Dec? Parents are no mugs, they may not be education 'professionals' but they can spot incompetence, ignorance and a proposal without real content with no problem at all. When are the Church of England and Local Authority going to open their ears and start listening? It's very sad the Church of England are so happy to bully the community and treat parents like halfwits.

Academies are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act

Facts and figures on academies are very difficult to obtain. Unlike all other schools maintained by the taxpayer, academies are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, so the only information available is what they choose to publish or that which is published by the government, and is often misleading. Parents of pupils at academies have no represention on the board of governors and no means of influencing the educational policies and practices of the school. They do not even have the right to be told what these policies and practices are. What is the reason for such secrecy?

The following GCSE performance data for all academies was prised from the DfES by means of the Freedom of Information Act. The department is still refusing to provide subject-based results for individual academies. The percentage of pupils entered for GCSE/GNVQ who obtained A*-C grades in 2005 were: English and maths: 17%; English and maths and science: 11%; English and maths and science and a modern language: 5%. Any comprehensive school with results like these would be at risk of being replaced by an academy.
The Guardian -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jun/16/mainsection.guardianletters1

Academies can fail without accountability

"The funding agreement between a sponsor and the DCSF is a seven-year rolling contract which could in theory be terminated at any time. But David Wolfe, a barrister at Matrix Chambers and an expert on academies, says the grounds for doing this are very limited. A sponsor couldn't, for example, be removed if an academy failed to meet Ed Balls's National Challenge of getting at least 30 per cent of pupils five A*-C GCSEs, including English and maths."
The Guardian Aug 2008